Alps

The Alps remain the historic heart of trail running: this is where the sport took its modern shape, between hanging glaciers, 2,500-metre passes and climbs that sometimes exceed 10,000 metres in a single race. Alpine trails cross four countries and a variety of relief — Mont Blanc granite, Italian dolomite, Valais schist — rarely matched anywhere else.

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc leaves Chamonix for a full loop of the massif. Sierre-Zinal, in Valais, climbs from the Rhône valley to Zinal over 31 kilometres that have become legendary. The Lavaredo Ultra Trail circles the Tre Cime in the Dolomites. The Eiger Ultra-Trail runs around the most famous north face of the Bernese Alps. The Zugspitz Ultratrail crosses the Bavarian Alps to Germany's highest summit. The Tor des Géants, for its part, loops the whole Aosta Valley.

From this rugged relief Plotrek draws its densest posters — high mountains lend themselves particularly well to topographic drawing.