One of the world’s longest suspension bridges opened in German winter sports resort | Abroad

Willingen is a winter sports resort near Winterberg and is best known for the annual ski jumping competitions at the Mühlenkopfschanze. Now a tourist magnet for the region must be added: a floating suspension bridge just under 665 meters long that leads hikers at a height of up to 100 meters from and from the Mühlenkopfschanze to the Musenberg. The section for walking itself is about 1.3 meters wide.

Named ‘Skywalk’, the suspension bridge was built by experts from the Swiss company Swissrope in a Tibetan style, similar to the type of suspension bridges commonly used in the Himalayas. In total, it concerns a construction of 120 tons and with a cost of about 4.5 million euros. A maximum of 750 people will be allowed to cross the bridge at the same time. Willingen hopes for at least 100,000 visitors per year.

With a length of just under 665 meters, the Willingen Skywalk is the longest self-supporting Tibetan-style suspension bridge in the world, according to German media.

Its prototype hangs in Tyrol. That bridge, the ‘Highline 179’, is 406 meters long and almost 115 meters high and connects the ruins of Ehrenberg with Fort Claudia in Reutte. In December 2014, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Highline 179 as the longest Tibetan-style walking suspension bridge in the world. That title will therefore take over the Skywalk.

The longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world can be found in the Czech Republic. There, the ‘Sky Bridge 721’ was opened in May last year in Dolni Morava, in the northeast of the country. It is 721 meters long and a maximum of 95 meters high.

A special feature of the ‘Skywalk Willingen’ is that the bridge has hydraulic cylinders. This allows the bridge to be pulled back in a storm and tightened a bit, so that the whole thing dangles less in the wind. The bridge will always be open to the public, all year round, except during stormy weather: if the bridge’s special sensors detect wind gusts that exceed safety limits, access to the bridge will be automatically restricted.

The bridge’s new website already suggests that both entrances are very attractive from which to start further hiking excursions, for example to the Ettelsberg and the adjacent Hochheide or in the direction of Usseln to the Graf Stollberghütte.