l'Échappée Belle 96k

8 min read

The 96 km Traversée Nord of l'Échappée Belle is a high-elevation ultra crossing the Belledonne range in the French Alps. Starts at midnight in Allevard, climbs over 7,000 m through a series of passes (Valloire at 2,751 m, Morétan, Comberousse, Arpingon), and finishes in the valley town of Aiguebelle. Mostly above treeline, technical in places, relentless in its climbing. This is how my race went.

Distance	Elevation +/-
97.2 km (60.4 mi)	7,367 m (24,170 ft) ↗️ 7,380 m (24,213 ft) ↘️

Arriving in Grenoble

I arrived in Grenoble two weeks before the race. The plan was simple: spend some time in the Alps, support my friend Arnaud during his 96 km race, and enjoy a summer trip. A week before though, I rolled my ankle badly on a training run. High ankle sprain, torn ligaments, six to eight weeks off running per the ortho. Racing was off the table.

Still worth going. Arnaud was running the Traversée Nord, and even if I couldn't join him, I could crew and hang out in the mountains.

Grenoble sits right at the base of the Alps. Easy access to high trails, relaxed city, good food. Arnaud hosted me, cooked great meals, and introduced me to his friends. We spent a few days in central Grenoble, celebrated his birthday, then moved out to Saint-Egrève closer to the mountains.

We stayed at a mountain cabin in La Bâtie with views toward Mont Aiguille. Even with the ankle, I managed some hiking and easy jogging on soft trails. Enough to keep moving and get a bit of elevation back in my legs.

Race day

Arnaud's parents drove us to Aiguebelle for bib pickup, then on to Allevard for the start. Good news at pickup: microspikes were dropped from the mandatory gear list.

I'd packed my running kit loosely planning to join Arnaud for a short section. During the drive to Allevard though, the thought grew. My ankle had handled a 26 km run and a 42 km slow run the previous week. If it stayed wrapped and supported, I could probably manage. Worst case, drop at a checkpoint where Arnaud's parents would be waiting.

So I told him I wanted to start. He was immediately on board.

The scramble for missing mandatory gear began. His dad pulled an emergency blanket from the car's first-aid kit. His mom handed over a neck buff. Arnaud lent me a headlamp. The only thing left was a collapsible water cup. Arnaud dug through the car and found the plastic lid of an aerosol can. Not foldable, barely a cup, but it would work.

By the time we reached Allevard, the town square was packed: band playing, spectators everywhere, dusk was settling in. We found a café, had an apéritif, ate the food we'd packed, and tried to rest before the midnight start.

We tried to sleep in the car for a couple hours. Didn't really work. An hour before the start, I got up, put on my vest, and we walked to the start line. First wave went off at midnight. Cowbells, cheering. We were in the second wave, watching them go and waiting for our turn.

Allevard

We left Allevard just after midnight. The route quickly went from pavement to service road to singletrack. Cool air, gentle first climb, easy to settle in.

I wasn't sure my headlamp would last through the night, so I turned it off occasionally to conserve the battery and followed the glow from nearby runners instead. The trail climbed steadily to Refuge Crêt du Poulet (1,695 m) on soft forest paths. Fresh legs, about 5.8 km/h. Just under two hours to the refuge, feeling solid.

Centre Cévéo

The descent to Centre Cévéo (1,046 m) was my fastest section at about 6.7 km/h. Dawn starting to show on the horizon. Headlamps visible along the ridge behind me. A quick stop to refuel before the big climb ahead.

Col de la Valloire

The race's biggest climb: over 1,800 m of gain to Col de la Valloire (2,750 m). Rocky switchbacks past three alpine lakes (Blanc, Noir, and Glacé) catching the morning light. Cloud filled the valley below at the top, peaks sticking out above. This was one of the most beautiful views of the entire race.

Col du Morétan

A high traverse linked the two passes. Col du Morétan (2,488 m) had jagged granite and lingering snow patches. This was technical terrain. There were boulder fields that slowed everyone to a crawl. But we could hear supporters at the top were cheering, which helped with the final push to the top.

I put the poles away and focused on big deliberate steps, boulder to boulder, keeping my heart rate steady. Wanted to save energy for the steep descent on the other side.

Périoule

From Morétan, the trail dropped toward Périoule (1,808 m). I let gravity do most of the work, about 4.15 km/h, gripping the fixed rope on the steeper pitches. The trail passed a few small alpine lakes before easing onto softer meadow paths, which was a welcome change after all the rock.

Super Collet

Rolling climbs to Super Collet (1,642 m), a ski area that's all alpine meadows in summer. Hot midday sun, but gentle terrain. Steady 4.37 km/h. We met Arnaud's parents here, refilled water, grabbed salty snacks and soup, and reset for the afternoon.

Arpingon

This is where the race got hard. Long climb to Arpingon Pass (2,196 m), rocky scrambles mixed with steep grassy pitches. Pace dropped to 2.72 km/h and the heat wasn't helping. The ridge views across the Belledonne and out toward the Chartreuse made up for it though.

Val pelouse

This was one of the hardest sections for me. Maybe it was the time of day or the accumulated passes, but my energy bottomed out. I felt dizzy and unsteady, needing short breaks at each pass to recover.

Once we cleared the final pass, the trail descended toward Val Pelouse (1,714 m). Green slopes opened up and I was able to pick up speed again, running freely to the checkpoint.

Checked in with Arnaud here and he was feeling strong so we decided he'd push ahead and finish the last 35 km on his own. After he left, I rested briefly, then started the climb out of Val Pelouse. Evening light across the valley, headlamp back on, 4.01 km/h.

Le Bourget en Huile

The descent toward Le Bourget en Huile (819 m) came in darkness. Switchbacks, mostly alone, tired legs but steady pace. At the checkpoint I refueled on fruit and soda. Arnaud's parents were there. They'd just missed him, apparently he'd blown through at speed. Seeing them gave me a boost. Told them I'd see them at the finish and headed out.

Aiguebelle

The last climb was steep and straight. No switchbacks, just up. A few runners were with me at first but fell back near the top. Along the ridgeline I kept expecting the descent to start, fooled by false drops a couple of times.

Final 7 km to Aiguebelle (319 m), I found a rhythm and picked up the pace, catching runners ahead. Wondered if I'd gone out too hard for the descent, but after nearly 25 hours on the move I managed to hold 5.76 km/h through the forest all the way down.

I rang the Aiguebelle bell. Done. 25 hours of Belledonne, start to finish.

Checkpoint	Dist. (km)	Cum. Dist. (km)	Elevation +	Speed (km/h)	Time	Rank
Allevard	-	-	-	-	00:00:00	-
Refuge Crêt du Poulet	10.7	10.7	1,385	5.84	01:50:24	141
Centre Cévéo	10	20.7	277	6.71	03:19:49	194
Col de la Valloire	8.9	29.7	1,822	2.95	06:36:26	157
Col du Morétan	3.5	33.2	411	2.48	08:02:10	183
Périoule	3.7	36.9	10	4.15	08:55:34	180
Super Collet	10.3	47.2	890	4.37	11:17:22	174
Arpingon	13	60.2	1,643	2.72	16:03:52	184
Val pelouse	4.9	65.2	276	4.01	17:17:41	186
Le Bourget en Huile	15.5	80.6	972	3.41	21:50:41	197
Aiguebelle	16.5	97.2	681	5.76	24:58:05	180
Total	-	97.2	8,367	3.89 (km/h)	24:58:05	180

Reflections

Deciding to run only four hours before the start made this one memorable. I'm grateful to Arnaud for running with me and for the support throughout, and glad we each got to run our own races in the final stretch providing each of us with a bit of solitude.

The route is a full alpine crossing: night forests, high passes, valley descents. Each section asks for something different, and each one delivers something different too. The lakes at dawn, the ridge views, ringing the bell at Aiguebelle in the middle of the night.

Thanks for reading. If you have questions or want to chat about the race, get in touch or find me on Instagram: @andrewtpham.

Happy trails!