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Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge opens in Swiss Alps

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Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge

The record-breaking longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world, the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge, has opened on the Europaweg foot trail.

The stunning bridge offers hikers a time-saving, jaw-dropping experience – if they can muscle up the nerve to cross.

The narrow path, just 65cm wide, is a record-breaking 494 metres long. It runs 86 metres above the ground at its highest point and is between 1,600m and 2,200m above sea level.  The bridge boasts stunning views of the Matterhorn, Weisshorn and, in the distance, the Bernese Alps.

The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge (Charles Kuonen Hängebrücke) is named after its principle sponsor.  It has a steel construction and starts near the Swiss village of Randa.  It connects Grächen and Zermatt on the fabulously beautiful Europaweg hiking trail.

Engineers from SWISSROPE spent just ten weeks erecting the bridge.  Hikers can cross the bridge in just ten minutes. Without the bridge, the journey would take four hours.

The bridge breaks the record previously set by a glass-bottomed suspension bridge that was completed in China last year. The 430 metre-long bridge crosses the enormous Zhangjiajie Canyon in Hunan province. That bridge has a 300m drop beneath it.

Image courtesy of europaweg.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/02/worlds-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge-swiss-alps-charles-kuonen

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