The UTMB Mont-Blanc, supporting its community beyond trail running

Since its creation 20 years ago, the UTMB® Mont-Blanc has been deeply and passionately connected to the territories it crosses. Not only is it a race that unites France, Italy and Switzerland, but above all, it is a year-round event committed to supporting local communities and bringing people together.

Embodying this mountain culture of solidarity, the organization of the UTMB Mont-Blanc works daily to help the communities it touches reach their objectives by supporting local economic and environmental projects. This is an ongoing mission, involving the staff and volunteers of the UTMB Mont-Blanc organization, as well the runners who contribute through donations that support numerous charitable initiatives. All these contributions allow the organization to assist the local communities in the implementation of their important initiatives.

Recently, thanks to part of these donations, the UTMB Mont-Blanc organization has been working with the Municipality of La Thuile and the family of Edoardo Camardella, a young alpinist and trail runner who tragically passed away in 2019, to implement the first solidarity bivouac on the Ruitor Glacier. This eco-responsible bivouac was conceived as a unifying place, symbolically located at the border between Italy and France as a sign of friendship, allowing for alpinists and hikers to gather or to find shelter in bad weather. Through its Environment Committee, the UTMB Mont-Blanc financed the solar panels that will provide clean energy for the bivouac, which will also serve as one of the highest meteorological stations in Europe, while also honoring the memory of Edoardo Camardella.

This is just one example of the many projects carried out by the Environment and Solidarity Committees of the Trailers du Mont-Blanc, a non-profit association that has been accompanying the organization of the UTMB-Mont-Blanc for 20 years and whose mission is to choose the causes and associations to support and maintain close ties with them.

To learn more about runners' donations and the charity projects of the UTMB Mont-Blanc click here.

To learn more about the UTMB Mont-Blanc Environmental Committee click here.

For further information on how to reach the bivouac dedicated to the memory of Edoardo Camardella, click here : https://www.bivaccoedoardocamardella.it/