Here We Go Again!
For this film I ventured with local MTB guide Tea Kiralj to Mežica in Slovenian Carinthia within a few kilometres of the Austrian Border.
Here, for any MTB enthusiast, is an experience not to be missed. Straddling the border between Slovenia and Austria you will find Mount Peca (prounced Pesa) and on the Slovene side for over 300 years the people of Mežica mined for lead and zinc. The mines closed in 1994 when the market price of lead collapsed rendering them uneconomical and now in the labyrinth of over 500 kilometres of mining tunnels and shafts an underground mountain biking trail has been created in the disused tunnels.
It is something extraordinary!
Equiped with mining type helmets with powerful lights to illuminte the pitch black underworld you ride for 6 kilometres from one side of the mountain to another, still in Slovenia, descending as you go. Along the way your guide stops and explains about the history and lives of whole families who worked the mines from a very young age, but often not an old age- the life expectancy of the workers was only 40 years due to continuous work in no sunlight, and suffering from dust and lead poisoning. However, as I write this in September 2020 there is still living in Mežica a 93 year old veteran of the mines who worked in the dark passages for 60 years!
On the lower flooded levels of the mine it is even possible to embark on an underground Kayaking adventure…. that will have to be the subject of another episode for sure!
Music Sound track
The Bravery: An Honest Mistake
For MTB Bookngs