Crans-Montana Hosts Thousands of Trail Runners – Without the UTMB Mont Blanc Crush

22nd September 2026

Crans-Montana Hosts Thousands of Trail Runners – Without the UTMB Mont Blanc Crush

Wildstrubel by UTMB brought thousands of runners to the Swiss ski resort, as Crans-Montana continues to move forward following the devastating New Year’s Eve fire.

PlanetSKI’s Katy Dartford was there – and on the start line.

Thousands of trail runners descended on Crans-Montana at the weekend for Wildstrubel by UTMB, one of the Swiss resort’s biggest summer sporting events.

But “descended” may be the wrong word.

Despite the scale of the event, Crans-Montana felt surprisingly calm.

There were plenty of runners around, certainly.

The finish line and race village in the centre were busy, but not manically so, and there was a lively atmosphere as competitors from the different Wildstrubel races arrived in Crans-Montana.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Finish Line © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

Yet away from the finish area, it was still possible to drive around the resort and find somewhere to park.

Restaurants weren’t impossibly full, and accommodation was still available during race week.

Having spent plenty of time in Chamonix during UTMB week, the town can feel as though it has been swallowed whole by the event.

While Wildstrubel is part of the same UTMB World Series, in Crans-Montana it didn’t seem as though normal life had stopped to accommodate it.

That is particularly striking when you look at Chamonix in 2026, where the town’s new mayor has questioned whether UTMB has become too big for the valley.

François-Xavier Laffin raised concerns about the event’s impact on residents, traffic and the mountain environment, suggesting that runner numbers through protected areas may need to be reduced.

It has also been a difficult year for the Swiss resort following the devastating fire on New Year’s Eve.

PlanetSKI has reported extensively on the tragedy and its aftermath, including the response from the international ski community and the World Cup races held in the resort shortly afterwards.

Eight months later, Wildstrubel offered another snapshot of a resort getting on with the business of welcoming international visitors.

The event now includes races from 10km to more than 100km, bringing runners across the Wildstrubel massif and through some landscapes better known to PlanetSKI readers in winter.

And there is plenty of crossover between the two worlds.

The Wild 10 course, for example, takes runners onto terrain associated with Crans-Montana’s World Cup skiing, while the 70km race passes through Adelboden and Chuenisbärgli, another famous name on the Alpine ski circuit.

In winter, these mountains attract skiers.

Last weekend, we were attempting to run across them.

Across the Wildstrubel

My own assignment involved rather more research than standing at the finish line with a notebook.

I had entered the Wild 70, a 72km crossing from Kandersteg to Crans-Montana with around 4,600m of climbing.

It was the third time I’d entered the race, as in previous years injury had intervened.

This time I had no excuse.

Luckily, the logistics were refreshingly straightforward.

I stayed in Kandersteg the night before the race and handed over a bag that was transported to Crans-Montana while I ran all the way there.

There was no bleary eyed, pre-dawn bus transfer to a distant start either – something anyone familiar with major mountain races will appreciate.

I set off from Kandersteg at 7.20 am on Friday, and arrived at the finish line – hours later – again in darkness.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Timings… hours later  © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

In between were several large mountains, a lot of mud, very technical terrain and a battle with nausea.

Fortunately, the scenery was spectacular.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

The route climbs out of Kandersteg before crossing the Bunderschrinde towards Adelboden, then continues through Lenk and Iffigenalp towards the Wildstrubel hut and the high point of the course.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular Scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular Scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

From there it eventually reaches the Barrage de Tseuzier before following the mountains towards Crans-Montana.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular Scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

One thing I suspected – but the race reinforced – is that I am not a natural uphill runner.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular Scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

At five feet tall, I watched with some irritation as runners I’d overtaken on flatter and downhill sections strode past me again on the long climbs.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Spectacular scenery © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

The descents usually gave me the chance to catch them.

Wildstrubel by UTMB – Heading Down © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

Then we’d do it all again.

It continued for rather a long time.

Except these descents were a little more complicated – starting muddy – not fun in my worn-out Hokas- and later included rather long steps down – which I usually jump down, until my legs were too battered to do so.

A different UTMB experience

I returned to central Crans-Montana in daylight the following day.

Races were still going on, with runners from the other Wildstrubel events finishing beneath the arch and crowds cheering them home.

There was all the paraphernalia familiar from UTMB events: race village, sponsors, trail shoes, poles, exhausted runners and a lot of technical clothing.

But walk a few streets away and Crans-Montana was simply Crans-Montana again.

That’s quite different from my experience of Chamonix during UTMB week.

Chamonix is the spiritual home of the event, and the atmosphere can be extraordinary, but its popularity comes at a price. Accommodation can be expensive and difficult to find, restaurants are packed, roads congested and the town seriously busy.

For now, Wildstrubel suggests that a large international trail event doesn’t necessarily have to dominate its host resort to the same extent.

And the apparent lack of overcrowding wasn’t simply my impression.

Wildstrubel attracted 8,500 participants this year and, once friends and family are included, Crans-Montana Tourism estimates the event may have brought between 15,000 and 20,000 people to the area.

Yet Crans-Montana has around 50,000 tourist beds. “Even with a major race like this one we are still far from being crowded,” said Pierre-Henri Mainetti of Crans-Montana Tourism, who is awaiting the event’s final report on occupancy and economic impact.

The geography of the resort helps too.

Crans-Montana has two centres, meaning the finish and race village can be buzzing while elsewhere life carries on much as normal.

Mainetti reckons many people playing golf that weekend may not even have noticed a UTMB race was taking place.

Wildstrubel is also part of a much broader strategy to establish Crans-Montana as a year-round sporting destination.

The resort’s association with international competition stretches back more than a century: its first ski race was held in 1911, it hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1987 and continues to stage World Cup racing.

The Omega European Masters has brought some of the world’s leading golfers to the same course for 70 years, while more recently Crans-Montana has hosted major international mountain-bike racing.

Trail running is the latest addition.

With Wildstrubel now growing each year, Mainetti sees its association with UTMB as another way of reaching an international outdoor audience and building Crans-Montana’s reputation “not only as a ski destination but as a place you can come any time of the year to enjoy the great outdoors.”

That has taken on added importance following the New Year’s Eve fire.

Mainetti was candid that 2026 has been a difficult year for the resort, with a fall in overnight stays and business.

“Crans-Montana was everywhere on the news for the wrong reason,” he said. While stressing the destination’s compassion for those directly affected by the tragedy, he said the challenge now is to rebuild confidence while reminding visitors of the landscape and activities that brought them to Crans-Montana in the first place.

“It takes time, and we should not rush things,” he said.

Crans-Montana – © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

Bigger isn’t always better

There was another lesson from the weekend.

On Saturday, while I was recovering, some considerably faster people were racing the Wild 55.

Morocco’s Elhousine Elazzaoui won the men’s race in 4:49:05, covering roughly 55km of Alpine terrain in less than five hours.

I had taken more than three times that long to cover my course the previous day.

Watching the elite runners also reinforced something I’d been thinking about during my own race. Trail running has developed a tendency to equate progress with distance. Run 20km, and perhaps you should try a marathon. Run 50km, and the obvious next step appears to be 100km.

Then comes 100 miles.

Living close to Chamonix, it is particularly easy to get caught up in the “bigger, longer, harder” mentality surrounding UTMB.

Finishing Wildstrubel qualified me for more of it.

Instead, after 16 hours crossing the mountains, I came to a different conclusion.

I don’t want to go further.

I’d rather get faster.

And perhaps there’s a parallel with Crans-Montana itself.

Wildstrubel is growing, but during my weekend there it hadn’t overwhelmed the place hosting it.

Sometimes bigger isn’t necessarily better, but getting the balance right and knowing when enough is enough,  is more of a challenge.

Wildstrubel by UTMB © PlanetSKI – Katie Dartford

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