After a lot of reading, testing and tweaking, my gear list for the upcoming UTMB is ready:
Pack: Salomon XT Advanced Skin S-lab 12L
Waterproof jacket: Montane Atomic DT
Waterproof trousers: Montane Atomic DT
Warm long sleeve: Icebreaker Oasis Crew 200
T-shirt: Salomon Trail Runner II SS ZIP TEE
Tights: Salomon EXO 3/4 Tights
Shorts: Salomon XT II Lite Short
Calfs: Salomon EXO IV Long
Shoes: Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra
Underwear: Craft Cool Boxer with mesh
Socks: Drymax Trail Lite
Gloves: Nike Elite Storm Fit Run Glove
Hat: Extremities Beani
Cap: A cheap cap bought in Corsica
Main headlamp: Petzl MYO RXP
Second headlamp: Petzl e+lite
Watch/Altimeter: Suunto X6
Other stuff:
Cup
Bottles
Water
Energy
First Aid kit
Vaseline
Survival blanket
Mobile phone
Passport Driver´s license
Money
Some items are maybe a bit too heavy but they are high quality and the budget is not unlimited.
I probably buy some sleeves in Chamonix to use during the cold parts.
/Erik
Puh. Mycket att bära med!
Ser att du fått tag på 12:an. Grattis! Förutsätter att den känns bra eftersom den följer med på färden!
12:an är kanon! Lyckades hitta ett förhandsexemplar i en spansk butik.
Hi Erik
Came across your blog on the internet, I´m Icelandic but live in northen Norway. I´m running the UTMB now for the 5th time (one DNF in 2010) + 1 x CCC.
Your kit list look good but there is no need for passport, bring your drivers licence instead.
Hi Borkur!
Thanks for your advice.
Any more to share with a first time runner?
Few advice:
The first mountain has a very steep down hill so your quads can (or will) get fried there, the first year we ran over this mountain everybody was walking after St. Gervais, some became so wasted that they had to sleep in the next few aids stations. The last part we run down very steep asphalt road and you can “hear” your quad tear apart 🙂 So this race is about saving your quads for the second half. Many good Americans have stopped in Courmayeur with fried quads, though they are used to 100 miles run.
It´s also very steep down to Courmayeur.
The course is not very technical, might want to be careful down Col de Seigne and Col du Bonhomme but if you feel comfortable in rocky terrain then you´ll have no problems. These technical parts are not long and they are not going to make or break your race, the rest, 90% is very runnable or uphill.
If you are going for a good time try to stop as little as possible in the aid stations, you will see people sitting down and eating early in the race but such a stop can take 20 minutes, if you take many such a stop you´ll end up with lot of minutes wasted (I have wasted many hours..!)
The food might strike you as strange but I´ve gotten used to it and eat everything, sausage, cheese, bread et.c.
Overall it´s a huge fun running this course, you meet a lot of people and the scenery and the night running ad great atmosphere to it (might want to bring camera with you to capture it)
Geoff Roes description of UTMB last year (until it was stopped), St. Gervais is amazing 🙂
http://akrunning.blogspot.com/2010/08/utmb-final-thoughts.html
Feel free to contact me when your arrive in Chamonix (or sooner), I´m staying 22nd to 31st.
+47 970 82 327
barky@simnet.is
Thanks again Borkur. We are staying 24th to 29th. Hope to see you before, during, or after the race.