Uphill world record

Ralph van den Berg and Max Chapuis started their world record project at four in the morning. To ensure that the two had as much daylight as possible, they chose June 21, 2023 - the longest day of the year. Everything went according to plan without a hitch. In total, Chapuis and van den Berg climbed 14,623 meters in altitude in the given time frame of 16 hours. New uphill world record.

The bike destination Davos Klosters was ideal for this. "The criterion was that we cover as many meters of altitude as possible in as little distance as possible so that we don't lose too much time," explains van den Berg. The inspiration for this world record was the "Kenveresting Challenge" of former downhill professional Claudio Caluori. In 2020, he mastered 13,500 meters of altitude on the "Specialized Kenevo" e-bike, from which he coined the term "Keneveresting". "Everesting" is trendy: each climb involves 8,848 meters of altitude, which corresponds to the height of Mount Everest.

Back to the world record: "We rode the same "Specialized Turbo Levo" all day. With a 700 battery, we climbed over 1,500 meters in altitude in power mode," says van den Berg. Nevertheless, good battery planning was important. According to the regulations, the service team was not allowed to accompany the record hunters, but had to wait at a previously defined location. This was down in Klosters at the Gotschnabahn. Batteries could only be replaced or repairs carried out there. In addition, only commercially available e-mountain bikes that are limited to 25 km/h and use normal batteries were permitted for this world record attempt.

Ralph van den Berg is no stranger to mountain bike world records. In the summer of 2021, he and Christoph Fässler broke the single trail world record in Davos Klosters. Within 16 hours, the two of them rode 20,100 meters of descent. In doing so, they beat the then single trail world record by 516 meters of descent. What's special is that the two of them didn't ride the same trail twice. "I wanted to show that even as a family man with a demanding job, you can still experience an adventure in a short time," the 38-year-old explains his motivation. The bike destination Davos Klosters, with its 700-kilometer-long single trail network, offered the playground for this, true to the claim "Sports Unlimited".