French/Swiss Alpine Jogging

[eddie]

community

i'm heading to france quite soon and i'm keen to do some Alpine running. any tip top tips of where to go? any classics?

[Spookster]

any tip top tips of where to go? any classics?

The Pyrenees is nice (less busy than the Alps). There's Font Romeu (altitude training camp - ask Steve Vernon who was there a couple of months ago), and there's my sisters place near there .
[blatant plug] http://www.altitudeadventure.com/ [/plug]

Cheap flights go to Perpignan.

[Scott]

There's a beginner's guide to Alpine running in the current copy of Summit, including some route suggestions.

From personal experience, I'd definitely recommend the Aiguilles Rouges on the the N side of the Chamonix valley, which are nice for running and have some awesome views of the Chamonix Aiguilles/Mont Blanc range. I've also run quite a few fun peaks and passes up and back from Saastaal. Basically just get a map of wherever you're going, pick something likely-looking and run up it. Be prepared for odd looks from hikers.

[Topcover]

You could do worse than plot excursions to include sections of the TMB. Many of the local distance events do exactly this (including the Chamonix Marathon), as it's all good running. I guess it just depends upon accessibility/variation depending on where you're basing yourself from. If the tourist maps aren't much help, military maps might be of use if available online.

[xtophe]

If you haven't found it yet, you can view online the equivalent of the OS map (carte IGN) at http://www.geoportail.fr/en_UK/visu2D.do?ter=metropole

On the left handside you can add extra layers like maps (carte), altitude, trig points (sites geodesiques) or avalanches area (zone a risque) and then play with the order and opacity of the layers

[housewife]

We have been to Bettmeralp in Swtizerland for the past 4 years. Fabulous walking and running, and cheap self catering accomodation in this car free classic swiss village. Or Zinal, 10miles south of Sierre in Switzerland is also very pretty.