With Crankworx being so hugely successful in Canada, it just made sense for them to have another one. With most of the top athletes already out in Europe for racing and competitions during July, it was the perfect time to host and have the first edition of Crankworx Europe in Les2Alpes, France, where they would combine it with the already infamous Mountain of Hell race
to create a seven day festival filled, as they described it, “with epic endurance, supreme flow, monster air and vertical–dropping riding. A monument to gravity, a testament to passion. The phenoms, the veterans, the aeronauts, the tricksters, the speed–freaks, the enduro–maestros – all the best mountain bike athletes answer gravity’s call.”

Welcome to Euroland Crankworx! Just substitute red wine for beer, and crepes for poutine.

Les2Alpes is a crazy ski town located roughly one hour 30 minutes from Grenoble in the French Alps. It is always abuzz with skiers and snowboarders, year round, due to the glacier that they have up there.

I think every parent in France sends their kids out to Les2Alpes to go to ski or snowboard camp during the summer, as everywhere you look you see groms in XXXL ski and snowboarding outfits milling about town in their full winter kit, dragging their boards around under the summer sun and trying not to look like they’re boiling hot.

It is not a quaint little old village town, it is surrounded by 60’s style apartment buildings and shops with constant summer and closing down sales and a ‘Sport 2000’ on every corner and restaurants with flashing lights offering fondues, raclettes, tartiflettes and crepes.

Don’t get me wrong, you do have the odd nice building and restaurant here and there, but your first impression is of a somewhat bizarre scene, almost like a mini Vegas in the mountains. The Cabo of the French Alps. The famous French culture is there, you just have to dig a bit deeper to find it.

We came here for the first time four years ago wanting to see what the Mountain of Hell enduro race was all about, after hearing many rumours about how gnarly and crazy it was compared to the Megavalanche just across the valley, we loved it and have been back every year since. I was curious to see how this combination with the Crankworx Europe festival would affect or influence such a cool cult race that has been going on for the past 12 years! No one was even into enduro racing or riding and these guys, the Chucas Bikers who created this event, were already screaming down glaciers and mountains 12 years ago! Only in France. >>