Trail du Tourmalet

The Trail du Tourmalet is a 35-kilometre race with 2,400 metres of positive elevation gain traversing the slopes of one of the most legendary cycling cols in the world. Starting from Barèges, a thermal and ski resort nestled at 1,250 metres elevation in the upper Bastan valley, this event transcends the Tourmalet's cycling heritage to offer trail runners an immersion into the most authentic Pyrenean high mountains. The Col du Tourmalet (2,115 m), first crossed by the Tour de France in 1910, is anchored in the global sporting imagination, and the trail offers a radically different perspective on this monument: that of pastoral paths, wild ridges, and hanging valleys that the tarmac road only hints at.

The 35-kilometre course explores both sides of the Tourmalet and the surrounding summits, offering demanding high-mountain terrain. Runners climb above Barèges through mountain pine forests and rhododendrons that bloom at altitude each June, before reaching the alpine grasslands where flocks of Barégoise sheep graze, a local breed adapted over centuries to these high pastures. The ridges offer vertiginous panoramas of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (2,877 m), famous for its astronomical observatory perched at the summit, and of the Néouvielle massif with its altitude lakes of unreal blue. On clear days, the view extends to the Gavarnie cirque and Monte Perdido on the Spanish side, summits inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The 2,400 metres of positive elevation gain over 35 kilometres (69 m/km ratio) place this race among the most vertical in the central Pyrenees. The climbs are long, sustained, and often exposed, on shepherds' trails that ascend without detour toward the ridges. The high-mountain terrain — granite scree, wet slabs, ridge passages — demands adapted running technique and complete mountain equipment. The descents, often on technical trails strewn with rocks and roots, severely test the quadriceps and reward runners with solid downhill technique. The altitude, with significant portions above 2,000 metres, adds the factor of oxygen rarefaction that runners accustomed to sea level must anticipate.

Barèges is the oldest thermal spa in the Pyrenees, frequented since the era of Louis XIV for the curative properties of its sulphurous waters. The town, rebuilt several times after devastating avalanches, carries in its architecture the memory of a resilient mountain community. The upper Bastan valley surrounding it is a conservatory of Pyrenean pastoral culture: transhumance, livestock fairs, and summer pasture cheese-making still punctuate local life. The Barèges thermal baths offer runners ideal thermal recovery after exertion, in naturally hot waters springing from Pyrenean granite at over 40 degrees.

For international runners, the Trail du Tourmalet is a sporting pilgrimage to a place steeped in history. Access is from Tarbes (45 minutes) or Lourdes (30 minutes), both towns with TGV stations and an airport. The proximity of the Gavarnie cirque, the Pont d'Espagne, and the Pyrenees National Park offers countless complementary hiking possibilities. Accommodation in mountain inns or thermal hotels allows extending the stay in cosy comfort after the course's demands. Bigourdan gastronomy — garbure, Barèges-Gavarnie mutton (France's only AOC sheep meat), blueberry tarts, Madiran wine — warms the bodies and hearts of trail runners who have come to test themselves against the slopes that made the greatest cycling champions suffer.

Trail du Tourmalet is a 35 km trail race with 2,400 m of elevation gain, located in Barèges, Hautes-Pyrénées. The next edition is scheduled for 12 July 2026.

Find all official information on the race website.