Trail des Glières 21 km 2026: preparation, logistics and gear guide

The Trail des Glières is organised by the Club Nordic des Glières, a non-profit association from Fillière / Thorens-Glières, in Haute-Savoie. The 2026 edition is the fifteenth and runs over two days: the KV des Glières on Saturday 2026-10-03, the five loop races on Sunday 2026-10-04.

The "Chamois Rapide" is the fourth of the six distances on offer, between the 34 km "Lynx Déchainé" and the 10 km "Marmotte Speed". The rules describe it as a 21 km course with 1,400 m of climbing and descent, mostly on trails, run as a loop.

The race page sums up the route in one sentence: a climb to 2,000 m at Sous-Dine via Le Monthieu, a return over the Col de Landron, then a direct descent to Usillon. The organisers state the route is identical to the 2025 one. The 21, 49 and 64 km share that same 2,000-metre high point, the highest of the event.

The default format is the pair — two runners who start, run and finish together, under penalty of a time sanction — but running solo remains possible, at a separate price. The rules allow and recommend mutual help between teammates; towing or tethering systems, however, are forbidden.

The route is not published at the time this guide is written: the organisers announce a release during September, some sections crossing private land that is only accessible on race day. They explicitly ask anyone reconnoitring to stay on permanently waymarked paths and to cross no barrier or fence.

The climbing-to-distance ratio is 67 metres of ascent per kilometre. That is mountain-race terrain: preparation is decided by the ability to climb for a long time at a sustained effort, not by weekly mileage.

The ascent comes in one piece, from the valley floor at Thorens-Glières up to 2,000 metres. The session that most resembles the race is a continuous climb of 1,000 to 1,400 metres with no flat, run at the effort you would hold in the race, not at long-run pace.

The descent gives back the whole of the climb on ground the rules call technical, with sections where the organisers reserve the right to forbid running. Long descents on tired legs are therefore the second session not to skip: in a race under four hours, that is where the clock is won or lost.

The rules point out that the temperature can be below zero in early October at 2,000 metres, and that the weather can make the course harder. Training at least once in cold and wind, in the jacket you intend to carry, avoids discovering on race day that it is not enough.

For a pair, preparation carries one more unknown: running together. Two runners of close but not identical pace must have rehearsed the climb and the descent side by side before the race, failing which the faster one sets the rhythm and the slower one blows up before the pass.

Start and finish are at the same place: the place d'Esnandes, in Thorens-Glières. The 21 km starts at 10:30, the last of the five that day before the 10 km at 13:30; the 64 km starts at 04:30, the 49 km at 07:30, the 34 km at 09:00.

The car park for 21 km runners is the Thorens-Glières football stadium, route du stade, 74570 Fillière. Shuttles run to the start area from 06:00 on the Sunday. Only the 64 km uses the Tom Morel hall car park.

Bibs are collected at the Tom Morel hall, 188 rue des fleuries, 74570 Fillière: on Saturday 2026-10-03 from 16:00 to 19:00, or on Sunday 2026-10-04 from 06:00 to 13:00. Photographic identification is compulsory; another person may collect a bib on presentation of the participant's identification.

Fifteen minutes before the start, competitors must be inside the start block for the briefing, entering through the pen — that is where kit may be checked.

A sheltered, secured area allows a change-of-clothes bag to be left, with checks on deposit and collection. It is open to every race except the 64 km.

The 21 km entry includes the post-race meal, a full hot meal served from 12:00 at the Tom Morel hall, and the post-race beer. Extra meals can be booked at 13 € during online registration. Drinks are served in the compulsory personal cup.

Registration is online only, from 2026-06-15 to 2026-10-02 at 23:00. No entry on the day, and changing race is not allowed. Transferring a bib to another runner, on the same race format, remains possible until closing, through the registration platform.

The 21 km is open to runners born in 2007 or earlier. For adults without a licence, a Pass Prévention Santé number valid on race day is compulsory; for licence holders, a valid FFA licence number. Canicross is not allowed.

From Annecy, Annecy Nord motorway exit: follow "Thonon Evian / Chamonix / Argonay / La-Roche-sur-Foron / Thônes", continue on the D1203 and take the "Thorens-Glières" exit on the right.

From Geneva: take the A41 motorway towards Annecy, leave at Allonzier-la-Caille, take the third exit at the roundabout, then follow Groisy at the next one; in Groisy, turn right after the railway line and follow Thorens-Glières.

The organisers explicitly encourage car-sharing. Parking for the 21 km is at the football stadium, and shuttles to the start area run from 06:00 on the Sunday: with a 10:30 start, they leave a wide window to arrive unhurried and collect a bib on site.

For the general list, the organisers point to the website of the commune of Fillère and to that of the Lac d'Annecy tourist office.

Five places are named as partners of the Trail des Glières: La Chaumière Saint-Maurice, in the heart of Thorens-Glières; the Domaine de la Sapinière, nearby; Chez Gautard, on the Glières plateau; La Métralière, on the Glières plateau; and the Les Combes d'Usillon rural campsite, with its six-to-eight-person gîte, next to Thorens-Glières.

With a 10:30 start and bib collection possible on the morning itself from 06:00 to 13:00, sleeping on site is not essential for the 21 km — unlike the 64 km, which starts at 04:30. Annecy is some thirty kilometres away.

The Trail des Glières 21 km is a short race with the density of a mountain one: 1,400 metres of climbing in 21 kilometres, a single aid station, seven and a half hours of time limit. What makes it accessible is not the profile, it is the timetable — a 10:30 start, bib collection possible on the morning itself, and no night to manage.

Two things remain to watch before race day: the detailed route, which the organisers announce for some time in September, and the mandatory kit list, which they reserve the right to change according to the weather a few hours before the start. Both are read on the official site, nowhere else.