Event Previews & Reviews from Les 2 Alpes

The fifth leg of the iXS European Downhill Cup (EDC), held in Les Deux Alpes this weekend, was the last event before the finals at Leogang (AUT) in September.

With a busy festive fortnight coming to an end, we bring you a rundown of the highlights of the last two weeks.

Now in its fifth year, the Deux Alpes Night Snow Trail has become something of a fixture on the resort’s calendar. A growing number of trail running aficionados are choosing their skiing holiday dates each winter to allow them to compete in the race.

The glacier in Les 2 Alpes opened this weekend and in the region of 3,000 people arrived in resort to get their first skiing and snowboarding of the season done.

The 2013 Crankworx in Les 2 Alpes was bigger than ever, and this video shows some of the best tricks from the bike festival. In case you are confused this is not a video game...

Saturday saw the first edition of the Les Deux Alpes Defí Vertical – a ski touring race from the town at 1650 metres to the top of the glacier at 3600 metres.

The Japanese three man team freestyle festival returned to Les Deux Alpes in 2010 for it's biggest year. Although the weather was mixed the riders on the glacier were among the best in the world and the open sessions and three man on course slopestyle event showed just what was possible on the Les Deux Alpes glacier.

Saturday saw around thirty classic cars, vans and bikes assemble in the square for a brand-new event in Les Deux Alpes; the Vintage Motor Show.

The Mountain of Hell MTB race is now in its 17th year and the 2016 edition saw 700 mountain bikers take part from no less than 18 different countries. For the first time this year there was a children's race with 23 competitors taking part, and 16 women also joined the ranks - I was one of them.

Saturday afternoon saw the arrival of around 3000 Rise festival-goers in Les Deux Alpes, and it didn’t take long for the party to get underway. Back for the third year running, this time around looks set to be bigger than ever.

For the nineteenth edition the competitors were greeted by three days of good weather and perfect biking conditions. The fastest riders hit speeds well over 100km/h and covered the twenty-five-kilometre-long course in just under thirty minutes.