Longest zip line in Slovenia to be launched
Črna na Koroškem, 4 July - A tiny town in the northern region of Koroška will honour its seven athletes who have competed at Winter Olympic Games with the longest zip line in Slovenia. The 1,260-metre zip wire, dubbed Olimpline, will be inaugurated on Saturday in Črna na Koroškem, the home town of retired skiing champion Tina Maze.
Planica
A zip line at Planica.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
The ribbon is to be cut by President Borut Pahor, the honorary sponsor of the event, which visitors will be able to watch on a big screen in the town centre.
The Olimpline runs from Navrški Vrh hill above Črna na Koroškem down to the town's ski slopes to end near the Kogelnik farm, with a 200-metre difference in altitude.
Those brave and eager enough to experience an adrenaline rush will need around a minute to complete the ride, in which they will be able to reach speeds of up to 120 km/h.
Today the zip line will be tested by some of the Olympic Games participants as well as other Koroška athletes, while it will open for the general public on Thursday.
Apart from Maze, the athletes from Črna na Koroškem who have participated in Winter Olympics are ski jumpers Drago Pudgar and Danilo Pudgar, Alpine skiers Katjuša Pušnik, Mitja Kunc and Aleš Gorza and cross-country skier Nataša Lačen.
The town will take this opportunity to honour a local who was one of those who had given the idea for the zip line. A special plaque will be unveiled at its entry point in memory of climber Grega Lačen (1976-2020), who died while descending a mountain in January.
The Olimpline project, carried out by the Črna na Koroškem municipality, cost over EUR 480,000. It is part of a Slovenia-Austria cross-border project NatureGame, which is being carried out in the Geopark Karavanke area. As part of the EU's Interreg Slovenia-Austria project, the zip line was co-funded from EU funds and Austria's Carinthia.