The Sahara Race is a 250 km running race which takes place in the Sahara desert, 130 km Southwest of Cairo, Egypt. There are 6-stages in 7 days: almost 4 Marathons in 4 days, then 86 km, a rest day and a final short stage of 2 km. Philippe ranked 6th.
The Kungsleden is a 440 km long trail stretching from Hemavan in the south to Abisko in the north, 250 km above the arctic circle in an area called Lapland.
The Kangchenjunga is the second least climbed peak of the 14 peaks over 8,000 meters. Philippe joined a French-Swiss team to climb the Southwest face. They reached the summit on May 19th in challenging weather.
Ama Dablam, 6856 m, is an spectacular Nepalse peak, just a few kilometers South of Everest. Philippe and Jean-Marc climbed the Southwest Ridge. AS often off season, they were less than 10 climbers on the mountain.
Philippe teamed up with Gorgan and Serap to climb Gasherbrum II (8035 m) and Gasherbrum I (8068 m). As often in Karakoram, the weather has been terrible and they couldn’t rich neither top. Nevertheless, the raw beauty of these peaks, the difficult access of the Baltoro and the tough conditions make it a place like no others.
The Everest Sky Race is probably one of the nicest trail running races in the world. It takes place in the Khumbu regnio in Nepal, around famous 8000 meters; Cho Oyu (8153 m), Lhoste (8501 m), Lhoste Shar (8383 m), Makalu (8463 m) and Mt. Everest (8850 m).
Carstensz Pyramid is the highest peak of the seventh continent (Australia/Oceania). The route is technically easy but with the rebels, the political situation and the gold mine close by, getting to the mountain has been a major challenge… After Carstensz’ ascent, Philippe became the 7th Frenchmen to complete the 7 Summits challenge.
Mount Vinson is the highest mountain of Antarctica, only 1200 km away from the South Pole. The challenges are the remoteness, extreme temperatures, wind but the route is not too difficult. Philippe was the 17th French to climb Mt. Vinson, his 6th 7 Summits.
Mount Everest is the highest summit on earth. Philippe joined an international team to climb the Northeast ridge on the Tibetan side. Despite strong winds and changing weather, they reached top on May 24th.
The Marathon des Sables (Marathon of Sands) is a mythic race, a race that all ultra-distance runners must do at least once. Despite its name, it’s not a Marathon but a +200km race with 6 stages, including a 80 km non-stop stage. The race takes places in Morocco in the Sahara desert.
The Himal Race is an extreme running race which starts at the Annapurna Base camp, crosses the Himalayas to finish at the Mt. Everest base camp. The races covers a distance of 1,050 km with 80,000 meters of ascent in 23 days.