The Longest Staircase In The World

Despite the long distance, height and slope of the hill on which the ladder, it attracts many people.

The longest flight of stairs on the ground is located on Mount Niesen in Switzerland, nicknamed "the Swiss Pyramid" for its triangular shape. Ladder length of 3.4 km and 11 674 steps up the mountain slope, starting from a height of 700 meters at the bottom (from the river Kander in the village Muhlen) to 2363 meters at the top of the mountain. The average slopes of the mountain ranges between the colossal 55% and 65%.

For safety reasons, usually stairs closed to the public. But once a year, in June, she opened for the longest single race up the stairs - Niesen Treppenlauf, otherwise known as the Niesenlauf. In the course of the race up to 500 participants have to climb up this horrible stairs at the highest possible speed. Record for the men - one hour and two minutes for women - one hour and nine minutes that really impressive, considering that climb to the top is equivalent to seven Climbing the Empire State Building.

Difficult race is clearly not intended for the faint of heart, but its popularity is amazing. If you are wishing to participate you have to register almost a year before the race to secure a place in the competition. And sometimes it does not guarantee participation last year's race, for example, has been canceled due to heavy snow.

Fortunately, you do not need to puff in the race to take on an exciting path. Instead, you can take the train going parallel to the stairs on the steep slopes of the mountain. During the 28-minute trip, opened in 2010, the year, you can enjoy breathtaking views of the lush alpine forests, meadows and rare herd of cows on a background of snow-covered Alps. The train also passes through several tunnels and high-altitude sites. In addition, there is an outdoor pedestrian tourist route with multiple slides along the way to compensate for the slope of the Swiss pyramid.