Extreme mountain biking adventure trail opens in abandoned mine

Črna na Koroškem, 19 April - A new mountain biking adventure trail for experienced riders has opened in abandoned tunnels of the Mežica lead and zinc mine, which already offers kayaking and leisurely bike tours.

Mežica.
A new mountain biking adventure trail in abandoned tunnels of the Mežica lead and zinc mine.
Photo: Tomo Jeseničnik/Podzemlje Pece

Mežica.
A new mountain biking adventure trail in abandoned tunnels of the Mežica lead and zinc mine.
Photo: Tomo Jeseničnik/Podzemlje Pece

Mežica.
A new mountain biking adventure trail in abandoned tunnels of the Mežica lead and zinc mine.
Photo: Tomo Jeseničnik/Podzemlje Pece

The four-kilometre Black Hole Trail is designed to pose a challenge to experienced mountain bikers, Podzemlje Pece, the operator of the mine-turned-tourist-destination, describes the trail.

The original, leisurely bike tour is six kilometres long, with the new one, which is intended above all for enduro bikers, adding four kilometres of more demanding trail to the network.

Parts of the network, but not the demanding parts, will also be used for transfers at the World Enduro Series race, which will take place in the area at the beginning of summer.

A part of the cross-border the Karavanke UNESCO Global Geopark, the mine in the north of the country has seen an increase in the number of visitors in recent years, with the figure topping 16,000 last year.

Some parts of the mine complex, which covers more than 800 kilometres of tunnels under Mt. Peca, have been open for tourists since 1997, and have catered to visitors with mine railway, bike and kayak tours.

According to Podzemlje Pece director Suzana Fajmut Štrucl, the numbers have been rising mostly on account of the kayaking and bike tours over the past few years.

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