Been geeking out on this for a few weeks. Wanted to see which European ultras are actually the hardest per km of elevation gain, rather than just raw D+. Some results genuinely surprised me.
Methodology: D+ divided by distance. Simple, but it strips out the "it's hard because it's long" factor.
| Race | Distance | Total D+ | D+/km |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Coe Skyline | 52 km | 4,280 m | 82.3 m/km |
| Échappée Belle | 144 km | 11,000 m | 76.4 m/km |
| Swiss Peaks Trail | 360 km | 26,600 m | 73.9 m/km |
| GR20 Nord Ultra Trail | 93 km | 6,800 m | 73.1 m/km |
| Tor des Géants | 330 km | 24,000 m | 72.7 m/km |
| Tor des Glaciers | 450 km | 32,000 m | 71.1 m/km |
| Sierre-Zinal | 31 km | 2,200 m | 71.0 m/km |
| Ultra Tour du Beaufortain | 110 km | 7,800 m | 70.9 m/km |
| GR20 Sud Ultra Trail | 68 km | 4,800 m | 70.6 m/km |
The result that got me: Glen Coe Skyline (52 km) has a higher D+/km than Tor des Géants (330 km) and Swiss Peaks Trail (360 km). A 52km race is denser in gradient than any of the monster multi-day epics. Same story with Sierre-Zinal — 31km but 71 m/km, matching races ten times its length.
UTMB comes in around 58 m/km by the way. Famously hard, but not especially steep by this measure.
I pulled this from 287 European trail races. Happy to share more if people are curious about specific races.
What's the hardest race you've done by this metric?