La storia del Tor
Au Tor des Géants, l’un des ultra-trails les plus difficiles au monde, le chronomètre ne s’arrête jamais. Il tourne quand on court, quand on mange, quand on se change et quand on dort.
La course fait environ 330 kilomètres et plus de 24 000 mètres de dénivelé positif à travers les Alpes italiennes. Les premiers mettent une soixantaine d’heures. Les autres disposent de 150 heures, soit plus de six jours, pour franchir la ligne d’arrivée.
Mais très vite, tout ça devient secondaires pour ces hommes et ces femmes venus du monde entier. Ici, on préfère parler d’aventure plutôt que de performance.
En septembre, un ami coureur m’a demandé de l’assister pendant l’intégralité de la course. J’ai glissé mon appareil photo 135 mm dans son sac de ravitaillement.
Pendant six jours, j’ai découvert un monde parallèle qui n’existe que le temps du Tor.
À 2 h 47, dans un gymnase de la Vallée d’Aoste, un homme enlève ses chaussures pendant qu’une bénévole lui demande s’il préfère la soupe ou les pâtes. Il hésite longtemps. Il court depuis trois jours. Il n’est qu’à mi-chemin.
Manger, enfiler un t-shirt, remplir une gourde ou décider de dormir deviennent des affaires sérieuses.
Dehors, il fait nuit. Des voitures dorment sur les parkings avec, à l’intérieur, ceux qui suivent la course. On se demande où trouver un café, une douche, combien de temps il reste avant le prochain passage ou à quel endroit nous allons pouvoir poser les sacs de couchage pour nos coureurs. Pendant ce temps, quelque part au-dessus de nous, de petites lumières avancent dans la montagne.
Les heures passent, puis les jours. Les pentes s’enchaînent, comme les routes sinueuses qui mènent aux refuges. Le sommeil se réduit à quelques heures, parfois à quelques minutes. Les visages se transforment, la lucidité s’efface peu à peu.
Le nom de la course signifie « le Tour des Géants ». À l’origine, les géants sont les sommets qui entourent la Vallée d’Aoste. Mais après plusieurs jours, le mot semble changer de sens. Le Tor se transforme en une expérience grandeur nature sur notre capacité à nous adapter à la montagne.
La storia del Tor est un récit photographique sur ce qu’il reste de nous lorsque presque tout le reste a été épuisé.
-
At the Tor des Géants, one of the toughest ultramarathons in the world, the clock never stops. It keeps ticking while you run, while you eat, while you change your clothes and while you sleep.
The race covers roughly 330 kilometres, with more than 24,000 metres of elevation gain through the Italian Alps. The fastest runners finish in around sixty hours. The others have 150 hours, just over six days, to cross the finish line.
But very quickly, all of this becomes secondary for the men and women who come from all over the world. Here, people prefer to talk about adventure rather than performance.
In September, a friend asked me to crew for him throughout the race. I slipped my 135 mm camera into his supply bag.
Over six days, I discovered a parallel world that exists only for the duration of the Tor.
At 2:47 a.m., in a sports hall in the Aosta Valley, a man takes off his shoes while a volunteer asks whether he would prefer soup or pasta. He takes a long time to decide. He has been running for three days. He is only halfway.
Eating, putting on a T-shirt, filling a water bottle or deciding to sleep become serious matters.
Outside, it is dark. Cars sleep in car parks, with those following the race inside them. We wonder where to find a coffee, a shower, how long we have before our runners come through again, or where we can lay out their sleeping bags. Meanwhile, somewhere above us, tiny lights move through the mountains.
The hours pass, then the days. One slope follows another, as do the winding roads leading to the mountain huts. Sleep dwindles to a few hours, sometimes a few minutes. Faces change, clarity slowly fades.
The race’s name means “the Tour of Giants”. Originally, the giants were the peaks surrounding the Aosta Valley. But after several days, the word seems to take on a different meaning. The Tor becomes a real-world experiment in our ability to adapt to the mountains.
La storia del Tor is a photographic narrative about what remains of us when almost everything else has been exhausted.
The race covers roughly 330 kilometres, with more than 24,000 metres of elevation gain through the Italian Alps. The fastest runners finish in around sixty hours. The others have 150 hours, just over six days, to cross the finish line.
But very quickly, all of this becomes secondary for the men and women who come from all over the world. Here, people prefer to talk about adventure rather than performance.
In September, a friend asked me to crew for him throughout the race. I slipped my 135 mm camera into his supply bag.
Over six days, I discovered a parallel world that exists only for the duration of the Tor.
At 2:47 a.m., in a sports hall in the Aosta Valley, a man takes off his shoes while a volunteer asks whether he would prefer soup or pasta. He takes a long time to decide. He has been running for three days. He is only halfway.
Eating, putting on a T-shirt, filling a water bottle or deciding to sleep become serious matters.
Outside, it is dark. Cars sleep in car parks, with those following the race inside them. We wonder where to find a coffee, a shower, how long we have before our runners come through again, or where we can lay out their sleeping bags. Meanwhile, somewhere above us, tiny lights move through the mountains.
The hours pass, then the days. One slope follows another, as do the winding roads leading to the mountain huts. Sleep dwindles to a few hours, sometimes a few minutes. Faces change, clarity slowly fades.
The race’s name means “the Tour of Giants”. Originally, the giants were the peaks surrounding the Aosta Valley. But after several days, the word seems to take on a different meaning. The Tor becomes a real-world experiment in our ability to adapt to the mountains.
La storia del Tor is a photographic narrative about what remains of us when almost everything else has been exhausted.
Photographer - Julien SoulierCreative direction - David Bellion & Julien Soulier
Words - Julien Soulier
Thanks to Laurent Jamet, TorX, Management Core
Thanks to Laurent Jamet, TorX, Management Core
