I first heard about Solang from a friend who came back from Manali walking like he'd been in a fight. Skyrunning is its own discipline, I learned that week. It is not trail running with extra elevation. It is its own conversation between body and mountain. The Solang SkyUltra is the August edition of that conversation, set in the valley above Manali, and it does not care how many road marathons you've finished.
What skyrunning actually is
The shortest answer: skyrunning is racing on terrain that climbs more vertically than it travels horizontally, often above the treeline, often involving hands-on-knees sections, sometimes involving genuine scrambling. The Solang SkyUltra sits in the vertical end of the spectrum — the kind of race where your pace target is measured in vertical metres per hour, not kilometres per hour.
I remember asking my coach in 2022 what training for skyrunning looked like. He laughed and said: "Less running than you think. More climbing than you'd guess." He wasn't joking.
Why August matters
The race is in August. The Himalaya in August is monsoon. Manali catches less rain than the southern face of the range, but the weather is still volatile — sun, then cloud, then rain, then sun again, sometimes inside an hour. The temperature swings on a vertical race are dramatic. Valley floor is warm. Ridge is cold. Wind on exposed sections can change your effective temperature by 10 degrees.
A four-month build, working backwards from race day
You can't compress this. Sixteen weeks is the realistic minimum if you have a reasonable trail-running base. If you don't, plan twenty. The principle is simple: the body needs time to adapt to vertical, to altitude, and to the specific demands of skyrunning movement.
Weeks 1-4: base, with vertical introduction
Two or three runs a week. One long run, building gradually. One session of hill repeats — short, steep, focused on power. One easy run. The mistake here is to load volume; the right move is to load specificity. Start adding stairs, hill walks with poles, and any kind of vertical work you can find in your city. If you live on flat terrain, climbing 10 floors of stairs repeatedly is a legitimate session.
Weeks 5-8: the vertical block
This is where you stop being a runner and start being a skyrunner. Three sessions a week with significant vertical: one long hike-run with sustained climbing, one shorter session of repeats focused on hands-on-knees power-hiking, one easy run. By week 8, you should be able to climb 800-1000 vertical metres in a single session without it being a special occasion.
Weeks 9-12: specific work
Long days. Back-to-back climbing weekends if you can travel to hills. If you live in Bangalore or Mumbai or Delhi, find weekend trips to the Aravallis, the Sahyadris, the Nilgiris. Anything with sustained climb. Add altitude exposure if you can — even three days at 2500m before the race is better than nothing.
Weeks 13-16: taper into race readiness
Volume drops. Intensity holds. Practice race-day kit. Practice pole use if you'll use poles. Travel to Manali at least 3-4 days before the race to acclimatise. Sleep at altitude. Walk gentle uphills. Don't try to fit a final hard session in the last week.
If you want a structured starting point, the ultramarathon training plans have skyrunning-adjacent blocks. The STRIDD plan generator can draft a build around your weekly hours and race date.
The skills nobody tells you about
Skyrunning requires skills road runners don't develop. Hands-on-knees power-hiking, for one. The most efficient skyrunners can power-hike steep terrain almost as fast as elite runners can run it. Practice the position. Hands on lower thigh, not knee. Push through the heel. Short steps. Steady breath.
Descents matter as much as ascents. Maybe more. The Solang SkyUltra has descents on loose terrain where braking is the worst thing you can do. Train your quads to accept eccentric load. The runners who lose time on this course are the ones who can climb but can't descend.
Pole use, if you'll use them
Trekking poles aren't required but most experienced skyrunners use them. They redistribute effort from legs to upper body on long climbs. If you've never used poles, learn six weeks before race day, not the morning of.
Altitude — the variable nobody trains enough for
The Solang valley sits at meaningful altitude. The high points of the route are higher. If you live at sea level — most Indian cities — you will feel the thin air. The effect is subtle below 2500m and significant above 3000m.
What helps: arriving in Manali 3-5 days early. Sleeping at altitude. Drinking more water than you think you need. What doesn't help: cramming altitude exposure in the last 48 hours. Altitude adaptation isn't a switch; it's a process.
Read our guide on Indian heat and monsoon running; the principles of acclimatisation transfer to altitude prep with the obvious adjustments for cold and air pressure.
Fuelling on a vertical race
The cost of vertical work, in calories per hour, can be 30-50 percent higher than equivalent flat running. Your gut, meanwhile, struggles more at altitude than at sea level. The combination is cruel.
Practice race-day fuelling on long training days. 60-80 grams of carbohydrate per hour is a reasonable target. Mix gels with real food — boiled potato, banana, dates. Whatever your stomach trained on.
Hydration in cold mountain air
You'll sweat less than you would at sea level. You'll feel less thirsty. You'll still need to drink steadily. Cold dry mountain air dehydrates through respiration in ways you don't notice. Sip every 15 minutes whether you want to or not.
The race morning, the start, the first kilometre
Race morning in Manali in August can be cold and damp. Layer up. Stash a layer at the start that you can shed once the climb begins. The first kilometre of a skyrace will feel impossible if you don't pace it right. Walk early, even on what looks like runnable terrain. The legs come awake in kilometre two. Spend nothing in kilometre one.
The Solang SkyUltra event page has the latest race-day logistics. The pace and effort calculators can help you set realistic targets based on your most recent races. Browse the rest of Running Lab for the supporting reading.
One more thing
Skyrunning is a humbling sport. The mountain runs the race. You're just a guest. The runners I know who do best at Solang are the ones who train hard, taper smart, and arrive at the start line with no ego left. Show up trained. Show up rested. Let the valley decide the rest.