Whether on a Peruvian volcano at an altitude of 6,000 m or on the peaks of the Swiss Alps with his latest video Switzerland Paradise,
Kilian Bron is as raw as it is thunderous. The mountain bike pilot, who divides his life between Andorra and Haute-Savoie, multiplies the spectacular freeride videos to several million views
on Youtube. Since his childhood in Bourg-Saint-Maurice (Savoie), the person concerned has become one with his bicycle. “I’ve always spent a lot of time outdoors,” he says. My parents left me free and we were going to venture out everywhere with some friends. My bike has become the ideal tool for exploring the mountains and clearing my head. “
This lifestyle sticks to the skin of the French freerider, who describes himself as “calm”, except when he has been descending mountain trails at full speed since the age of 13. “Whether through mountain biking or ski touring, Kilian is in my eyes above all hyperactive,” confides his friend and former roommate Pierre Henni. He has ideas all the time bubbling up in him, he doesn’t know how to settle down and do nothing. “
“I was going to go crazy in that life”
This is why it is tested on different formats, from the Downhill Mountain Biking World Cup in 2011 to the enduro world circuit (mass starts and races of almost one hour) from 2016 to 2019. But the ultimate pleasure of Kilian Bron in his discipline will be elsewhere.
In France, there is always a notion of competition when you practice a sport. The message I want to get across is that we don’t have to limit ourselves to this framework. We can get out of the classic mold by building our adventures. “
And the Savoyard did not need to be asked to take the plunge, once the question of life choice had been settled. “I felt different and I quickly realized that I didn’t want a normal 35-hour day in an office,” he explains. I spent my time looking outside and I was going to blow my mind in this life. He therefore draws a line from his end-of-license internship in Montmélian (Savoie) on his position as project manager in the development of industrial products.
“I don’t like to be seen as a hothead”
Make way for a first project off filmed in 2011 in Morocco, followed by many new adventures in New Zealand, Canada, Italy or more recently alongside chamois in Switzerland. This former volunteer firefighter, for seven years at the Talloires-Montmin barracks (Haute-Savoie), even takes “as much pleasure” in participating in photo and video editing as in riding in remote landscapes. Besides his GoPro, he most often travels with a cameraman, drone pilot and photographer. From his first “mission”, the name of one of the web-series he launched, the question of the risks taken on his mountain bike inevitably returns to the lips of bluffed Internet users.
“I am very curious and I often push my limits, recognizes Kilian Bron. But I don’t like to be seen as a hothead. Behind these videos there is a great physical, mental and reflex preparation to work on, as well as scouting on foot before each descent, where I scrutinize the smallest stone. I had several fractures but the goal is not to play with my life. “
Get up at 2 a.m. to reach the top of a Mexican volcano
The pilot knows well that with peaks of more than 100 km / h, the risk is unavoidable. “With each shoot, he impresses me with his immense concentration when he knows he is going to risk his life,” notes Pierre Henni, who has become his videographer on most of his innovative projects. In 2018 in Namibia, I wanted to turn my head when I saw him on granite slabs, closest to the cliff. But he traced with total ease. “
A video which marks “a turning point” in the flight of Kilian Bron. He now manages to reach “a much larger audience than the mountain biking community” according to Pierre Henni. The latter knows that he will not follow his friend in all his crazy adventures. When last March in Mexico, the freerider told members of his team that he would leave his tent in the middle of the night to go discover a sunrise at the top of the Popocatepetl volcano (5,426 m above sea level), nobody considered the accompany as high, so early.
When you get up at 2 a.m. to climb 1,000 m of elevation gain in the volcanic sand by pushing and carrying your bike, this is where you feel alive. There are areas where we are really like alone in the world. “
14 daybreaks captured and a film of less than 4 minutes
The magic of his videos can be found in part in this quest for the unknown: “When I see the difficulties of access that we can sometimes meet, as if to reach the summit of the Chachani volcano (6,057 m above sea level) in Peru, I suspect that I am the first to come there with my bike ”. Supported over the long term by around ten sponsors, including the Commencal bicycle brand, Kilian Bron can live off his passion. And the least we can say is that he makes his trips profitable.
For a film of less than 4 minutes, Follow the light, filmed last year in Turkey, he wanted to ride in front of 14 sunrises, in fifteen days spent there. No wonder for this professional pilot, who can do up to 20 descents in one day of training, for a total of 10,000 m of negative elevation, in his “base camp” in La Clusaz (Haute-Savoie).
He won the formidable Mountain of Hell in 2018, 2019 and 2021
The one who will celebrate his 30 years next Monday wants to remain elusive, as his project proves Outdoor Synchrony. In 2020, it allows for an incredible encounter between the main outdoor disciplines, alongside trail runner Michel Lanne, snowboarder Victor Daviet or even Soul Flyers Fred Fugen and his late sidekick Vince Reffet. When you are a notorious “hyperactive”, you can also keep one foot in the competition, and even be the three-time defending champion of the formidable
Mountain of hell in Les Deux Alpes (Isère), with a thousand participants lined up at the start of this enduro freeride descent of 25 km and 2,400 m of D-.
“Let’s just say that we don’t do low blows, but we don’t give gifts on this race format either,” smiles Kilian Bron. It’s a combination of adrenaline and letting go, sometimes at 125 km / h on snow. From the start, it can turn into a funnel. The rest will be the release of a video of a tour of Mont-Blanc and then another challenge in Spain, before heading off to ride in Guatemala in March. The choice of life at 125 km / h of the so creative mountain bike pilot will certainly not be slowed down by crossing the threshold of 30 years.