HK VERTICAL RACE is the 5.9km vertical kilometre at Hochkönig Ultraks 2026 (Maria Alm, Austria). The race starts on June 5, 2026.
Short race: go all out.
The course climbs 1080m+. With 183m/km of climbing, the course is exceptionally steep, with long hiking-grade sections. By gradient, 95% of the distance is uphill, 0% downhill and 5% flat. The longest climb runs 5.9km at an average 18.5% grade (1083m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 41.9% over 0.5km. Surface: 65% trail, 26% road, and 8% technical. Flat-equivalent effort: 13.6 FlatKM.
The highest summit on the course is 1. Lauskopf (2072m), 5.7km from the start.
Trekking poles are strongly recommended: about 3.8km of the course is steep enough for them to pay off.
There is too little runnable descent to damage the quads: plan the race around climbing and fuelling.
On race day, start temperatures have historically ranged from 8°C to 21°C, with around 10°C at the highest point; the chance of precipitation is about 72%. Heavy rain of 10.0mm or more falls on about 18% of days around this date.
This page has a pacing and nutrition planner, a gradient matrix, an interactive elevation profile and historical weather for HK VERTICAL RACE.
Other distances of Hochkönig Ultraks 2026HK70 (71.5km)·HK48 (48.0km)
Official websitewww.hochkoenig-ultraks.at/en
