Day 15: Setting Up In Wiriehorn

15 Jul 2011

WorldBikeParks and iXS at the Berghotel Nüegg at the top of the lift

Day 15: Arrival in Wiriehorn for the iXS Swiss DH Cup. After a couple of down-days to recover and sort out the kit it’s great to be on the road again. Not a long drive, over the Brünig Pass and down to Interlaken before turning up the Diemitigen Valley to Wiriehorn. As can be expected on a road trip in the Alps the scenery is stunning with steep cliffs plunging into jade-green lakes. We just caught the end of practice this evening – the course looks dry and fast. They have a brand-new 6-person chair lift here, only built in 2007, and have already embraced the bike park scene in the summer. This is obviously on a smaller scale than the established bike parks of the URT so far – there are only a few marked trails in the park. But we are told that many more are planned, and with easy road access due to the location right on the edge of the Alps there looks to be some real potential here.

Start ramp for the iXS Swiss DH Cup race course

Our base is Berghotel Nüegg, located at the top of the chairlift so we get to look out over the valley and the race course this evening. Tim is just talking pictures with pro-photographer Thomas from Extreme-Pics, official photog for the iXS series – check out some awesome images on their website. I can’t understand a word they are saying though so will leave them to it. Weather forecast for tomorrow is great; Sunday not so good, so we’ll do what we can before the storms hit again!

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