ARBERLAND Ultra Trail: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The loop starts and finishes at the Hohenzollern ski stadium at just under 1,000 metres. The first climb opens at kilometre 1.7, a little over three kilometres averaging 13.5 percent with ramps past 22 percent, up to the ridge at around 1,430 metres. A long descent follows, a further 300 metres of climbing at kilometre 13, and at kilometre 20 the course runs back through the stadium.

The middle section is the flattest part of the day and drops to just under 600 metres before the climbing tightens again past Rabenstein and Böhmhof. At kilometre 66 you are back in the stadium, and that is where the race effectively restarts: the Schachtenbach loop repeats the steep ridge climb, this time from kilometre 67 at close to 14 percent, and saves the longest ascent of the day for the end, six kilometres and just over 500 metres of gain from kilometre 93.

The surface and the surroundings are the Bavarian Forest in concentrated form: stony, rooty paths, dense mountain forest, open Schachten clearings and viewpoints from which the Alps are visible on a clear day. In mid September the start is dark and cold with mist standing in the valleys, and gloves, a hat, a space blanket and your own cup are mandatory kit, because the aid stations hand out no cups.

Pacing Strategy

The time window is tight: fifteen hours in total, a hard cut-off at kilometre 66 at three in the afternoon and a second at kilometre 86 at half past six. The organiser names the benchmark himself, namely the 66 km Classic Trail under ten hours. Work backwards from those marks rather than forwards from how you feel, and plan the first lap deliberately as the faster of the two.

The race is not decided on the first ridge climb but on its repeat at kilometre 67. By then you have ten hours in your legs and three kilometres at close to 14 percent in front of you, and the longest ascent of the day still waits from kilometre 93. Arrive there with something left and the final ten kilometres run themselves; arrive empty and that is where an hour disappears.

The classic trap sits between kilometre 26 and kilometre 45. That is where the course is flattest and fastest, and and where runners spend the account they will need on the second lap. Around 45 percent of the route is steep up or steep down, so disciplined hiking on the climbs and relaxed, low-braking descending are the currency of the day, not speed on the flat.

Training plan for ARBERLAND Ultra Trail: 12-week build

As an age-group athlete, plan for eleven to fifteen hours of effort, a full day on the move that begins before sunrise and may well end in dusk. The character is predominantly low aerobic, but it is not steady: barely ten percent of the route is flat, and the rest alternates constantly between steep climbing and steep descending, so heart rate never settles into a quiet line.

Every race-deciding phase sits in the second half. The ridge climb at kilometre 67 and the six kilometre closing ascent from kilometre 93 demand climbing power after ten and after thirteen hours, while 3,700 metres of descent load the quadriceps long before the climbs do. Descending under fatigue is therefore not a side topic but the core of the preparation.

Conditions belong in the training plan. The five o'clock start means roughly two hours of headtorch running on technical ground, cold damp air in valley mist, and a noticeable temperature drop once the course reaches the ridge. Run night sessions on rooty, stony paths, test your lamp at actual race pace, and rehearse the mandatory kit including your own cup rather than wearing it for the first time on race day.

The emphases follow from that: long sessions with the climbing loaded late, back to back long days, deliberate downhill work on technical terrain, and power hiking trained as a skill rather than used as an emergency measure. Covering the 66 km loop under ten hours, in a previous edition or in training, is the right reference point for the whole thing.