A keen trail runner discovers a new high in the French Alps: running at night on dark snowy mountains. With music blaring, I was surrounded by hundreds of people excitedly jumping up and down, waving their hands in the air. You might be picturing a packed nightclub or a sweaty music festival but no: it was 6pm on a mid-January night.
Temperatures hovering around minus four celsius, stars blinking in the inky sky and the snow beneath my feet crisp and white. I was waiting, along with 500 other runners, at the start line of the inaugural Trails des Gets Hiver, a winter trail run through over snowy hills and through lush Alpine forests. Les Gets is about an hour’s drive from Airport, in the Haute Savoie region and part of the Portes du Soleil ski domaine.
It’s an authentic French ski town with traditional alpine chalets, small hotels and two parallel streets which are dotted with bars, restaurants and ski shops. We stayed at the charming Chalet Bluebell in Les Gets. The owners set us up for the race with a warm welcome and hearty food, and even gave us a lift to the start line and cheered us on round the course.
It’s this kind of local hospitality that makes you feel part of a community on a running holiday. The dress code that night was, let’s say, eclectic. Surrounded by men in shorts and women gripping poles, my running buddy and I just had time to pull on our newly bought ice grips before the countdown began.
Trois, Deux, Un! 500 head torches lit up the night sky and.