Everesting: New altitude metre world record with the e-bike in Davos Klosters

Text: Franz Thomas Balmer / Marc Strucken

Ralph van den Berg and Max Chapuis started their world record project at four o'clock in the morning on 21 June, the longest day of the year. Unusually, everything went according to plan and without any mishaps! Within 16 hours, they covered 14,623 metres in altitude, setting a new uphill world record on the E-MTB.

Van den Berg explains: "We wanted to cover as many metres in altitude as possible with as little distance as possible so as not to lose any time." Davos Klosters was therefore an ideal location. They were inspired by the "Kenveresting Challenge" of former downhill pro Claudio Caluori and the Everesting of other bikers.

Info: What is Kenveresting?

The Keneveresting Challenge was created by Claudio Caluori, the former downhill pro and founder of Velosolutions. In 2020, he collected 13,500 metres of altitude in one tour on a Specialized Kenevo and created the name "Keneveresting". It is his own version of the Everestingsin which he rode the Never End Trail on Crap Sogn Gion in Switzerland 8 times in 8 hours on his e-bike. The aim is always to complete the 8848 metres of ascent of Mount Everest on a freely selectable climb.

Customised battery management

For their world record, van den Berg and Chapuis drove the whole day with the same "Specialised Turbo Levo". With a 700-cell battery, they climbed over 1,500 metres in altitude in power mode. Good battery planning was therefore important, especially as the service team was only allowed to wait at a predefined location according to the regulations. In this case, it was the Gotschnabahn in Klosters. This was the only place where the batteries of the two e-bikers could be replaced or repairs carried out. For this world record attempt, only commercially available e-mountainbikes that are locked at 25 km/h and use normal batteries are permitted.

Second mountain bike world record in a row

This is not the first mountain bike world record for Ralph van den Berg. In summer 2021, he and Christoph Fässler broke the singletrail world record in Davos Klosters. Within 16 hours, they descended 20,100 metres in altitude, beating the singletrail world record at the time by 516 metres. They didn't ride a single trail twice. Van den Berg explains his motivation: "I wanted to show that even as a family man with a demanding job, you can still experience an adventure in a short space of time."

Also for the record campaign the bike destination Davos Klosters with its 700 kilometre-long single trail network the perfect playground.