Monte Rosa WalserWaeg by UTMB
Monte Rosa WalserWaeg by UTMB – 120K
Aosta → Gressoney-Saint-Jean
Race guide
Updated 1 July 2026
The Monte Rosa WalserWaeg by UTMB 120K is a point-to-point mountain race running from Aosta – Piazza Chanoux (582m) to Gressoney-Saint-Jean (1382m), tracing the historic Walser valleys beneath the Monte Rosa massif. Over 120km the route piles up 7457m of climbing and tops out at 2985m, moving through a sequence of side valleys — Saint-Barthélemy, Torgnon/Chamois, Cervinia, Champoluc — before a final sting at Alpenzu ahead of the finish. It's a race built on sustained vertical gain rather than one single monster climb, with the cumulative fatigue of repeated high-altitude passes doing the damage over the two-day cut-off window.
The Course: Aosta to Gressoney-Saint-Jean
From the start on Piazza Chanoux at 582m, the route wastes no time gaining height, reaching Blavy at 15km already up at 2312m — a steep, early statement of intent that sets the tone for the whole race. From there the course doesn't simply climb once and descend to the finish; it rolls through a string of valley checkpoints, each one requiring a fresh climb out: Saint-Barthélemy/Lignan at 35km (1930m), Torgnon/Chamois around 55km (1716m), Cervinia at 76km (1997m), and Champoluc/Val d'Ayas at 95km (1722m). The high point of 2985m sits somewhere in this middle-to-late section, meaning runners are still dealing with serious altitude and exposure well past halfway. The final act brings the Alpenzu climb at 110km (1755m) before dropping into Gressoney-Saint-Jean at 1382m for the finish — a last uphill test when legs are already well used. With 7457m of D+ spread across 120km, this is a route with almost no flat recovery; it's a constant rhythm of climb-traverse-descend-climb again. The presence of two dedicated crew points, at Cervinia (76km) and Champoluc (95km), splits the race into three broad acts and gives runners and support crews natural points to reset kit, food and mental state.
Where the Race Is Decided: The Middle Valleys
The early climb to Blavy might feel manageable in isolation, but it's the first of many, and the temptation is to treat these opening valleys as free mileage because the legs are fresh and the scenery is easy on the eyes. That's the trap. Runners who've done well here describe a deliberately patient — even sociable — approach through the early sections, banking energy rather than spending it, because the real selection happens later, past the first big block of climbing and into the long middle stretch between Torgnon/Chamois and Cervinia. The stretch from Cervinia to Champoluc and on to the Alpenzu climb at 110km is where races are actually won or lost. By this point runners have already banked several thousand metres of vertical, and the Alpenzu climb — coming so close to the finish, after 110km of accumulated fatigue — punishes anyone who spent too freely earlier on. The proven formula here is to treat the first half as a deposit: go easier than feels necessary through the early valleys so there's something left to spend on this final closing sequence into Gressoney-Saint-Jean.
Pacing and Fuelling the 120K
Given the finish cut-off isn't until Day+2 at 06:30, this is a race with real overnight running built into it, and pacing needs to account for at least one full night out on the trail regardless of finishing ambitions. The two crew points at Cervinia (76km) and Champoluc (95km) are the obvious places to plan full resupplies — restocking calories, checking feet, and swapping layers for the temperature swing that comes with altitude and nightfall. Between these points, the repeated climbs mean fuelling little and often is more reliable than banking on big aid-station meals; the constant vertical gain burns through carbohydrate stores fast and doesn't offer long flat sections to recover eating rhythm. The core pacing lesson from those who've raced it well is to resist the urge to push in the opening 35-55km, even when the legs say the pace feels too slow. That discipline is what funds the ability to actually run, rather than survive, the Cervinia-to-Champoluc-to-Alpenzu closing stretch. Breaking the later, harder sections into small, planned mental targets — treating each remaining valley or climb as a manageable chunk rather than an open-ended grind — is a proven way to keep moving with intent right through to Gressoney-Saint-Jean.
Conditions to Expect
With a high point of 2985m and a start as low as 582m in Aosta, runners face a big range of temperature and terrain conditions in a single crossing — valley warmth at the start and finish, and properly alpine, exposed conditions on the high sections around Blavy and through to the race's highest terrain. Weather at altitude in this part of the Aosta Valley and Monte Rosa area can shift quickly, so kit choices need to cover both heat management on lower valley climbs and cold-weather protection for exposed ridgelines and any overnight running. Given the scale of the vertical profile — 7457m of gain across 120km — this is not a course where conditions or pacing errors are easily clawed back; both the terrain and the two-day cut-off structure reward those who manage effort and exposure deliberately rather than reactively.
Race Monte Rosa WalserWaeg by UTMB – 120K with Crux
Get the strategy, fuelling and crew plan dialled for this exact course — built from the real route, climbs and cut-offs. Your first race is free.
Plan this race — freeCourse profile
Checkpoints & cut-offs
✓ Course data verified against the official source (2026-07-05) · official source
0 km · 580 m · —
10.1 km · 1470 m · —
23.3 km · 2377 m · —
34.9 km · 1888 m · Sat 04:00
40.5 km · 1859 m · —
47.2 km · 1029 m · Sat 07:00
52.6 km · 1627 m · —
63 km · 2101 m · —
76.5 km · 2008 m · Sat 16:00
85.8 km · 2980 m · —
97.9 km · 1572 m · Sat 23:00
107 km · 2291 m · —
111.9 km · 1626 m · Sun 04:30
115.8 km · 1781 m · —
119.6 km · 1380 m · Sun 07:00
More races
More UTMB World Series
Similar distance (100 km–100 miles)
Racing Monte Rosa WalserWaeg by UTMB – 120K?
Get a complete race strategy — pacing, fuelling, crew plan and the crux moments — built on this exact course.
Plan your race in Crux →Strava is your training. Crux is your races.