EIGER ULTRA TRAIL 2026 PREVIEW: FIVE SOLD-OUT RACES BENEATH THE NORTH FACE

Grindelwald fills with trail runners again in mid-July, and every start line is already full. The 2026 Eiger Ultra Trail has sold out all five of its race distances, from the 16K up to the 250K, with the flagship E101 starting at 4 a.m. on Saturday, July 18.

The race runs in the shadow of the Eiger, the 3,970-meter peak whose north face was once called the last problem of the Alps. Grindelwald hosted the first ultra trail race built around the mountain, and the event's history is inseparable from the wall that towers over its finish line.

The E101

The flagship race sends runners 101 kilometers around the Grindelwald valley with 6,700 meters of climbing and a 25-hour time limit. The route strings together the region's most exposed viewpoints, climbing over Grosse Scheidegg and First before passing the Bachalpsee and the Berghotel Faulhorn.

From there the course drops to Schynige Platte and works its way through Wengen and up to Männlichen. The finale traverses beneath the Eiger itself, passing Eigergletscher and Kleine Scheidegg before the descent back to Grindelwald.

The 4 a.m. start puts the front of the field on the early climbs by headlamp, with sunrise arriving as the leaders reach the high ground above the valley.

A Full Weekend in the Valley

The E101 headlines a program that now spans five distances. The E250 takes the event into multi-day territory, while the E51, E35, and E16 give the weekend a field that ranges from elite ultrarunners to first-time trail racers.

All of them were sold out well before race week, a measure of where the event now sits in the UTMB World Series calendar. As a 100K-category race in the series, the E101 also carries qualifying stones for runners chasing entry to the finals in Chamonix.

What to Watch

The long climb to the Faulhorn crests above 2,600 meters, the highest ground on the E101 course. Weather on the high sections can swing quickly in the Bernese Oberland, and the 25-hour limit keeps steady pressure on the back of the field.

Racing starts in Grindelwald during the week of July 15, with the E101 going off before dawn on July 18.