Ultra-Trail Mount Yun by UTMB®
Ultra-Trail Mount Yun by UTMB® – CMY 70K
Xiangning Mingzhu Square → Zhonghe Square
Race guide
Updated 19 July 2026
The CMY 70K at Ultra-Trail Mount Yun by UTMB® is one of the most vertically extreme races of its length anywhere: 7929 m of positive climbing crammed into just 68 km, running point to point from Xiangning Mingzhu Square to Zhonghe Square. That is roughly 117 m of ascent per kilometre — a figure that puts it far beyond a normal mountain ultra and into the territory where the climbing, not the distance, is the whole challenge. With a high point of 1644 m and a start and finish both at 661 m, the course achieves that gain through relentless, repeated deep climbs and descents rather than a single mountain. This is not a race you run so much as one you climb, and then climb again. The cumulative vertical means near-constant hiking uphill and quad-hammering descents, with the aid stations dropping and rising by hundreds of metres between them. Two crew points and a scattering of cut-offs structure the day, and a finish deadline that runs deep into the following night signals what everyone lining up already knows: CMY is a slow, hard, honest mountain grind that demands respect and a conservative plan.
The course: 68 km and nearly 8000 m of climbing
CMY runs from Xiangning Mingzhu Square (0 km, 661 m) to the finish at Zhonghe Square (68 km, 661 m), through Qiaoshang New Village (15.1 km, 1231 m), Xizhuang (24.5 km, 1463 m), Anfen (33.5 km, 1038 m), Jiazhuang Village (42.8 km, 1053 m), Xiachuan Village Committee (54.3 km, 984 m) and Luyuangou Village (64.2 km, 721 m). The checkpoint altitudes swing wildly — 661 up to 1231, up again to 1463, back down to 1038, and so on — which is the fingerprint of a course that repeatedly plunges into valleys and hauls back up ridgelines. With 7929 m of total gain and a 1644 m high point, the profile is defined by these deep, repeated climbs rather than one long ascent. The sheer density of climbing changes how the race must be run. At around 117 m of ascent per kilometre, expect to be hiking uphill for a very large share of the day and managing steep, technical descents in between. Forward progress will feel slow by road or even normal-trail standards, and that is normal here — the arithmetic of the vertical simply does not allow fast average pace. Plan your day in hours of effort per climb, not kilometres per hour.
Where the race is won or lost: the early and mid climbs
The opening 24.5 km sets the tone and does the most damage if mishandled. From the 661 m start, the course climbs to Qiaoshang New Village at 1231 m (15.1 km) and then on to the day's high ground at Xizhuang, 1463 m (24.5 km) — a long, net-uphill front section that also happens to hold the first crew point. Going out too hard on these early climbs, when the legs feel fresh, is the classic CMY mistake: with nearly 8000 m of total gain, there is no bank of easy terrain later to recover it. The middle third — Xizhuang (1463 m) down to Anfen (1038 m), up and down through Jiazhuang (1053 m) to Xiachuan (984 m, 54.3 km) — is where the repeated deep descents start to shred quads that were spent early. The second crew point at Xiachuan is the natural place to reset for the final push. From Luyuangou (64.2 km, 721 m) the course drops toward the 661 m finish, but by then the accumulated vertical means even the run-in is hard-won. Protect your legs through Xizhuang and Xiachuan and you keep something for the end; overspend early and the descents will break you.
Pacing, crew and fuelling around the cut-offs
CMY enforces intermediate cut-offs at Qiaoshang New Village (Sat 13:00), Anfen (Sat 18:00) and Xiachuan Village Committee (Sat 23:00), with a final deadline at Zhonghe Square of Sun 03:00. That finish time — into the small hours of the next day — confirms this is an all-day-and-into-the-night effort for most of the field, so plan for extended time on your feet and build a cushion at every early checkpoint rather than racing the clock at the end. The crew points at Xizhuang (24.5 km) and Xiachuan (54.3 km) are your two big resupply-and-reset opportunities; use them deliberately. Fuelling has to be planned around long, steep legs — gaps such as the climb-heavy stretch from Xizhuang to Anfen and the 11.8 km from Anfen to Xiachuan demand real self-sufficiency. Carry enough calories and fluid to cover several hours between the major stops, because on this much vertical the aid stations are further apart in time than their kilometre gaps suggest. Because the finish runs into the night, prepare for a section or more in darkness with appropriate lighting and warmer kit, and keep eating steadily from early on — the climbing burns through reserves faster than the low checkpoint elevations imply.
Conditions to expect
The course tops out at 1644 m and never dips below the 661 m of the start and finish, so extreme altitude is not the concern — the mountain punishes through gradient and repetition, not thin air. What defines the conditions is time: with cut-offs running from Saturday afternoon to a Sunday 03:00 finish, most runners will move through a full day and into the night, meaning a swing from daytime warmth to overnight cool and the mental challenge of climbing in the dark. Preparation should center on two things: climbing endurance and descending durability. With nearly 8000 m of gain, the ability to hike steep ground efficiently for hours is the single most valuable skill, and the matching descents demand quads conditioned for repeated hard downhill. Train specifically on long, steep, repeated climbs and descents, dial in a lighting and layering plan for the night section, and set a realistic finishing-time expectation — on a course this vertical, patience and steady management beat any attempt to race the early kilometres.
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Checkpoints & cut-offs
✓ Course data verified against the official source (2026-07-17) · official source
0 km · 661 m · —
15.1 km · 1231 m · Sat 13:00
24.5 km · 1463 m · —
33.5 km · 1038 m · Sat 18:00
42.8 km · 1053 m · —
54.3 km · 984 m · Sat 23:00
64.2 km · 721 m · —
68 km · 661 m · Sun 03:00
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