On the other hand, since 2010, the year in which the event was born, the Tour of the Giants of the Aosta Valley has always been an emblem of the extreme feat to be accomplished. The race crosses the territory of 34 municipalities, along the paths of the legendary High Routes of the massifs of the Alps. Departure and arrival are in Courmayeur, a symbolic place for mountaineering lovers. The challenge revolves around three enterprises: distance, altimetry and time. Here they are, these three numbers that mark the destiny of hundreds of athletes every year: 330 kilometers of paths, which winds its way over a total difference in height of 24,000 metres and must be completed in 150 hours, or about a week's time.
This is undoubtedly the most famous race, but it is not the only "strong" one in the TORX® universe. There are in fact three other epics races: TOR450, TOR130 and TOR30. Let's see them. TOR450, Tor des Glaciers, is a race for visionaries, for only 200 runners, in total autonomy, the race that pushes the bar of the impossible a little further. It runs on the high routes called "wild" and "glaciers" and to participate you must have completed a Tor des Géants® in less than 120 hours. TOR130, Tot Dret, is instead a more technical and demanding race, with a night start and a faster pace, where good physical preparation and the ability to manage so many kilometres without stopping and without sleep on respectable peaks and altitudes are fundamental. And finally, the TOR30, Passage au Malatrà, the most accessible enterprise which covers the most legendary stretch, that is the last "stage" of fatigue common to all four races, from Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses you immediately attack the Col Malatrà, the hill symbol of TORX®, the spire suspended in the sky from which your gaze rests once again on Mont Blanc, on Courmayeur, on the much sought-after finish line which will proclaim the heroes of the peaks.
Silvia Trigueros Garrote, winner of the last two editions of the Tor Des Géants®.
Only a world elite of athletes can compete, the runners allowed will be 1100, 200 for TOR450, 500 for TOR30 and 500 for TOR130, against requests that are at least three or four times more.
The rest is a tale of landscapes and majestically beautiful places. The most famous adventure, that of TORX®, is first celebrated along with the Alta via Della Valle d'Aosta no. 2 in the direction of the lower valley, then returns to Courmayeur along with Alta via no. 1, retracing the paths at the foot of some of the most important four-thousands in the Alps and crossing the Gran Paradiso and Mont Avic national parks. A non-stop journey, to be done in semi-autonomous food. There are about forty refreshment posts, of course. And also seven bases of life where you can change and maybe sleep for a few hours. But it is an experience where everything is taken to the extreme, there are 25 mountains over two thousand meters to tame, but the eyes can also delight in one of the thirty lakes that cross in routes that range from 300 to 3,300 meters in altitude.
Adding more would be superfluous. SCARPA is proud to become part of the TORX® family. Because no place, no matter how far to reach, is really far when you love the mountains and cultivate a dream in your heart.
Credits: Roberto Roux, Pierre Lucianaz, Riccardo Selvatico, Stefano Jeantet
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