Startled, the jittery animal looks you head on through deep pools of brown set wide apart on either side of its snout. Muscles tensed, there comes a moment where its hooves are caught on the precipice, dislodging fragments of rock which drop to an endless fall beyond. The rapture breaks and the ibex springs off to disappear into the scraggly copse of alpine trees.

Located above the mountainous village of Beatenberg, the Niederhorn is one of the many jagged peaks of the Bernese Oberlands. Like a horn emerging from the head of an earthen giant, its peak faces the three brothers of the highland, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfraujoch dressed in swathes of white ribbon on deep gray. The climb up to the peak provides hikers with plenty of options to chase winter views and elusive inhabitants such as the marmots and deer but often, the trip down holds a greater appeal to those who successfully conquer the peak. Speed devils in fact have a questionably large array of options to make their descent. Down twisting slopes downhill with your hands gripped tight on the handlebars, there’s hardly a need to pedal on your Trotti Bike as it jumps and lurches over the uneven grounds. Beginning at a jog then a sprint, lift off on a tandem joy ride with the flapping sails of the paraglide above you from the tip of Niederhorn. The grounds will quickly fall away from beneath your feet, leaving you suspended in midair as you’re pummeled by the onslaught of blustering winds. The screams are torn out of you before they even leave your voice box as the descent begins and you swoop down towards the ground in a single swift motion. Only in winter will you be able to access this last option which requires the thick layers of snow which are wont to wrap the mountainside in a white blanket. Vintage lamps retrofitted with warm yellow lightbulbs form a glowing runway for your sled as you sledge down from Neirderhorn to Vorsass beneath the tapestry of stars above, slipping sliding and twisting out of the way of obstacles. You’ll leave the Niederhorn, nerves shot through with an adrenaline buzz, muscles still trembling fresh with the memory of the speed.