Chris and I were sitting in the car on our road to the bikepark, obviously talking about biking . In my flat live a lot of skiers who abseil themselves into steep gutters in winter. Common in skiing but never done in biking. So I told Chris about the idea, he laughed and said he had the same idea a few years ago and already built a route but never finished the whole project.

A few weeks and some preparations later we were ready to start. The crew consisted of Chris (Trailbuilder), Maria (Photographer), Sebastian (Photographer), Alina (assistance) and me. We started at 10 in morning, the summer sun was already burning and we had a 1700m vertical meters hike in front of us. It took us about 5 hours of climbing and lifting the bikes to the top of the mountain, but the main act didn’t even start. We had to take a short break and refuel our energy before the action was going to happen.

To reach the beginning of the trail, Chris and I had to abseil ourselves 70 meters to the bottom of the wall. Maria and Basti were in position and we were able to start. Connected with walkie talkies I started with the abseil action. Chris talked reassuring to me because my missing experience in climbing made it all a huge mind game. It took me about 10 minutes to the bottom with the bike strapped to my belt. Then Chris started, clearly enjoyed the view and made it down easily.

From that point on an insane single trail welcomed us, starting up with a huge gravel field. Cruising this almost felt like a powder ride in winter. The alpine trail finished with a ridge line which guided us directly into the sunset, with the burning wall to our back.

The rest of the trail was hard to ride due to the upcoming night and the whole crew struggled a bit to make it back down to the bottom of the mountain but in the end we all made it safely.

This whole project brought every one of us to our limits, mentally and physically. It also gave a special connection to the crew and when we saw the pictures we all knew it was worth it.

-Leopold Erhardt