Photo Story: Casey Brown & Kathi Kuypers Lay First Tracks on an Austrian Freeride Line
With the bike park opening in June 2022, there will be a new line available in Sölden, Austria. It’s called the “Olm Volle Line”, which translates into “always full-gas”. Casey Brown and Kathi Kuypers, the two Trek riders have already checked it out.
Kathi Kuypers & Casey Brown spent some days in Sölden, Austria last year to check the all new Olm Volle Line.
If you’re looking for an Alpine riding destination with a huge variety of trails and stunning views, Sölden should definitely be on your list. If you’ve never heard of the mountain village, go and check out the destination showcase here on Pinkbike. It used to be the case that riders who want to go big wouldn’t have found what they were looking for. However, that’s set to change next year with the Olm Volle Line.
The Olm Volle Line starts with a mandatory feature. If you can’t clear that gap, don’t even think about entering the line.
What looks like a piece of art is one of the hardest trails that Sölden has to offer.
It’s not the size of the features but how close they follow on each other. Most jumps have gaps and you have to know where to land.
The biggest feature is the more than vertical wallride.
From perfectly shaped corners straight into a very open section with lots of line choice options.
Never again will the dirt look so perfect
Just look at that corner…
Track Walk Olm Volle Line
The Olm Volle Line is a double black diamond, machine- and hand-built trail. It was designed together with the trail building legend Glen Jacobs who is the mastermind behind the trails in Derby, Australia. It’s no wonder that the new line is steep and fast. But what makes the Olm Volle line special is how technical some of the features are. You shouldn’t just roll in blind and wing it. A track walk is very much recommended. And that is exactly how Casey’s and Kathy’s first day on the Olm Volle Line started. Sölden will build a path right next to the line, that the rider can check the Olm Volle Line without staying on track.
Just after the last two corners in the upper section
Leo Linser is the man behind the Olm Volle Line. During the track walk, he explained the whole process that goes into building such a track.
Casey and Kathi on Track
The two Trek riders spent a full day checking out the new Olm Volle Line. They sessioned the different features and then linked it all together afterwards. During the test session, they also gave feedback on how to optimize certain elements and the trail team have already got to work on making the changes. For example, a compression before a takeoff got filled up and an overly short jump will get removed. Without a doubt, the highlight of the track was the big booter on the lower part of the line. There’s a long corner followed by two jumps to check your speed before you get airborne on the big sender. After the landing, you’ll be faced with two corners that generate high g-forces before you enter a very open section with lots of line choices.
Guess the direction of the next corner…
The new Olm Volle Lines combines various features from big berms and hip jumps to drops.
 | Be humble, this track is gnarly! |
No fun at all…
The biggest jump on the Olm Volle Line has an appropriately large landing
There are a few millimeters of travel left
The stoke is real! Everybody knows the feeling of hitting a feature for the first time
A huge corner followed by a small hip jump and a fast rhythm section
Right now, the Olm Volle Line is covered in meters of snow. Sölden will open the line when the bike park opens in June 10th this year.
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It looks amazing as well as the whole scenery behind !
Though he does also note that lack of resources/time played a part...
My comment merely pointed out that Nevis have less than 10% of the resources that Sölden do (Nevis revenue is ~5% of Sölden, profit even less) so expecting similar standards isn't exactly fair. Which is not to say that Nevis couldn't/shouldn't have done a better job; I've already agreed with what you've both said there *shrug*