Der Schwur des Kärnan (“The Oath of Kärnan”) is a steel hyper coaster at Hansa-Park in Sierksdorf, Germany, that opened on July 1, 2015. Built by Gerstlauer Amusement Rides and designed by legendary engineer Werner Stengel, it was the tallest, fastest, and longest coaster the manufacturer had ever produced, themed around a towering replica of the medieval Kärnan fortress in Helsingborg, Sweden.
What set the ride apart at launch was its lift hill: instead of a conventional chain climb, trains ascend a nearly 73-meter concrete tower and then free-fall backward down a vertical drop before the forward circuit even begins, a mechanism billed as a world first on a full-circuit coaster. The ride quickly became one of the tallest and fastest coasters in Germany, rivaled only by Europa-Park’s Silver Star, and helped push Hansa-Park’s annual attendance past 1.4 million.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: Hansa-Park, Sierksdorf, Germany
- Manufacturer: Gerstlauer Amusement Rides
- Opened: July 1, 2015
- Height: about 73 m (240 ft)
- Top speed: about 127 km/h (79 mph)
- Length: about 1,235 m (4,052 ft)
- Inversions: 1 (heartline roll)
The Ride Experience
Riders are hauled up a vertical lift inside a tower styled after the Kärnan fortress tower, then plunge backward in a free-fall drop before the train is released forward into the main circuit, dropping about 67 meters into a high-speed layout of airtime hills and a single heartline roll inversion executed in near darkness.
The 2017 season saw the reverse free-fall segment intensified, increasing its fall speed from 5 m/s to about 11 m/s, making the drop even more disorienting for riders expecting a standard chain-lift ascent.
Records and Legacy
At its debut, Der Schwur des Kärnan stood as one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters in Germany and remains among the tallest in Europe. It won the FKF Award in 2015 and cemented Hansa-Park’s reputation as a park willing to invest in record-chasing steel coasters.
The coaster’s combination of a themed tower structure and a genuine free-fall mechanism, rather than a simulated one, has made it a frequently cited example of innovative lift-hill engineering among coaster enthusiasts and industry designers alike.
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Der Schwur des Kärnan FAQs
Where is Der Schwur des Kärnan located?
It’s located at Hansa-Park in Sierksdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany.
What makes its lift hill unique?
Instead of a typical chain lift, the train is hauled up a vertical tower and then free-falls backward down the same vertical section before the forward ride begins, a mechanism billed as a world first for a full-circuit coaster.
How fast and tall is the coaster?
It reaches a height of about 73 meters (240 ft) and top speeds around 127 km/h (79 mph), with a drop of about 67 meters.
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Photo: Tobiasi0 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.