Annapurna 100 Classic 55 km route

Note, along with the other trails, this has been updated: https://tracedetrail.fr/en/trace/trace/97325

54.9 km  +3484 m  -3459 m

We race Towards Fishtail – the Matterhorn-like one – along this forested ridge top.

2019 course profile and description

Start to 18 km

The start and finish of this race is in the village of Dhampus.

One thing you will notice in Nepal is that the hills and mountains are big. The rivers that flow away from the mountains cut deep. This means if you want to get close to the mountains in Nepal, you have to do some climbing.

From the start you get some traversing descent on trails and tracks. This is a great warm up and the first 13 km will pass relatively.

Most of this section is lightly shaded by trees and passes through several farming villages though you will be in the dark waiting for dawn.

18 km to 30 km

We (you) are lucky with this course in that you get 90% of the climb done in one go. How lucky! But this is a monster of a climb, almost 2000m of unrelenting climb in a tangle of forest. At about 28 km you come out of the forest – it ends abruptly – and you’re above the tree line. That means if it is clear, you’ve got some amazing views. As mentioned, you will notice the altitude so can take this section as a hike. You should be training with hills, calf raises, steps up on a chair etc.

30 km to finish

After taking some time (and pictures) at the checkpoint, you have 2000m to lose over 22 km. Some of this is slightly technical in the forest and some is going to be nicely runnable. It’s going to be hard on your legs, same some energy for a stylish finish.