Swiss Peaks 170, Gear Check 123

For context, the Swiss Peaks 170 is a single stage race starting at the Grande Dixence dam, and ends at Le Bouveret at the eastern shores of the Lac Leman. In the 2025 edition, there are two so-called lifebases in Salvan and Morgins, respectively. I will arrive the Wednesday before the race at Le Bouveret, and take the organized shuttle with my fellow competitors on the next day early in the morning to make it to the start at the world’s tallest gravity dam. If things go well, I’ll wobble into Le Bouveret on Saturday morning. Inevitably, there are logistics to figure out.

Split it three ways. First, there’s the race kit for the start line. Second, there’s the follower bag for the life bases. Third, there’s the bag waiting for you in the finish. I got a little trolley and a backpack. Split the gear, three ways. 1-2-3. The race kit goes into the first compartment of the trolley. The stuff to be transferred into the follower bag goes into my trolley’s second, zippered compartment—avoiding accidents like sending one’s running shoes off to the first life base. Everything else goes into my backpack, such as the tent.

Accommodation. This year, I am not leaving anything to chance here after having had to figure out how to put up my tent during the night in 2022 (lack of practice, clearly), and after having longed for an upgrade when sharing a bunker full of snoring people in 2023. The three-person tent goes into the backpack. Along with a nice, comfy sleeping mat. That tent will serve me for the first night before the start of the race, and then wait for me on Saturday, within close reach of the shower facilities at the camping ground—which I will surely need in order to reaccustom myself to civilisation. A big, sealable dry bag for the laundry—I shall not expand on this. Toothbrush, towel, and treats: who knows what wee hour it will be when I arrive, and I might be hungry.

Race kit. Fortunately, I have half a dozen of checklists that help me put the race kit together. It still takes hours to compile the checklist, assemble the pieces, and fine-tune things. But these details are absolutely worth it, as they give me a sense of control during the race.

Pack. Let’s start with the pack. I have finally come to understand how to use and like the Salomon ADV Skin 12 vest that I purchased earlier this year. I combine the vest with a Compresssport running belt.

• Conveniently, I can use a few spare hooks dangling from the vest to attach it to the running belt; even though the belt doesn’t really bounce in the first place.

• I only put spare clothes into the vest’s main compartment: the mid layer, the rain jacket, rain trousers, the down jacket. Each in a dry bag. If it is dry, I can leave the mid layer accessible in the main compartment, which will streamline the process of putting it on, or removing it.

• I attached a quiver for the poles to the vest. I practiced a lot in removing the poles, and putting them back in without removing the vest. That’s a useful skill, and one that required some patience to get right.

Hydration. The 1.5L hydration bladder is difficult to refill, but I wouldn’t go without it. There are long stretches where there might not be any water accessible for hours. I have to take out the four items from the main compartment of the vest in order to refill the bladder. I have two 0.5L bottles which are easier to refill, and which I can fill with energy drink at the checkpoints. All in all, this allows me to carry a maximum of 2.5L of fluid in total.

Fuelling. Since there are stretches between checkpoints that take hours to cover, I load up with additional food at the start, and at each of the two lifebases. This includes a whole bunch of solid waffles and gels. A silicon pouch will allow me to carry along a few items from the checkpoints I visit. Eat little, eat often. Not to upset the stomach. A few of the gels contain caffeine, and a bunch of chewing gums, too: these are for those hours of the night where my circadian rhythm is particularly strong in nudging me to go to sleep rather than trudging up some mountains. The silicon pouch goes into the tubular compartment at the bottom of the vest. The ads suggest to put a clothing item into that tube, but this appears to be a sure way of getting it soaked with sweat—even when not wearing it. The silicon pouch, in contrast, is properly waterproof. That is, sweat-proof, too. The waffles conveniently fit into the zippered side pockets of the vest.

Belt. This is an experiment for me. I have not tried my belt during such a distance. However, I found it useful to distribute some of the weight.

• I use the pockets to stow away a couple of headlamps, along with spare batteries. Saving on weight on lamps is false economy: a light shining brightly during the night helps me to keep going. Having the headlamp accessible on the go also means that I will not miss the moment to put them on—excuses of the sort “oh, I can still see a little bit, I cannot be bothered to take the headlamps out” are no longer viable this way.

• The belt’s pockets are accessible. Yet I put stuff there, that I am 99.99% sure I will not need. That’s the emergency blanket and the emergency bandage. They are just of the right shape, and I don’t like to clutter the main compartment of the vest.

• Disinfectant and sun screen fit into the belt. These are good items to have accessible. If they weren’t accessible, I might be tempted to not use them, and regret it later. Sunburn is really the last thing I will need.

Shoes. This year, I’m giving the VJ Maxx 2 a try. I bought a bunch of Salomon trail gaiters: all gaiters so far have disappointed me, I will see how these will fare. I recently (and belatedly, I guess) learned about the marathon loop when I bought those shoes, and it seems to suit me well.

Follower bag. This bag contains items to replace something in my race kit, either with an item of the same kind, or with a different item in order to respond to situational demands. For example, I put extra pairs of gloves, compression shirt, long-sleeved trousers, hoodie into the follower bag in order to respond to changing weather conditions as I reach a lifebase. I don’t have anyone supporting me at the lifebases, so I arranged everything neatly into transparent zip-lock bags (some of which I recycled, already labeled, from 2022, 2023). Items that I should not forget to replace (sun screen, food) are in separate bags that I can simply open and pour out at the lifebase. Don’t make me think.

Alright. That’s about that. I wrote this article, mostly for my future self to look back and figure out what worked, and what didn’t work. Gear is certainly only a part of the race, but it’s one that is within my control; in particularly it’s something that I can think of ahead of the race, such that I don’t have to think much about it during the race: it will help take care of myself during the challenge. The hours preparing and thinking about it were thus well spent.