Solace

The day before the start, I arrived in Trieste with my wife Emma and my son Jack. On this very hot and sunny day, we did some practical arrangements and shot some early material for the documentary as well.

You can only
cherish a moment
so much

All three of us went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and I realized you can only cherish a moment so much. To see this as my last “relaxed” day would not help me through the 30-day FKT attempt. Instead, I knew I needed to try and enjoy everything along way, while still moving forward.

As Day 1 began, I was feeling a bit anxious. My FKT attempts had begun in 2016, when Joren and I had the crazy idea to go for the speed record on the Pacific Crest Trail. We were just a two-man team on their own little adventure back then.

Now, five years later, it wasn’t just us, but a crew of four additional people and two cameramen. There were also my parents, travelling alongside us in a camper van to take care of Jack. And while everyone around me would all accept it if things were to go wrong, I did feel a lot more pressure this time.

We were aiming to run about 100 km on the first day – partly to get a solid kickstart and partly because this stretch had less elevation change than what was to come. Still, the first day and week are crucial in a record attempt such as this. If you get through it without injury, you can find a nice flow for the rest of the attempt. If you do get injured, it can all be over – or become a very long struggle.

Day 5 brought the most challenging part of my Via Alpina attempt. I did not know this, however, when I started out in Plocken early in the morning. On the map it looked like I was going to run on top of a ridge, the Karnische Höhenweg, for the entire day. After a rather tough Day 4, I hoped that this meant that the elevation change would be small and manageable.

However, the trail was pretty technical and exposed, and for a few hours there was also quite a lot of rain. In some sections, the safety cables and via ferrata had come loose, making them quite dangerous to cross. Due to the rain, Kobe and I became really cold, and we didn’t have any extra layers to add on. We became painfully aware that the weather at that altitude can change quickly and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

It was a
wake-up call

The ridge itself would rise and drop, significantly and continuously. That small elevation change I had hoped quickly became the opposite. Lastly, I realised that the tonnes of snow that had fallen in the Alps in late May was going to impact my speed, as there were surprisingly many snow fields left for this time of year (mid-July).

All these factors resulted in a day of “only” 74 km of running, but with an elevation change of 5,500 meters. Those figures equaled the most challenging part of my Appalachian Trail FKT attempt three years earlier. It was a wake-up call. Via Alpina was going to be tougher than that, and on a much tighter time schedule at that.

What eventually got me through Day 5 was my determination to get a head start in my FKT attempt. To find some extra strength, I envisioned an athlete in the future trying to beat my record, and how he or she would really struggle to keep up with my extremely solid first week.

At the end of Day 9, I had already run 82 km with quite a bit of elevation change. But me and the team still decided it would be good for the schedule to finish the day with a long climb. Then we could spend the night at the beautifully located and historic Meilerhütte, a hut located 3,145 meters above sea level.

The climb was 1,530 meters on a distance of 8 km. Since it was at the end of the day, and I was really longing for the hut, it felt endless. Like always, the more you long for something, the longer it feels to reach it. In addition, we also knew there was heavy rain coming up. What got me through it was thinking that I have no other option than to carry on.

It felt endless!

I was so happy to reach the hut before the sunset and the heavy rain. But to our surprise, Joren, who had our sleeping bags and some practical things for the day after, wasn’t there. The hut keeper told us Joren had called, telling him what had happened. He had gone up a different valley than us, hoping to take a shortcut and arrive at the hut before us. There was no shortcut, however, so he had to descend all the way down again and start over, all the while carrying a backpack of more than 18 kg.

Luckily, I could borrow a sleeping bag from the hut. When I woke up in the morning, I saw that Joren had arrived there all right and I was able to start off on Day 10.

I’m very sensitive to nostalgic and historic places, and the night we spent at the Meilerhütte will always be special to me. This old alpine hut right beside the German-Austrian border is now 110 years old, and it had a great feeling of a bygone era.

I am the
Belgian runner

The wooden interior was beautiful and peaceful, and it made me think about the time when people were just beginning to discover the sport of alpinism. How many tales would the hut not tell if it could – of human lives being saved by its shelter in a storm, of the numerous unique people who spent the night here.

All of this gave me a sense of pride and perspective, thinking that I myself would now become part of the hut’s history. I’m “the Belgian runner” who spent a night here on his way to set a new speed record on the Via Alpina.

Our night at the Refugio Eita, in the small village of Eita in Val Grosina, was probably the most enjoyable camping spot during my record attempt. It really wasn’t very special in terms of spectacular landscapes or high peaks with glaciers, but it was such a peaceful valley, with a waterfall and a beautiful sunset. can change quickly and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Such a
powerful valley

As I arrived early that night, we had time to drink a beer and cook together. Our camping spot was right beside a beautifully located little church, and all of us had a great night.

When looking at the map as I started out on Day 19, I noticed we were going to run alongside the huge Aletsch Glacier. I had a feeling this would be a spectacular sight, but as I like to think of my FKTs as exploring journeys, I didn’t want to google images beforehand.

I was running with Joren and Klaas, and as we crossed a pass and saw the huge glacier for the first time, we were just in awe. It was just so unique and impressive, a glacier as far as the eye could see, up and down the valley. It was also a humbling experience, making the three of us quite emotional. Glaciers are always something special; you feel small in time as well as in dimensions.

We heard it crack
and make noises

Running alongside the glacier, we heard it crack and make loud noises, which made it even more impressive. Since glaciers are actively shaping the landscape, I think it’s always special to see them at work. 

The three of us were grateful to have experienced the Aletsch Glacier together. It was just very unexpected to see something like that on mainland Europe in 2021. I thought glaciers of that kind were long gone already, so it felt inspiring.

For the final stretch of my Via Alpina FKT attempt, I decided to push on through the night without sleeping to reach Monaco on schedule.

Ten days before, it seemed as though I needed to push a full 190 km during the last day and a half. As that may have been a little too far for one stretch, I squeezed in a few kilometers here and there each day, ending up with a final distance of 165 km – still hard but manageable.

Knowing that this was the very last push was what kept me going. It also helped that halfway through the first day I could see the Mediterranean Sea again after 30 days of alpine running. The goal was finally within reach.

The goal was
within reach

Then during the first part of the night, I had to run alone on a difficult section, as the crew had a flat tire on the way to the meeting point. As we finally caught up with each other, I first ran with Henri. Due to some washouts the trail was very slow-going and technical, and we sometimes had to scramble around rockslides. 

Just like on Day 17, I had my hardest moment while running with Joren during the last part of the night. Once again I took a powernap on the trail, no dreams this time, and I slept for about 9 minutes. I felt less refreshed this time, but it was enough to keep the worst tiredness away.

At this point, it had become hard for me to eat, as after 30 days of eating 10,000 calories a day, I was fed up with everything. But next to the meet-up point in the morning there was a bakery, and they had freshly baked chocolate croissants that tasted amazing.

Fueled on chocolate croissants I was able to run the last 35 km to the finish in Monaco. As always with the Via Alpina, I didn’t even get this last stretch “for free,” as it was extremely dry and pretty technical to run.