Arrived in Chamonix early on Tuesdas, headed over to the finishline for just a last pint and back to the hotel that was quite a stretch from the city center. But first miles in in a still pretty cold Chamonix. Head to get out of the hotel early to catch the first bus, checked in the hotel for the rest of the week (thank god for Alpina) and hurried to get to Maison des Artistes in time – early, told you already, did i? First person I saw was actually Francois D’Haene, wow. I’m not a starstruck person but still, what a legend!
Salomon invited me to attend the launch event of their latest Ultra collection and I was happy to be around. Unfortunately without the Ultra on my feet as not enough sizes were available. Little bummer but (spoiler!) my Mafate Origins were pretty tough and brought me through the day.
After some snacks, coffee and an introduction by Francois himself, we started with a little warm-up game and ran to the cable car afterwards to get the first vertical meters in and get up to a decent height. The lap was supposed to be around 10k and 600 vertical meters, love it. Long story short, it was partially very technical and 900 meters in the end, with a climb of 650. But ffs that was nice and it was worth it when we arrived at that lake. Amazing and at around 2200m. Thanks for the crazy food-designed experienced at the lake! You’ll get what I mean after seeing the pics. Also, I later found out that our guide had just ran MCC the day before and finished 4th – also he was on the phone for quite some time as it’s the athlete manager of team Salomon. Google him!
Back down we had an amazing regional lunch with the full French experience, even including red wine.
Had the chance to take a look at the new Ultra collection and found out it’s been tested for years, made from recycled materials in EU – what is a good step imo. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to run the Ultra but look and feel are already pretty solid! But when it comes to the optics, the white run shirt with the mountain-ish print is the clear match winner.
All in all, a great first day in Chamonix – thx for all the familiar faces and all the friendly new ones. Thx to Salomon for the invite!
Just for your information – here’s what Salomon says about the all-new Ultra silhouette:
“S/LAB ULTRA is the fruit of a uniquely collaborative vision between renowned ultra runner François d’Haene and Salomon. Redefining the limits of pinnacle product performance, it's the first shoe to keep performing after 10 to 15hrs of racing. A foam and plate combo carve out new territory for ultrarunning bringing previously unexplored sensations.”
It comes with a drop of 8mm, a light weight of 280gr, 37mm heel stack hight, fast lacing and is obviously made for the literally long run!
