You already have waves of anxiety which are nothing in comparison with the carbon footprint you will create when you travel to Chamonix at the end of August. It is a good start. Between leaving from, and returning to, your front door, passing by the way a certain finishing line, you are going to complete stages which will be have many delicate turns to negotiate. The game consists of imagining – and certainly reducing – this big cloud of smoke which blackens the atmosphere at each of your kilometres.

Before the race: all together …..yeah!!

Car-pooling. One car shared by four, is better than one car alone. What’s more you can divide the cost of the petrol by four. Not bad eh? Car-pooling is truly more friendly, leaves you with good memories, gives you chance to put the world to right, is relaxing and peaceful, you can share the travel costs, and enter progressively into the great adventure which awaits you.

To help you make the task easier, along with Petzl, we are in the process of organising an intuitive and efficient web-site for car-pooling (we’re being modest), which will be in place for the end of June. You can, therefore, organise your journey with other The North Face^® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc^® competitors. Have a good journey!

The p’tit train. Travelling, they say straight away, by train, is a pain, one is obliged to drag one’s luggage to the station, by foot, and are never sure whether it will be on time… Shame on you, an ‘ultra’ runner who is going to log up dozens of kilometres in the mountains and who grumbles about running after a train all the way to the station!
You have now settled down with a more reasonable attitude, and decided not to bring the kitchen sink with you. And, we would like to announce the good news: the Rhône-Alpes region, in partnership with the Ultra-Trail^® organisation can offer competitors, those accompanying them and the general public the chance to have a 50% discount on all Rhône-Alpes regional TER trains between 23rd and 30th August

To benefit from this reduction, you will be able to, as from July1st, by logging on to our web-site www.ultratrailmb.com and downloading the invitation which you can present to any SNCF station in the Rhône-Alpes area when buying your ticket. The discount will be available on full tariff return tickets to Chamonix leaving from all stations in the Rhône-Alpes (including Geneva and Macon).

During the race: re-all together… yeah!!

You have arrived four in a car to reduce the carbon footprint.

Firstly, we have put in to place a comprehensive system of transport allowing accompanying persons to follow and encourage their runners at all strategic parts of the route.

Secondly, competitors, upon presentation of their race-bib, are entitled to use the shuttle buses free of charge between Chamonix and Courmayeur to reach the ‘start’ the CCC^® and TDS.

Thirdly, for those who unfortunately have to abandon the race there is free repatriation to Chamonix from the principal points along the race route which are accessible by road. But, all the same, we hope that you will finish on foot.

Fourthly, the organisation’s buses will be at the disposition of all the volunteers to transport them to their different posts. This transport is already organised and planned to optimise the sense of eco-responsibility.

New for 2010 : road closures

This year certain roads will be closed to favour communal transport and to reduce the environmental impact of the event:

• The road to St Gervais will be completely closed to traffic on Friday 27th August between 18:30 and 20:30. Only organisation buses will be allowed to use this route. To use these buses, a pre-reservation on the web-site www.ultratrailmb.com will be necessary (from the beginning of July). The tickets will be ready for collection at the distribution of race bibs at Chamonix Mont-Blanc or Courmayeur.

• The road to Champex from Orsières will be closed to traffic Saturday August 28th between 19.00 and midnight. Only organisation buses, leaving from Chamonix, Orsières or La Fouly will be allowed to use this route.

The transport map will be available in the Runner’s Guide which will be published during June 2010, and also on our web-site.

In 2009, we were really quite proud of certain figures:

• 11 300 people transported
• 61% of competitors accompanied during the race
• 32% of accompanying persons used communal transport

Some of the records will be pulverised in 2010 !

Once left to yourself, do not let your attention lapse and remember what they said to you a little higher: behave on the whole as an extreme racer. Economize your energy, economize the environment.

Fight against ground erosion. Refrain from the use of short cuts. Do not let yourselves take the easy option particularly on the tracks which are easily eroded and gullied by the rain, such as the one which goes down to Arnuva.

Preference for the re-usable. The individual goblet/beaker is from now on a must. Each competitor, since 2008, must have his/her own beaker to be able to be served with drinks at the refreshment posts. The beaker is included in the list of obligatory equipment and avoids the use of 90,000 disposable beakers. And, where-ever possible, we serve meals on normal washable crockery.

Three cheers for local resources ! In a country of abundant spring water, we naturally favour, where possible, the use of tap water. This is a saving of 10,000 plastic bottles and their transportation. The food supplied at the refreshment posts is bought locally (cheese, ham, salami….) to avoid unnecessary transportation and involve local producers.

For the rubbish, guess what ? It is you who is going to divide it by four.

Firstly, with Polartec^®, all your rubbish during the race must go into the small bag which will be given to you with your race-bib. Don’t forget to empty it from time to time in the bins situated at the refreshment posts.

Secondly, prioritise the use of toilets provided along the route. In the case of an emergency do not leave soiled toilet paper along the route. Think: use one of the small plastic bags issued to you with your race bib.

Thirdly, think about using rechargeable batteries and if that is not possible, don’t throw your used ones away: special containers will be available at the refreshment posts.

Fourthly, use the recycling bins provided for you.

Our constant worry about how to preserve the Mont-Blanc massif is directly proportional to the size of the event. It is present at each moment and across all sectors of the organisation. Here are two examples showing how we don’t turn down any good ideas.

Welcome to the mules. You know, those even-tempered animals, at times a little obstinate but extremely strong. Well in 2010, the Ultra-Trail^® have called upon the well-known "Mulets du Mont-Blanc", a network of muleteers working in France, Italy and Switzerland, to reach those points which are difficult to access with provisions or security equipment. This choice allows, with respect to the environment, to guarantee that security equipment can get to the destination where helicopter access is dependant upon favourable weather conditions.

Internet, it is really grandiose. Yes, let’s agree, without the Internet, many things would simply not be accomplished. We use the network in an exaggerated manner to economize on paper. Guides, route maps, forms (bills, medical certificates, anti-doping charter, runner’s pass), are all downloadable from the every individual racer’s file... It represents an approximate economy of 18,000m² of paper or 1,440kg of 80g paper. 

To distance work, organise meetings, and so avoid unnecessary travel, we use Alcatel’s « My Teamwork ». It is a video-conferencing tool with screen sharing, which is used as often as possible throughout the year.