Where the does the world’s tallest staircase take you to?  

With modern-day advancement in technology, the world now uses elevators and escalators to go up and down, making it both fast and convenient. But that still doesn’t make the old-school staircases any less important. After all, if there’s a fire emergency in a high-rise building, or if someone suffers from claustrophobia, it’s the staircase that comes to the rescue, not to forget the great cardiovascular exercise that one gets by taking a few flights of stairs. Do you know where is the tallest staircase of the world? Does it lead to the top of a famous skyscraper? Guess what, the answer is no! Instead, it leads to the top of a mountain on the Swiss Alps. How cool is that!  

How tall is the world’s tallest staircase? 
The world’s tallest staircase is at an altitude of 1669 metres and is approximately 3.4 kilometres long. It extends up the side of Mount Niesen in Switzerland, that is popularly called Swiss Pyramid, thanks to its unique triangular shape. Now, if you want to reach the summit of the mountain, it’s recommended that you take a 30-minute train ride. However, there’s also the world’s tallest staircase having a whooping 11,674 steps (with an average gradient of 55 percent) that runs exactly parallel to this funicular railway and can take you to the peak. Interestingly, this staircase has been certified as the world’s longest and tallest staircase by the Guinness Book of World Records.  

What’s perhaps little known is that the staircase usually remains close to public due to safety concerns and can be only accessed by workers who often perform maintenance work on the railway tracks. Are you disheartened? Well, don’t be, you can sign up to climb the world’s tallest staircase. Here’s how! 

Niesenlauf: A race up the world’s tallest staircase 
Okay, so here’s the deal. Even though world’s tallest staircase remains inaccessible to the public for most parts of the year, every year in June, it is opened for the Niesen Treppenlauf, commonly called Niesenlauf (or Niesen Run in English). Wondering what is it? Well, it’s an annual race up the world’s tallest staircase. It is generally limited to 500 contestants who need to sign up a year in advance. Surprisingly, it doesn’t really take as long as you would imagine. In fact, the fastest times ever recorded were 1 hour and 2 minutes for men and 1 hour and 9 minutes for women. Experts suggest that it is equivalent to climbing to the top of the Empire State Building for over seven times.