Extreme ski slope: Harakiri descent leaves winter sports enthusiasts in despair

Mayrhofen (Austria) - 78 percent gradient and nasty artificial snow. The infamous Harakiri slope in the Mayrhofen ski resort pushes even the most experienced skiers to their limits. A video shows how many winter sports enthusiasts fail on the extreme descent.

On the "blackest piste in the Zillertal", any carelessness leads to a fall.

With a gradient of 78 percent, the almost 2000-metre-long Harakiri descent on the Penken is only for absolute experts, warns the Mayrhofen ski resort.

A video shared by the TikTok account ponti_ski shows what it means to venture down the Harakiri slope (and fail).

It shows how skiers and snowboarders despair, fall and slide down the extreme slope.

Under his video, the TikToker wrote that he stood on the slope and filmed for almost 25 minutes.

According to the user, his video was not intended to mock those involved, but to draw attention to the fact that the conditions that day were quite difficult "to say the least".

It only takes a moment of carelessness or inexperience to master the rest of the route lying down.

For the operators of the Mayrhofen ski resort (Tyrol), the Harakiri is the "blackest descent" in the entire Zillertal. During the first few turns, many winter sports enthusiasts would still be brave and let their skis do the walking - but they soon become more cautious and feel their way closer and closer to the legendary slope 34 turn by turn, according to the ski resort website.

The almost 400-metre-long Harakiri run is so steep that "normal" snow would slide off. It has to be elaborately groomed with artificial snow in a layering process - this makes the slope extremely icy and correspondingly difficult to ski.

The ski resort recommends: If you have any doubts as to whether you are up to the Harakiri, you should first try the less extreme DevilsRun run. Only those who are confident on this slope are ready for "Austria's steepest slope experience".