UTMB Updates Mobility Plan For Finals In Chamonix

At a press conference this week UTMB announced several updates, improvements, and a renewed commitment to their climate goals focusing mainly on their biggest contributor: ‘transportation’.

Getting tens of thousands of people to Chamonix, France each year is a challenge and one the region around Mont Blanc is severely affected by. Any events manager knows that collecting plastic wrappers and minimizing garbage, while important, has little impact on the overall carbon footprint of an event where people travel from near and far.

One big caveat up front: This announcement and policy addresses the Finals in Chamonix and isn’t (yet) a policy for the World Series and all their races around the world. But clearly, the team must’ve been thinking about how these policies can be expanded to the other races in their series and how this will affect the series going forward.

UTMB’s solution is twofold:

First off, and that has been something that the’ve been working on and improving every year, is the mobility plan during the week of UTMB in and around Mont Blanc. Creating a working model for runners, crew and spectators to get from valley to valley, from start line to finish line and all the aid stations in between. Moving tens of thousands of people through these small hard to access towns isn’t easy and finding good policies that don’t just enable, but clearly outline how to curb excessive travel is paramount.

Mobility has been central to our environmental approach since 2004, when our dedicated transport plan – now known as UTMB Mobility – was introduced to reduce private car use across the Mont-Blanc valleys.

While the results have been encouraging, the reality is stark: travel to the Mont-Blanc region accounts for nearly 86% of our total carbon footprint each year, whereas local transport during the event makes up just 2%.

So, today’s news is really about the second point and bigger impact: how do folks get to the UTMB Finals in Chamonix?

Whenever environmental practices and sustainability goals are discussed there’s always someone entering the conversation who’s moving the goal post. Any effort made by an individual or organization is not good enough in someone’s eye or is not meeting their expectation or personal approach to what should be done to combat a changing climate and rising temperatures. But the beauty of combating climate change is that EVERY action in that direction does make an impact. We’re all fighting the same issue and while we might not have the same approach or focus, every action does have an effect. And at the very least, it gets us talking, it gets us focused on trying to safe our planet.

So, what big news did UTMB’s announce today?

LOTTERY BONUS: Runners who follow the organisation’s recommended low-carbon travel route will benefit from a 30% higher chance of selection in the lottery.

How will this work?

At registration our dedicated tool will help you identify the most efficient low-carbon route from your location. Train, bus, shared transport – every option will be considered to guide you toward the most sustainable journey.

If you commit to the suggested route, you will automatically receive the 30% lottery bonus. To ensure the system remains fair and transparent, you’ll simply be asked to provide proof of travel after registering (e.g. a train ticket, bus ticket, etc.).

Oh and there will be questions, like this obvious one:

What if someone lies?

Sanctions are under discussion and will be announced before pre-registration.

So, this is clearly an ambitious plan. One that aims to address the biggest problem events managers face in trying to curb carbon emissions for their events. I want to give kudos to UTMB for trying to address this and come up with a solution. It will be seen how this will be implemented and what effects this will have. But like with putting up recycling bins at aid stations, just creating the awareness brings already change – which is important.

The other news here is that this is the first time since the introduction of their stone system that UTMB is offering an amendment to it. How will all this affect the lottery? No idea, and I am sure while UTMB modeled some of this out, they also don’t know for sure, but hope that this number is enough of an incentive for runners to choose a more environmentally friendly option of travel.

The second piece to this announcement is a bit hidden and will create some controversy:

Carbon contribution will become mandatory for all runners at HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc 2026, based on the emissions from their journey between home and the event.

UTMB is doing more here, but I pulled just the piece out that’s affecting participants directly.

Each participant will have to contribute up to the amount of emissions linked to his or her journeys.

The cost varies according to the mode of transport used and the distance covered between the rider’s address and Chamonix. The price per tonne is €25/tonne of CO2eq.

Here are a few concrete examples of the most represented populations (round-trip):

• France: between <1€ et & max 10€ (depending on your departure city and mode of transport)
• Italy, Spain, United Kingdom: max 20€
• USA: between 45 € and 70 €
• Asia: between 65€ and 75€
• South America: about 85€
• Australia: between 100 and 130€

When looking at this from the angle of carbon emissions, these numbers feel reasonable. But looking at it from a participant point of view this feels like a tax, or almost a tariff, to speak in terms currently floating around the news cycles. Is this fair? Is this equitable? Does this feel like favoritism?

I don’t have a good answer here. We want our sport to be a welcoming celebration on a global stage. We want to invite and include people from regions who are traditionally less represented and financially don’t have the same spending power. But I also don’t want to beleaguer UTMB here with all the nuances as I want to celebrate their leadership in this. No other organization in our sport is addressing this issue or offering any other solutions.

There’s a cruel and real juxtaposition here

On one side UTMB’s stone system forces people who want to compete in the Finals to travel to very specific races which could mean, for folks living in certain regions, that they have to travel more and farther than with the old point system. (But we also don’t have data to really support this assertion – it just feels that way.)

Just last week I read a comment Catherine Poletti made on social media expressing her heart-brokenness about the disaster that struck Blatten in Switzerland a few weeks ago and I believe that the fear, by people living in these mountain valleys, is real. Climate change affects us all. And in these valleys folks are dealing with retreating glaciers and disappearing permafrost which will transform and potentially upend life as we know it in the Alps. When driving the first time into the Chamonix the Mer de Glace hangs imposingly above the town and one stops in awe. But folks who’ve lived in these valleys for generations know that the mountains are treacherous and need to be respected. Much of what we’ve done over the last century has been about keeping us as individuals safe as we explore these inhospitably peaks, but with rising temperatures around the globe it feels like nature is reminding us who’s in charge here on this planet. We’re just guests and are being told to behave accordingly.

And with this sentiment, I want to respect UTMB’s perspective and attempt at a solution here. I want to be a guest in Chamonix again soon and I am fortunate enough that these new policies aren’t prohibiting me – either ideologically or financially – from going back again.