DoloMyths Run: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The climbing starts almost from the village square. From kilometre 1.2 a single seven-kilometre ascent averaging about 18 per cent and holding 1,260 metres of vertical takes you over Passo Pordoi (2,239 m) up to Forcella Pordoi (2,829 m). Then comes the summit ramp: 1.7 kilometres at 16 per cent to the Capanna Piz Fassa on Piz Boè. From there the race flips entirely, and twelve kilometres of descent run past Rifugio Boè (2,871 m), down through Val Lasties (2,300 m) and over Pian Schiavaneis back to Canazei.

The ground underfoot is mountain trail, alpine track and scree, flagged rather than fenced, with aid taken at the huts themselves. The organiser grades the route EE, a route for experienced mountain walkers: there are exposed passages that are not continuously protected by fixed ropes. The Piz Boè pyramid, by contrast, is almost entirely rigged with fixed ropes, which is why poles are barred there. Folding poles go into the pack, rigid poles are handed over at Forcella Pordoi and carried back down from Passo Pordoi. Two public roads, the SR48 at the Pordoi and the SS242 at Pian Schiavaneis, stay open to traffic during the race.

The numbers are as lopsided as that sounds: 21.8 kilometres, roughly 1,800 metres of ascent and the same again of descent, with barely three per cent of the course flat. Almost 40 per cent of it is steep uphill and a good 30 per cent steep downhill. The field stays small, with around 240 finishers classified in 2026.

Pacing Strategy

The race splits into two halves with entirely different demands. At an average of 18 per cent the climb is a hike for almost everybody, not a run: do not chase the lower switchbacks, find a pole rhythm you can hold for ninety minutes or more. The cutoffs are tight, 2h30 at Forcella Pordoi and 3h30 at Rifugio Boè, but going above threshold on the lower half leaves you stranded in thin air above 2,800 metres.

The race is decided on the way down. Twelve kilometres with more than 30 per cent of their length in steep descent, on scree and narrow paths, punish the quadriceps harder than the climb does, and anyone still actively running rather than braking takes back what they saved lower on the mountain. The transition itself is the critical point: you hand over your poles on the summit pyramid, the fixed ropes and oncoming traffic dictate your speed, and then you have to run again immediately.

The classic trap is altitude. Between Forcella Pordoi, the summit and Rifugio Boè you spend several kilometres above 2,800 metres, where power drops noticeably and breathing sets the pace. Conditions change with it: wind and, in July, cold or thunderstorms up top, full sun on the last kilometres in the valley.

Training plan for DoloMyths Run: 12-week build

Expect anything from around two and a half to five hours depending on your level, with a 5h30 time limit. The demand is not a steady endurance run: it is one long, hard climbing block just under threshold followed by a descent that loads the legs eccentrically. The 21.8 kilometres of distance will barely register.

The single most important thing to train is steep uphill hiking with poles, not uphill running. At almost 18 per cent average and far steeper in places, rhythm on foot wins, and it needs to be practised for an hour at a stretch, ideally on ramps of 15 to 25 per cent. Add strength endurance for calves and hip flexors, because driving poles through 1,700 metres of vertical works the upper body too.

The second focus is descending. Scree fields, gravel gullies and narrow paths demand sure footing and eccentric durability, so long downhill runs under fatigue, deliberately placed at the end of a hard session, are worth more here than another interval set. If fixed ropes are unfamiliar territory, spend time on easy exposed ground beforehand: the EE grading is meant seriously, and a head for heights cannot be improvised on race day.

Conditions are high alpine. The summit sits at 3,152 metres, several kilometres run above 2,800, and in July the weather up there can turn from summer to storm within an hour while the valley stays in the sun. If you can, spend time above 2,500 metres beforehand and test your wind shell, your outsole grip and the pole handover under real conditions rather than on race morning.