Tallest, steepest and fastest zip-line in Spain opens...and aims to beat world speed record

IF YOU'RE brave enough and you live in the Huesca-province town of Fiscal, you're just in time for a free 'go' on the brand-new zip-line that opened this week, as Thursday, March 18 is the final day for residents to try it out without charge.

But if you're brave enough and don't live in Fiscal, you can still go for a 'slide' from this coming weekend at a cost of between €33 and €38.

And for those who are among the majority – too scared to even entertain the idea – it's still fun to watch, given that it's the longest, fastest and highest-up in Spain, reaching speeds not far off the current world record.

This is held by a zip-line in Italy, where daredevils have managed to get to 172 kilometres per hour (just under 107mph), but the newly-unveiled structure in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park in the Pyrénées of Aragón travels at between 130 and 160 kilometres per hour (81 to 99.4mph) as a matter of course. 

Specialists are set to try it out wearing a parachute to see if they can get into the Guinness Book of Records by sliding down it at more than the hitherto highest-reached speed of 172 kilometres per hour.

Costing €800,000 – but expected to claw this back pretty quickly once national and international tourism is up and running again – the zip-line in Fiscal has a 20% gradient, a 400-metre slope and runs for 2,036 metres (1.27 miles).

The existing 'extreme' zip-line in the province of Huesca – in Hoz de Jaca in the Tena Valley – which is 950 metres long, or just under a kilometre, with a 115-metre slope and directly above the Búbal reservoir to make it look even more scary, was previously the biggest, highest and steepest in Europe until the Fiscal one launched on Tuesday, and remains the longest and highest 'adapted' dual zip-line.

'Adapted', because, from the start, it was designed to be suitable for disabled people – literally anyone who is capable of lying on their back can safely use it, and full physical assistance is provided on site.

The Hoz de Jaca line has only just reopened after several months of being out of action due to local, provincial and regional closures imposed to contain the pandemic, although at the moment and until restrictions ease, it is only operating at weekends from 11.00 to 19.00, with the exception of the long Easter week (March 28 to April 4) when it will open daily.

Its price of €18 is about half that of the new version, but of course, it is smaller and slower.

Residents in Fiscal can book their free slot for tomorrow (Thursday), at 09.40, 10.20, 11.00, 11.40, 12.20, 13.00, 15.10, 15.50, 16.30 or 17.10.

No age or ability limits apply, but anyone riding the zip-line needs to be within the 'safe' weight range – 40 to 125 kilos (6st 4lb to 19st 10lb).

It has been set up at no cost at all to the local community, since it was funded entirely by its creator, local business owner Jorge Rabal, who took the above photograph.

Those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground and stick to a pace ideally no faster than the national motorway speed limit could still accompany a thrill-seeking friend or relative to the launch-pad for the Fiscal zip-line – the cost includes transport up there in a 4x4 vehicle and, once at the set-off point, the views across the Ordesa mountain range from Monte Perdido across to Taillón, via the Ara and Bujaruelo rivers and the villages of Sarvisé, Torla, Buesa and Jánovas, are simply breathtaking.