Ride reproduces the wording of the Berner Bund in this context. The article published on October 3 gives a good and comprehensive account of the situation at the Gurten:

Broken landing on the Gurten
Efforts to obtain a permit for an illegal bike trail on the Gurten have failed.

An association founded for this purpose has given up. Experts from forestry and hunting circles agreed that channeling the bikers would be beneficial, but the resistance of some forest owners and a complicated approval process brought the project to a halt. With an official downhill trail, Bern would have played a pioneering role in Switzerland.

The bike trail will not be legal
The "Bear Riders", the association formed to obtain official approval for an illegally constructed downhill slope on the Gurten, have failed. The project turned out to be too complicated and too time-consuming, is how the bikers explain their withdrawal.The bikers jump off the jump table on the downhill slope at Gurten seemingly effortlessly, fly over a deep ditch and then land safely on the ramp opposite. However, their flying skills were not enough to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles on the way to legalizing the downhill run: "From today's perspective, we have to admit that the procedure far exceeds the capacities of our association. For this reason, we are withdrawing from the attempt to obtain a building and operating permit for a bike trail on the Gurten," wrote the Bear Riders to the Köniz building inspectorate at the end of September."We had a lot to learn when dealing with the authorities. We also had to set up a functioning association, time was running out and then we also made some embarrassing mistakes," explains Samuel Hubschmid from the Bear Riders.

Going in an orderly direction
The association was founded last winter to bring order to the wild biking on Bern's local mountain and, in consultation with the authorities and forest owners, to turn the slope from the Gurtenbahn mountain station towards Wabern, which was built by individuals without a permit, into an official bike trail. Initially, the young downhillers were met with an open ear. "It would be better if they rode downhill in one place and not all over the forest," agreed the hunting and forestry circles. A year ago, a new route for the slope was jointly negotiated. An agreement seemed to be within reach. All that was missing was the agreement of some private forest owners.

Despite this, problems soon arose. On the one hand, the initiators annoyed the landowners by inviting them to a meeting and forgetting the date; on the other hand, the owners also felt offended because more and more bikers from all over Switzerland were using the still unapproved trail. And finally, the legal situation proved to be far more complicated than originally assumed. Operating the trail not only requires the approval of the hunting inspectorate, forestry authorities and forest owners, but also a building permit including exemptions for "small non-forestry structures in the forest". "I was initially more optimistic, but now I'm no longer sure myself under what conditions such a facility would even be eligible for approval," says Conradin Mohr, Head of Forest Division 5 at the Cantonal Forestry Office. It became increasingly clear to him that the permit would have set an important precedent. A clear basic requirement is the consent of all landowners. The Forest Act expressly provides for bike trails, but even if the owners on the Gurten had given their consent, Mohr says, "we would have had to examine the planning application with great care".

Bern not a role model after all
With an official bike route, Bern would indeed have played a pioneering role. "We followed the development with interest, because Bern would have been the prototype for how biking can be organized in areas close to the city," says Thomas Giger from IG Mountainbike, which represents the interests of bikers throughout Switzerland. Giger reports major problems in other cities. "The Üetliberg in particular is in chaos. Trails are being built all over the place and I fear that we will soon be faced with a huge pile of rubble," he says. A shambles is now also looming on the Gurten. "Nothing is clear yet, but I assume that the trail will have to be dismantled," says Conradin Mohr. However, it is not known who built it and would therefore have to bear the costs of demolition. The "Bear Riders" declare that they are not responsible.

Ban almost impossible to enforce
The central question, however, is how to ensure that bikes are no longer ridden on the current route, says Mohr. In any case, it will be difficult to enforce a bike ban on the Gurten. "That's why I'm still of the opinion that the legalization of a slope would be best," says Franz Weibel, head forester of the Burgergemeinde Bern, the largest forest owner on the Gurten. Andreas Grimm, technical manager of the Gurtenbahn, shares this view. "We welcomed the slope because it was less of a nuisance for pedestrians," he says. The bikers with their extremely dirty bikes, depending on the weather, may have brought extra work for the Gurtenbahn, but also a significant increase in frequency. Based on the additional additional tickets sold for bikes, Grimm estimates that around 2,000 bikers have been riding up the Gurten every month recently. The "Bear Riders" continue to hope that Grimm and Weibel's arguments will one day prevail. "If Migros or the Gurtenbahn were to take matters into their own hands, we would offer our help," says Hubschmid.

Author: Urs Hugentobler