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The Mont Blanc massif reflected in a still mountain lake near Chamonix, under a clear sky
Jakub Velička / Unsplash

PTL course map, checkpoints and cutoffs

La Petite Trotte à Léon: about 300 km of unmarked mountain route for teams of two or three, on a course that changes every year.

2027 dates not announced yet, usually in August Chamonix, Haute-Savoie

The PTL is the odd one out at HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc week. You enter as a team of two or three and there's no official ranking. Nothing on the ground marks the route, so teams find their own way with GPS, map and compass, on a new course each year. It's billed at about 300 km and 25,000 m of climbing, with 151 hours to finish. The 2026 edition left Chamonix at 8:00 on Monday, August 24.

The map shows the 2026 course from LiveTrail's timing points. It headed north past the Refuge Albert 1er and Col de la Forclaz into the Swiss Valais, dropped to Collonges and Fully, both under 500 m, crossed to Fionnay in the Val de Bagnes, went over into Italy for Col de By and Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses, then came back by the Grand Col Ferret, La Fouly and Col de Balme. The 2027 route isn't out yet.

The waypoints come with your entry, and the rules make a dedicated GPS device mandatory, with a phone only as a backup. Download the map before the start and that backup still shows where you are when there's no signal.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with PTL (La Petite Trotte à Léon). Check the official site before you enter or race.

PTL course map

Every course's checkpoints on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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PTL courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
PTL 2026296.9 km (184.5 mi)24,267 m (79,616 ft)Mon, Aug 24, 8:00 AM151 h

Start times are the 2026 edition's.

PTL PTL 2026

Chamonix to Chamonix through Valais and the Aosta Valley, on the 2026 route.

Distance
296.9 km (184.5 mi)
Climbing
24,267 m (79,616 ft)
Start
Mon, Aug 24, 8:00 AM
Time limit
151 h

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Day one climbs past Bec de Lachat and the Refuge Albert 1er to the Col des Grands at 3,075 m, then drops over Col de la Forclaz and Mont de l'Arpille to Collonges at 456 m, the first cutoff, at km 57.5. From there it's about 2,550 m of climbing in 11 km to the Dent de Morcles point at 2,933 m, then over the Grand Chavalard and down to Fully.

The middle of the course runs to Fionnay in the Val de Bagnes and on past Cabane de Chanrion into Italy. Col de By, at 3,198 m, is the highest timing point, and the line tops out at 3,255 m just before it. Fionnay to Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses is 75.8 km with no cutoff in between. The last third comes back over the Grand Col Ferret to La Fouly and Saleinaz, then the Col des Ecandies, Col de Balme and Tête des Prapators to the finish. The kilometers and cutoffs are LiveTrail's for 2026, and the 2027 course will be a different one.

checkpoints

kmWhereCutoff
0Chamonix (start and finish)
15.8Bec de Lachat
20.6Refuge Albert 1er
21.6Col des Grands
32.1Col de la Forclaz
35.2Mont de l'Arpille
57.5Collonges Tue 06:30
68.4Dent de Morcles
71.3Col du Fenestral
73.6Grand Chavalard
83.6Fully Wed 02:15
100.3Croix de Cœur
114.4Col des Gentianes
118.6Cabane Mont Fort
130.3Fionnay Thu 04:00
149.5Cabane de Chanrion
156.3Col de Crête Sèche
169.1Col de By
170.4Refuge Chiarella Amianthe
176.1Refuge Champillon
197.9Tête de Barasson
206.1Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses Fri 21:15
217.1Col de Malatra
223.6Col Chéarfière
229.3Col du Ban Darrey
231.9Grand Col Ferret
239.4La Fouly
248.1Saleinaz Sat 17:00
257.4Col de la Breya
262.2Col des Ecandies
273.8Col de Balme
275.6Écuries de Charamillon Sun 09:30
289.4Tête des Prapators
296.9Chamonix (start and finish) Sun 15:00
A small hut on autumn grass above a valley near Verbier, with snowy peaks in cloud behind
Arnaud STECKLE / Unsplash

Getting a place

Entry is by application. Each team member sets out their mountain experience and technical skills, along with the team's motivation, and the race page has a self-assessment form to download. The field is capped at 300 runners. Three-person teams come first: pairs are drawn only if the threes don't fill the 300, and if the threes alone go over, they're drawn and no pairs get in.

You must be born in 2006 or earlier, and at least two of the team must be fluent in French, English or Italian, which is checked at bib pickup. The 2026 fee was €1,650 per team, plus 8% bank charges. It covered 1:25,000 maps and the roadbook, the waypoints, a GPS tracker, a 50 liter drop bag each and up to four meal tickets each for the partner refuges.

Navigation and kit

Morning light on snowy granite peaks and a glacier near Chamonix
Jakub Velička / Unsplash

Each runner carries a GPS watch or device loaded with the organizer's waypoints, able to hold at least 20 waypoints of 5,000 points each, plus a compass and altimeter. A smartphone can back it up but doesn't count as a navigation tool on its own.

The list goes well past a normal ultra's: a helmet, a harness and a via ferrata double lanyard, crampons with spikes of at least 1 cm (chains aren't allowed), two headlamps with batteries for the week and a sleeping bag or silk liner for the refuges. Each team also carries a survival shelter everyone fits inside, a first aid kit, and cash in euros and Swiss francs, since most refuges don't take cards.

Checkpoints, refuges and no outside help

The lake at the Great St Bernard Pass, with the hospice buildings and rocky peaks behind
Baptx / Unsplash

Checkpoints open during set hours, with free dormitories, meals and your drop bag. Partner refuges are open around the clock, with free dormitories and meals on your meal tickets, though beds can run short at busy times. At other refuges you pay your own way.

Nobody may help you anywhere on the course, checkpoints, refuges, villages and road crossings included, and nobody may walk with you. Either gets the team disqualified. Teams stay together: a team of three can carry on as two once the third is safe and race control agrees, but in a team of two, one withdrawal ends it for both. You have to leave each checkpoint before its cutoff. The organizer only brings runners back from checkpoints with a cutoff, so if you stop anywhere else, you get yourself home.

Getting there and weather

Buildings beside a river in Chamonix, with snowy peaks above
Patrick Boucher / Unsplash

The start and finish are on Place du Triangle de l'Amitié in Chamonix, and in 2026 PTL bibs were handed out at the Centre sportif Richard Bozon. Geneva airport is about an hour and a half away, with buses to Chamonix and trains from Geneva Cornavin. The organizer asks you not to rent a car: the town's car parks are full during race week, and the valley's buses and the Mont-Blanc Express do the job.

In Chamonix, at 1,042 m, August averages 23.1°C by day and 8.7°C at night, with 126 mm of rain over about 12 wet days (Météo-France normals). The 2026 course reached 3,255 m, and the rules expect teams to cope with night, wind, cold, fog, rain and snow on their own. For bad weather, the race committee can change the course or the cutoffs, or stop the race.

PTL checkpoints and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Chamonix (start and finish)

    1,035 m (3,396 ft)

    45.92359, 6.86918

  • Bec de Lachat

    2,440 m (8,005 ft)

    45.98660, 6.95725

  • Refuge Albert 1er

    2,710 m (8,891 ft)

    45.99687, 6.98655

  • Col des Grands

    3,075 m (10,089 ft)

    46.00041, 6.99506

  • Col de la Forclaz

    1,534 m (5,033 ft)

    46.05808, 7.00148

  • Mont de l'Arpille

    2,067 m (6,781 ft)

    46.07753, 7.00621

  • Collonges

    456 m (1,496 ft)

    46.17147, 7.03309

  • Dent de Morcles

    2,933 m (9,623 ft)

    46.19895, 7.07624

  • Col du Fenestral

    2,432 m (7,979 ft)

    46.18903, 7.10077

  • Grand Chavalard

    2,860 m (9,383 ft)

    46.17870, 7.11304

  • Fully

    464 m (1,522 ft)

    46.13674, 7.11200

  • Croix de Cœur

    2,174 m (7,133 ft)

    46.12171, 7.23210

  • Col des Gentianes

    2,892 m (9,488 ft)

    46.08446, 7.30194

  • Cabane Mont Fort

    2,441 m (8,009 ft)

    46.08379, 7.28136

  • Fionnay

    1,492 m (4,895 ft)

    46.03323, 7.30725

  • Cabane de Chanrion

    2,454 m (8,051 ft)

    45.93923, 7.38067

  • Col de Crête Sèche

    2,883 m (9,459 ft)

    45.89944, 7.39099

  • Col de By

    3,198 m (10,492 ft)

    45.91196, 7.31783

  • Refuge Chiarella Amianthe

    2,971 m (9,747 ft)

    45.91021, 7.30477

  • Refuge Champillon

    2,272 m (7,454 ft)

    45.88621, 7.28531

  • Tête de Barasson

    2,684 m (8,806 ft)

    45.85866, 7.19062

  • Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses

    1,522 m (4,993 ft)

    45.82149, 7.17882

  • Col de Malatra

    2,911 m (9,551 ft)

    45.83688, 7.07831

  • Col Chéarfière

    2,644 m (8,675 ft)

    45.85197, 7.06186

  • Col du Ban Darrey

    2,682 m (8,799 ft)

    45.87479, 7.09375

  • Grand Col Ferret

    2,529 m (8,297 ft)

    45.88898, 7.07782

  • La Fouly

    1,603 m (5,259 ft)

    45.93398, 7.09851

  • Saleinaz

    1,556 m (5,105 ft)

    45.98548, 7.09473

  • Col de la Breya

    1,862 m (6,109 ft)

    46.02293, 7.07823

  • Col des Ecandies

    2,783 m (9,131 ft)

    46.00902, 7.03503

  • Col de Balme

    2,205 m (7,234 ft)

    46.02631, 6.97035

  • Écuries de Charamillon

    1,918 m (6,293 ft)

    46.01586, 6.95894

  • Tête des Prapators

    1,846 m (6,056 ft)

    45.95198, 6.91789

PTL FAQ

When is the PTL 2027?

The 2027 dates aren't announced yet. In 2026 the PTL started at 8:00 on Monday, August 24, the first day of HOKA UTMB Mont-Blanc week, and the finish closed at 15:00 on Sunday, August 30.

Is the PTL route the same every year?

No, the organizer changes it every year. The map here is the 2026 route. The GPX file on the race page is an older route, from 2024. Entered teams get the year's waypoints, maps and roadbook.

Can you run the PTL solo?

No. The PTL takes teams of two or three, women, men or mixed, and the team has to stay together the whole way.

Is there a ranking at the PTL?

No. There is no official ranking: the aim is to finish the course inside 151 hours. In 2026, 84 teams finished, 196 runners in all.

Can family or friends help at the PTL checkpoints?

No. Outside help is banned everywhere on the course, checkpoints included, and so is anyone walking with the team. They can follow you on the live tracking: each team carries the organizer's GPS tracker.

Do you need rescue insurance for the PTL?

Yes. Every runner needs insurance that covers search, rescue and evacuation in France, Italy and Switzerland. In an emergency, call race control in Chamonix first. If you can't reach it, dial 112 in France and Italy or 144 in Switzerland.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.