FUGA Glacier Extreme Gongga 100

Author: JUNG FILHWA(@ninz.nt.jung )

JUNG FILHWA entered the 2026 FUGA Glacier Extreme Gongga 100 and crossed two 4,500m peaks before altitude sickness forced staff to put him on oxygen near the 60km mark — an automatic DNF under race rules. We translated part of his race reports [1] [2] from Korean, and we're glad to share it here.

The race start was midnight that night. There was plenty of time before it, but maybe from nerves about the race ahead, my body felt unusually heavy and sluggish.

Around 10am I headed to the venue to pick up my bib — massive and full of eye-catching sights, as these Chinese events always are.

Chinese races are known for being especially generous with souvenirs — even with a large suitcase packed for the trip, what I left with exceeded expectations. Handing out the finisher medal in advance was unusual too: a magnetic two-piece design, where finishing gets you the other half to complete it as one. There was also a medal-engraving booth, though a 10-character limit (spaces included) meant I had to drop the space in my name to fit it.

At the official booth I bought a bear bell I'd had my eye on, more compact than the one I already owned and useful for the upcoming Lake Biwa 100. On the way out I even got a commemorative ring — I'd assumed that was only for the Top 100 finishers, but everyone got one.

Back at the lodge, I packed the drop bag separately with the helmet, crampons, and other gear used only on the glacier section, then returned to the venue to check it in.

In the afternoon I rode the cable car — normally expensive, but just 5 yuan for race participants. After a 40-minute bus ride up, the cable car carried me into a massive glacier landscape and up to 3,500m. I took in the view in the cold mountain air for a while before heading back down.

At the start, mandatory gear was checked once more. In the pouring rain, the race began the moment the clock struck midnight. The stretch to 1CP was mostly road — 8.4km with 430m of climbing — and I kept moving without stopping to make the tight 1.5-hour cutoff.

The road to 2CP was mostly mud. The pouring rain turned the trail into a mess in an instant, and my new shoes were quickly caked in it. Feeling the mud work its way inside, all I could think was how badly I wanted to be done with mud for the year.

To reach 3CP I had to cross two 4,500m peaks. I held a steady pace up through the mid-3,000m range, but past 4,000m my body started to scream — a splitting headache, waves of nausea, hyperventilating and retching over and over. So this was the altitude sickness I'd only ever heard about. I couldn't stop, so I kept pushing forward one step at a time.

I finally reached the 4,500m point, but the descent stayed above 4,000m too. My head felt heavy and clouded, and my stomach was so unsettled that even going downhill felt like too much. Luckily there was a checkpoint on the descent between the two peaks, where I described my symptoms to staff through gestures. They gave me an oxygen tank along with a warm drink.

The moment I accepted the oxygen, I knew it meant an automatic DNF under the rules. But there was no other way down from that altitude. To reach the CP with the shuttle bus, I still had to cross one more 4,500m peak over the remaining 4km. Breathing from the tank, I took the smallest steps forward — it took seven hours to cover just four kilometers, the longest, most painful 4km of my life.

At CP3, I forced down drinks and food — even if I threw it back up, I needed the energy to keep going. Staff told me that to catch the shuttle, I'd have to walk another 5km down to the cable car station; no vehicle could reach that terrain, so there was no choice but to get down under my own power, mixing coke and energy drink to pull myself together.

Once I dropped below 4,000m, the clouds pressing on my head finally began to clear. I walked the 5km descent and reached CP4 to find the 60km finisher point in front of me. Checking myself over, I was relieved to find no major injury. From there it was the cable car, then a 40-minute shuttle bus back, dozing on and off, just grateful to be down safely.

In the end, my race closed with an 'oxygen tank ending.' I spent a painful stretch battling altitude sickness, but the scenery up there was the best of my life — a view I could only see because I endured hell to get there, so beautiful it barely felt real, like something out of an AI painting.

Discover

Company

FUGA Glacier Extreme Gongga 100

2026 Glacier Extreme Gongga 100 100km Race Report

Expo and Equipment Check

Souvenirs, Medals

A Glacier Cable Car to 3,500m

Into the Rain: Start to CP2

The Climb Into Altitude Sickness

A Scary Descent and Staff Oxygen

Crossing One Last Peak on Borrowed Oxygen

Walking Out Under My Own Power

An Oxygen Tank Ending