the adidas INFINITE TRAILS in Gastein: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The day starts at six in the Alpen Arena and gives almost no warm-up: from kilometre 0.1 the trail climbs for nearly nine kilometres in one piece, up the Höhenweg to the Annencafé, past the Rastötzenalmen and onto the ridge between the Gastein and Großarl valleys. At kilometre 11.5 you reach the Gamskarkogel hut with 1,900 metres already in your legs – on Europe's highest grass mountain.

The course then drops to the Poserhöhe and climbs via the Graukogel mid-station to the summit station. The detour over the Palfnerscharte at 2,321 metres and the rocky Graukogel ridge reaches the high point of the race at 2,492 metres. Back at the mid-station it descends into Bad Gastein, past the waterfall to the Merangarten and up the steep ramp known as The Hell to Böckstein.

From there the route is identical to the 45K: six kilometres and 1,300 metres up to the Tischkogel, the ridge to the Stubnerkogel and fourteen mostly descending kilometres back through the Angertal. Eight aid stations serve the loop, and anyone still out after 16:30 must carry a headlamp.

Pacing Strategy

The race opens with the longest climb on the course, and that is the trap: nine kilometres of uninterrupted ascent straight out of the start area invite you to take the first 1,900 metres too fast. The climb is over at kilometre 11 – the race then still has at least eight hours to run.

The 60K is decided on the Tischkogel from kilometre 40.4: almost six kilometres at twenty-two percent average, on top of more than four thousand metres already climbed. That is where the fuelling plan of the first six hours becomes visible. Between the Graukogel and Böckstein lies the only extended runnable stretch of the loop – a section for eating, not for attacking.

The intermediate cut-offs sit at Böckstein, the Obere Zittrauer Alm and the Stubnerkogel, all three inside the Tischkogel block. Run the first three quarters with discipline and you arrive with a buffer; try to gain time on the Gamskarkogel and you will not have one.

Training plan for the adidas INFINITE TRAILS in Gastein: 12-week build

Plan on nine and a half to fourteen hours for an age-group athlete – for a meaningful part of the field the fourteen-hour limit is the real opponent. The character is a very long, largely low-intensity effort across eight climbs, two of which carry more than 1,300 metres each.

The decisive sections are the opening climb and the Tischkogel: the first because misjudging it ruins the whole day, the second because it arrives after forty kilometres. Preparation therefore needs back-loaded long sessions – long blocks with the biggest vertical in the second half – and steep uphill hiking several times a week.

The third emphasis is fuelling. A race day this long stands or falls on taking in carbohydrate reliably for ten hours or more, and that has to be trained inside every long session, ideally with the products the eight aid stations actually carry.

Conditions are high alpine. Two ridge sections sit above 2,300 metres, the Graukogel ridge is rocky and exposed, and in early September the day can start warm in the valley and turn cold and wet up top. A headlamp, the mandatory kit and a rehearsed bad-weather scenario – the organiser can switch to loops below 1,800 metres – all belong in the preparation.