Wengen, located in the heart of the Swiss alps, is a small village of only 1300 inhabitants and is famous thanks the World Cup races that have been a firm fixture since 1930 on the Lauberhorn slope.

Wengen boasts one of the most beautiful backdrops of any resort in the world surrounded by the spectacular glaciers of the Eiger and Jungfrau mountains.

The resort sits high up at an excellent vantage point which affords great snow coverage and superb sunshine. 98km of slopes are available to skiers of all ages and abilities providing a magical experience for tourists wanting to enjoy spectacular views and pure mountain air.

It is also home of the legendary Lauberhorn World Cup downhill course.

Three races normally take place in Wengen, a slalom, supercombined and downhill but it is the latter that really attracts the attention.

The Lauberhorn is the longest race on the World Cup circuit at an astonishing 4455 meters in length keeping the skiers agonisingly on course for over 2 minutes and 20 seconds. The start takes place at an altitude of 2315 meters and the finish line is at 1290 meters with a vertical drop of 1025 meters.

The record of the fastest time is held by the Italian Kristian Ghedina who managed a time of 2'23"23 in 1997 skiing at an average speed of 106,33 km/h. One of the most technical slopes as well as the one that requires the most stamina skiers reach maximum speeds of up to 160km/h on some sections of the four and a half kilometre piste. While the record for most wins belongs to the Swiss skier Karl Molitor, a local of Wengen, who notched up six wins in his career.

The steepness of the run varies from 33% to an incredible 93% (Hundschopf) and some sections have become legendary like the Hundschopf, a jump of 40 meters in between two rocks, and the Wasserstation tunnel, a passage under a small viaduct of the local railway line.

The British gentlemen sportsmen popularized skiing as recreation after World War I. At Wengen, a rack railway built for summer tourists was used for the first time in the winter of 1910 to take skiers up the mountain; previously they had had to walk, or climb. The railway still exists and all those who visit Wengen depend on it. In 1925 the British set up the ‘Downhill Only Club' and the British institution still has strong influences in Wengen even if the English speaking tourists no longer gather in numbers.

The Lauberhorn slope has also made significant and important appearances in Hollywood films. ‘Downhill Racer' starring Robert Redford and Gene Hackman was partly shot in Wengen as was the famous scene in ‘On Her Majesty's Secret Service' starring George Lazenby where James Bond flees from Telly Savalas' henchmen.