Mountain of Hell 2018 review

In the run-up to the event, Les Deux Alpes was decorated with French and Canadian flags to welcome a contingent from Whistler bike park. The Canadian visit was organised by the commune in collaboration with mountain bike groups in both resorts to provide a week of networking and discussion of common issues. Perhaps of more immediate interest to mountain bikers, five lucky Mountain of Hell riders won a trip to Whistler for June next year.

Friday’s practice day gave the riders the chance to familiarise themselves with the courses used over the weekend. The event follows a different route each year, often outside of the marked bike park trails. Even local riders are unlikely to know all parts of these trails, so it is an important day for competitors.

Saturday was qualification day, using a shorter course than the main event on Sunday. All competitors get to race in the final, so the qualification course times are used to set the start order. As overtaking is difficult for most of the route, and with almost 800 riders competing, getting a good start position is vital for those aiming at the podium.

The qualification race began at mid-station of the Jandri with a descent through La Fee and down towards Cuculet village on some pretty technical footpaths. The fastest riders finished in a shade over twenty minutes.

The final day began early for competitors, boarding the Jandri express from 5.30am to be in place for the 9am mass start. Outside the top funicular station, row after row of bikes arrayed on the snow made an impressive sight. At this time in the morning, the glacier pistes are frozen to bulletproof ice with only the corduroy texture to offer a hint of grip. Despite the slippery conditions, the leading racers pedalled furiously down the Jandri 5 and Jandri 4 pistes. Second placed Jerome Clementz posted on Facebook that he reached 123.9km/h at the end of the glacier section.

After the snow the route headed rightwards below the Jandri Express with a few short climbs, before dropping to the 2600m mid-station. The red Rocky Line trail led to a climb into the Thuit bowl before heading to the front face and a combination of the Valentin ski piste and Bike Patrollers red mountain bike trail.

Heading left, the route hit the roads of the Les Deux Alpes. The riders raced through the place de Venosc before dropping down flights of steps and through narrow alleys to reach the Venosc footpath. Steep, winding, and generally unsuitable for bikes, this path offers a technical challenge on the one weekend a year when mountain biking is permitted. The difficulties did not stop the leaders from flying down, barely touching the brakes. There were quite a few crashes on this section, particularly as the bulk of the field came down, but most jumped straight back on the bike and kept going.

Killian Bron won the men’s race in under half an hour, about a second ahead of Jerome Clementz. Emile Serre beat Whistler’s Christina Chapetta to win the women’s race around fifteen minutes later. After a memorable weekend of biking, perfect weather and great racing, we are looking forward to something even more spectacular for the twentieth edition of the Mountain of Hell in Les Deux Alpes next year.

Men
1st Killian Bron 29:34.100
2nd Jerome Clementz 29:35.308
3rd Nicolas Quere 30:16.139

Women
1st Emilie Serre 45:53.823
2nd Christina Chappetta 46:39.181
3rd Hessens Liesbeth 49:10.374