Mountain of Hell 2018

Mountain of Hell is the ultimate meeting for crazy mountain bikers, gathering 783 pilots from 17 different nations, including Canadians who came to celebrate the twinning between Les Deux Alpes and Whistler. A magical event where talented pro riders and beginners pit their skills against one another at 3400 meters altitude.

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During finals many bikers defied the new French 80km/h speed limitation law, with records reaching 127km/h. This major summer event made by Les Deux Alpes is now 19 years old and yet maintains its worldwide reputation. It is THE mountain bike event that gathers numerous passionate biker from all over the globe. Bikers take the green at 3400 meters altitude, wheels in the snow and struggle through an amazing track from the very top to the bottom of Les Deux Alpes’ ski and mountain bike resort. First one to the finish line takes the win! MOH is 2500 meters of descent and 25km through snow, ice, rocks, vertical drops and forest. Every year the course changes to make the event hot, fresh and new! Adrenaline reaches its highest level when final starts on top of Les Deux Alpes’ glacier. The race starts wheels on snow in the early morning at 3400 meters height!

Last year’s edition of the MOH had to deal with difficult weather condition and riders faced freezing fog before they got under the clouds to discover the moraine. Those same riders came back for this year’s edition to confront the Mountain of Hell, among world cup bikers, but this time, under a splendid blue sky and warm conditions! As for every edition of the MOH, a topic summarises the very spirit of this magical event and this year’s topic was Pirates of the Caribbean! This year MOH also celebrates the twinning between Les Deux Alpes and Whistler resort, and five lucky finishers shall be determined by lot and win a trip to Whistler! Even more! Light on MTB is an event within the event with its very own mountain bike film festival projected on giant outdoor screens, this year again presenting previews of international productions. And as if that was not enough for mountain bike lovers this year, the Crazy Race took place during the Light on MTB, and put badass riders on top of 20 inch bikes for a race inside and outside a bar!

Saturday 30th of June: Qualifications.

The qualification took place on Saturday. 750 riders took the green on la Toura’s area (2600 meters altitude) to cross the finish line at Mont de lans’s village (1300m altitude). The qualifications started at 12am with several groups of 100 pilots, and a group of 19 ladies among whom Emilie Serre (2nd in 2017), Morgan Such, and Canadian Christina Chapetta who was invited as a part of the twinning process between the two bike resorts.

Qualification results:

Men

1 – Nicolas QUERE – FR – 20 :09.656

2 – Jérôme CLEMENTZ – FR – 20 :38.806

3 – Stefan PETER – SUI – 20 :44.617

Women

1 – Christina CHAPETTA – CAN – 28 :17.486

2 – Emilie SERRE – FR – 28 : 20.691

3 – Mathilde BARTHELEMY – FR – 28 :40.582

Sunday 1st of July: MOH finals.

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for, the main highlight of the show as we never know what the weather conditions will be… And finally the race took place under extraordinary conditions! Big blue sky, warm temperatures and fresh groomed snow… The pilots who won their place on the start line the day before are thrilled… Waiting for the big final start!

29 starting lines, 692 professional and amateur bikers, wheels in the fresh snow in need for the thrill of speed. Tension is at its maximum on the set when the helicopter shows up and gives a start to all the riders.

It’s the big rush; riders go fast, way above the 80km/h limitation speed for most part! Local police radar flashed Tim Bratschi and recorded a 127km/h speed.
The show was amazing on top of the glacier for the people and the local skiers who came to watch the event, but also a crazy race all the way down to the resort.

25 km of madness through ice, snow, rocks and forest until the riders reached the small Venosc’s footpath which includes steps, big steps, trees, big rocks and vertical drops. Quite a lot of falls but no real hard damage!

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Finally, French Killian Bron from France (3rd place in 2017) was the clear winner of the race with a record time of 29 minutes descent (he can thank the Bistrot les Lutins for the amazing food he had that week!). Followed closely (1 sec) by Jérome Clementz (enduro world champion 2013 and multiple times winner of the MOH) who felt in the Venosc path which cost him the first place and Nicolas Quere who won third place. Those three professional and big favourites won the podium of the 19th edition of MOH with overall running times under 30 minutes; a record result!
The girl competition saw Emilie Serre get her revenge on last editions taking the lead with a 45 minute score, ahead of Canadian Christina Capetta and Hessens Liesbeth.

Last pilot to cross the line, Laurent Rakotomalala was not forgotten. 2 hours and 10 minutes to come down, he’s been rewarded too!!

A very special thank goes to a hundred volunteers, to the staff and the rescue workers who were essential to this wonderful event!