Think First, Edge Harder

There’s a whiff of Formula 1 about Switzerland’s new Black Wall piste, one of the steepest groomed runs in the world and the only one involving a roughly $3 million dollar price tag to make it so. Located at Glacier 3000, Gstaad’s glittering, snow-sure area is partly owned by Bernie Ecclestone, billionaire boss of the fastest car races on the planet. Clearly, Bernie is a sportsman not averse to a decent danger-zone opportunity. The new Black Wall challenge is for experty-experts only. Angled at 46 degrees at its very first pitch, it also comes with a no-turning back commitment. To reach the run at all, skiers must approach through the freshly dug 870-foot Rocher Jaune Tunnel – a one-minute snowplough down an indoor ski-carpet track followed by a ginger exit through a hole in the Black Wall. Change your mind and it’s a long walk of shame back up through the tunnel. A masterful feat of engineering, tunneling Switzerland’s longest ski tunnel took only six months, a monumental job only the Swiss could manage.