Switzerland is never an easy place to race. Even before the start line, you can already feel it in the air: the silence of the valleys, the sharp edges of the mountains, and the long ridgelines disappearing into the distance.
Scenic Trail takes place in the Ticino region, around Tesserete. It is not the highest alpine race in Europe, but it is one of the most exposed. Long ridgelines, open terrain, and constant changes between forest, rock, and alpine paths define the course.
For Caroline Erhart, it was her first race wearing Outopia. And it came after months that were anything but simple.
Caroline works full-time as a doctor. Training for races like the K83 does not sit outside of her life; it fits inside it, around shifts, early mornings, and late nights.
Sometimes that means running 20 kilometers before work at 4 a.m. Sometimes it means climbing 1,000 vertical meters on a treadmill after a long hospital shift. “There is not much romance in it,” she said. “It’s discipline. Routine. And a lot of small sacrifices.” But then the weekend comes, and she finds herself back in the mountains. That is when everything connects again.
Running and hiking have been part of her life for as long as she can remember. “My mother and grandmother took us children, and our dogs, out into nature every single day,” she said. “Being outside has always felt completely normal to me.”
In winter, she skis. In summer, she runs and hikes. But there is also something else she admits, she likes pushing herself. “I love that extra kick,” she said. “Yes, I am addicted, to coffee too.”
For her, the mountains are not something to observe from a distance. They are something to enter fully. There is no mountain too high. And there is a very simple feeling she always returns to at the top: “Yes, I did it.”
The K83 started before sunrise. Headlamps lit the first climbs out of Tesserete, and the field slowly spread into the dark. There is always a certain quiet at the beginning of a race like this. Not much talking. Just movement.
“I remember it felt very calm at the start,” Caroline said. “But I also knew it would get hard quite quickly.”
As the race moved higher, the course opened onto the ridgelines that define Scenic Trail. Everything changed, more wind, more exposure, more space on both sides of the trail. Mountains on one side, lakes on the other, and still a very long way to go.
Between night and morning, the light slowly shifted. Headlamps disappeared. The sky turned from black to grey, then into soft alpine sunrise. “That’s my favourite part,” she said. “When you stop being in the night, and suddenly everything opens up again.”
People often ask what she thinks about during a 13-hour race. She doesn’t really have an answer. Sometimes there are no deep thoughts at all, just focus, just forward movement. And sometimes music.
Her playlists move between 80s and early 2000s, from Cher to Sido, without much order. One of her favourites is “One Night in Bangkok” mixed with Nena. There is something about climbing while “Irgendwo, Irgendwie, Irgendwann” plays in the background - heart rate rising, light shifting, and suddenly standing on a ridge watching the sunrise with the first coffee of the day in hand. For her, that is perfection.
By mid-race, fatigue had already settled in. The K83 is not a course that allows rhythm to stay the same for long, it accumulates.
Steep climbs, technical descents, and long ridgelines where there is nowhere to hide. At times, there is no thinking at all. Just footsteps on rock, and the next section ahead. “I don’t really remember thinking about many things,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just about continuing.”
As the course dropped back toward Tesserete, the heat increased and every kilometre became heavier. But the race had already been shaped long before the finish line — in the way she moved through the night, the ridges, and the early light.
Caroline crossed the finish line as the winner of the women’s K83, after more than 13 hours on the course. It was her first race for Outopia. And her first time at Scenic Trail.
“I was just really happy it was over,” she laughed. “It was a long day, but a good one.”
Back at the finish area, Tesserete slowly filled again with runners, families, and tired conversations in the sun. Recovery started quietly. Coffee mattered. Words came slowly. And somewhere in that calm, another race day in the Swiss Alps came to an end.
For Caroline, it was simple: a full day in the mountains, a steady rhythm, and a finish line that arrived after everything else.