Blog | MountVacation.com

The now famous Mountain of Hell (Episode 10!) takes place in Les 2 Alpes from July 17th to the 19th, 2009. Here’s a nice video from a previous episode.

In short, during the Mountain of Hell event, amateurs and pros get to pleasantly enjoy the great freeride venues of Les 2 Alpes. It takes the form of an open to all mountain bike downhill event with a practice day and two days of competition. For the downhill derby, participants will ride the 2 Alpes’ glacier, offering 2500 meters of vertical drop over 25 km, so the event is for amateurs, yes, but maybe not for newbies.

Exactly 400 riders can take part in the downhill derby and, at the time of posting this, only 26 places were still available. Quickly register here and don’t wait too long for booking your accommodation in Les 2 Alpes either, places are filling up quickly.

See you there!

From the 19th to 21st of July the Tour de France will be, for the first time, in the Swiss mountain resort of Verbier. On Sunday, 19th July, its 15th stage starts in Pontarlier (France) and is scheduled to finish in late afternoon in Verbier, following a final ascent of 8.5km with 700m of elevation between Le Chable and Verbier. The next day is (a well deserved) rest day and, on Tuesday the 21st, cyclists will start from the neighbouring town of Martigny, pass over the Grand-St-Bernard Pass (the highest altitude point of the 2009 Tour, at 2,476m) to finish their stage in Bourg-St-Maurice (France).
Needless to say that, during those three days, the region will live the excitement of this great cycling fiesta!

Why not extend your stay in Verbier and take time to enjoy the Verbier Festival. From the 17th of July to the 2nd of August, the Festival presents 17 days of world-class music, from orchestra concerts to opera to chamber music. The bars and cafés present a program of performances, free concerts, conferences and public rehearsals.

There might still be some accommodations available in Verbier for that period but don’t waist time!

In the previous post Best European Mountain Biking Destinations 2009, one major destination was overlooked: Alpe d’Huez!

Among all the activities offered in Alpe d’Huez to mountain biking enthusiast, there’s the grandiose Megavalanche, which is, without exaggeration, the World’s greatest downhill marathon race. Here’s what it consists of, in short: a 4000 meters downhill race, 1400 participants from 20 countries and 4 days of training and race from the 9th to the 12th of July. Click here for more information about the 2009 Alpe d’Huez Megavalanche.

Here is a bit of action to tempt you:

If you want to take part to the 2009 Megavalanche, the best is to spend the whole week in Alpe d’Huez (from the 6th to the 13th of July). Register soon to one of the different activity packages – Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze – by clicking here, as places fill up quickly. Click here to book your accommodation in Alpe d’Huez, as you shouldn’t wait either, it takes many beds to accommodate 1400 mountain bikers!

Saas-Fee, in Switzerland, will have the pleasure, once again this year, to host the regional Summer Cow Fighting tournament! Weird? Well, the Swiss people from the Valais region certainly don’t think so, they have been holding such tournaments since the 1920’.

Here’s how it looks like:

It is to be noted that cows used here, from the local Herens breed, fight naturally to establish the hierarchy in the herd, and their horns are blunted before the fights. No bloodshed or dead animals here, the fights are mainly a pushing contest. The first cow to back down from a fight is eliminated. The winning cow from each regional tournament gets to take part in the grand finale La Reine des Reines (the queen of the queens) in Martigny next October.

The cow fighting tournament will be held Sunday, 9th August 2009 but it’s worth spending at least the whole weekend in Saas-Fee, for it will be filled with live music and fresh food and drinks. It is a quite popular event in Saas-Fee so better book your accommodation early if you want to give it a try.

Winter or summer, the Tignes ski resort in France is certainly not a boring place to be. The now famous Bikini Contest will be held, once again, to launch the 2009 summer ski season! If you don’t know it already, it’s a race down a mini slalom involving a dozen competitors on their skis or snowboard wearing only bikinis.
This frisky and eccentric event will certainly heat up the first days of summer.
So, see you guys in Tignes the 21st of June 2009 and don’t forget your bikini!