It was a kind of crazy idea eight years ago. The bike on the hump, the tent in the rucksack and then up to the Wildstrubel in the Bernese Oberland. On foot to the 3244-metre summit, then down the same 1800-metre trail by mountain bike in the morning. This happened on August 20, 2010, when I took a liking to this idea. A mountain bike tour where the effort and reward are disproportionate, but the overall experience is amazing.

Then it was soon the turn of the Barrhorn, the highest mountain in Switzerland that can be ridden on a mountain bike. That's how the virus got into my body and at some point I had the idea of tackling all mountain bike destinations in the Alps above 3,000 meters above sea level. The boozy idea became a boozy project. It was given the name "Next Level". Mountain biking at the next altitude level.

In the years since the Wildstrubel, this high-alpine mountain biking has become the most normal thing in the world for me. Every year, I was on my bike at over 3,000 meters above sea level around a dozen times and each time I got a little closer to the goal of having done them all. In the 2018 season, it became clear that there were 54 goals and I should have them all together over the summer. Anyone who pursues a project for eight years should come up with something special for the end. For example, climbing the Matterhorn. After all, it's also on the list of these 54 three-thousand-metre bike peaks - at least the Hörnlihütte at the start of the climb.

No sooner said than done. On August 30, I stood on the summit of the Matterhorn at 8.15 am. It's an overwhelming feeling to sit on my bike in front of the Hörnlihütte 3.5 hours later and tackle the descent to Zermatt. Rarely has a descent meant so much to me, hardly any other was as emotional as this one. The last Next Level descent, by the way. Exactly eight years and ten days after the ascent of the Wildstrubel. In between are 52 summits, passes and huts over 3000 meters above sea level by mountain bike. Now the list is complete. That's it!

During these eight years, the "Schnapsidee" has become a hobby for me. I've found some of the most beautiful mountain bike routes in the high mountains - I've discovered the world that my heart beats for. My own personal next level, so to speak. And there is now a multimedia presentation about this fascination and these emotions with the premiere on September 12, 2018 on the big stage of the Davos Congress Center. How and where there will be further performances will be decided after the premiere.

Premiere multimedia lecture "Next Level"

September 12, 2018, 8 p.m.
Davos Congress Center
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