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La montée est raide, mais on la monte en une heure.

La montée est raide, mais on la monte en une heure.
The climb is steep, but we climb it in one hour.
From Lesson 242:Time prepositions of duration (en, dans)·French

Questions & Answers about La montée est raide, mais on la monte en une heure.

Why is it en une heure and not dans une heure?
The preposition en is used for the duration it takes to complete an action. This sentence means the physical act of climbing takes one hour from start to finish. If the sentence used dans une heure, it would mean the climb is scheduled to begin one hour from now.
What does the la in on la monte refer to?
It is a direct object pronoun referring back to la montée (the climb). Instead of repeating the noun and saying on monte la montée (we climb the climb), French uses la before the verb to mean "it".
I see both montée and monte here. What is the difference?
La montée is a noun meaning "the climb" or "the ascent", which you can tell by the article la and the feminine ending -ée. Monte is the conjugated verb monter (to climb), matching the subject on. It is common in French to use a noun and a verb with the same root in one sentence.
Why does the sentence use on instead of nous for "we"?
In conversational French, on is the most common way to say "we". Just remember that even though the meaning is plural, the verb following on is always conjugated in the singular third-person, exactly like il or elle.

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