Ushuaia by UTMB®

Here, the world map stops, and the map of the bold begins 🌍. Ushuaia by UTMB, all the way to 2025, named Valhöll Fin del Mundo by UTMB, sets off every March from Ushuaia, the southernmost city on the planet, perched on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago 🔥. Some call it the ends of the earth; others see it as a starting point: the organizers themselves have boldly borrowed Norse myth to set the scene 🏞️. Destination: the Valhöll, the home of fallen warriors, except here you usually arrive on two feet 😅.

The challenge has grown rapidly since its inception, reaching in 2026 the very selective UTMB World Series circuit, alongside the planet's top trail events 🪐. The name change, from Valhöll Fin del Mundo to Ushuaia by UTMB®, accompanies this integration and clarifies one point for the distracted: yes, the race does take place in Ushuaia, not in Scandinavia 🧭. For a nice reward, from now on each distance awards Running Stones, the famous passport to the world final in Chamonix. It’s safe to say that racing at the ends of the earth can also lead straight to the top of the game 🫡.

The scenery is no joke: Nothofagus lenga forests turning coppery red in autumn, lengas that swallow the footsteps, bogs that suck up each stride, glacial lagoons shaded in emerald, turquoise, or Submarine hues, and the Beagle Channel that shimmers in the distance as soon as the trail climbs, 🏔. Six formats share this nature-sized playground 🌟. The "Epic 130K" of 113 km with 4 854 mD+, takes the event's giant title; the "Advance 85K" offers 86.8 km and 3 677 mD+ and heads toward the lagoons and the Submarino waterfall 💦. Then the "Challenge 50K" logically makes 50 km and adds 2 712 mD+ to climb from the Martial Glacier up to the Cerro Cortes, the "Courage 33K" has 33.8 km and 1 553 mD+ 📈. The list continues with the "Power 22K" from 22.4 km and 944 mD+ which starts from the ski resort of Cerro Castor. Finally the "Explore 12K" accumulates 13.4 km for 684 mD+ and closes the list at the starting point of Club Andino Ushuaia 📍.

Few races on Earth can claim the title of the world's southernmost ultra-trail, and this one wears it proudly ⚡. The vertical gain of the Epic, brushing 4 900 mD+ over 113 km, ranks the event among the most demanding routes per meter of the UTMB circuit. The three Running Stones that it distributes also make it one of the most traveled Springboards for Chamonix's final, alongside other much better-known races on the Old Continent 💫.

Patagonia never does weather halfway: here, the four seasons can flash by in a single race day, between bright sun, gusts from the Magellan Strait and sudden showers 🌦. On the Cerro Castor ski area, regarded as the most prestigious ski resort in South America, the vibe leans more toward an expedition spirit, with runners bundled up and organizers reminding that wind here has never read the rules 👀.

Once over the line, the rest of the journey writes itself almost automatically ✍️. A catamaran ride on the Beagle Channel allows greeting the local penguins, more accustomed to diving than to running 🐧, before an foray into the Terra del Fuego National Park to extend the expedition without a bib 🧘‍♀️. On the appetite side, the centolla, this giant king crab, and the Patagonian lamb slow-cooked over a cross, deserve a place on the menu, paired with a Calafate tart, the local berry whose legend promises a return to anyone who tastes it 😋.

All of this leads to one certainty: in Ushuaia, the finish line is never really an ending, but rather an excuse to feel, for a weekend, that you earned your place at Valhalla 🍀.