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Cresta Run, St. Moritz
To most people
(especially in North America), the word "toboggan" evokes memories of
flat-bottomed wooden sleds bouncing down a snow-covered hill in a neighborhood
park. At the Cresta Run
in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the term has an altogether different meaning: it's
used to describe a steel "skeleton sled" that may reach speeds of nearly 80 mph
(129 km/h) over its 3/4-mile or 1.2 km course from St. Moritz to the neighboring
village of Celerina.
The Cresta Run had its beginnings in the autumn of 1884, when George Robertson and
Charles Digby-Jones of the British winter residents' Outdoor Sports Committee staked out
a course from above the Hotel Kulm to the outskirts of Celerina. When the snows arrived in
November, the five committee members went to work. Their labors are described in The
Cresta Run 1885-1985, the centenary anniversary book that Roger Gibbs wrote for
the St. Moritz Tobogging Club: With their boots swathed in coarse bandages they linked arms and trudged their
way time and again along the line that had ben staked out until the snow was trampled down
for the frost to harden. The building of the banks was an even more complicated drawn out
and complicated affair and all in all it took almost nine weeks to build the first Cresta
Run. With the help of endless carrying of buckets the Run was iced throughout. In early January, the new Run's builders invited the British community in Davos,
Switzerland to send over ten tobogganists for a "Grand National"
competition, thereby starting a racing tradition that has been broken only by two World
Wars. Olympics Note: At the 1928 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, skeleton
tobogganing was an official sport: a distinction it hasn't enjoyed since, perhaps because
Cresta-style tobogganing--like Swiss wines--is best enjoyed within Switzerland's borders. As the years passed, the Cresta Run's toboggans evolved from tall wooden sleds of the
classic European design into low, streamlined platforms designed to reduce wind resistance
and provide greater stability in tight corners. The riding technique also changed from
sitting upright to lying face down with the head forward, using body position and toe
cleats to control direction, speed, and braking. (The sliding seat was added in 1902, but
some of today's fastest riders are again using fixed
sleds.) Nowadays, the Cresta's skeleton toboggans resemble mechanics' creepers with steel
tubing underneath. Athletic "tobogganers" in sleek wet suits and crash helmets
grasp handles near the front of the sled, lying flat or pushing themselves upwards as
necessary to negotiate the straightaways and treacherous curves of a course that drops 514
feet (157 meters) and has an average gradient of 13 per cent. A skilled toboganner can
finish the 3/4-mile run in less than a minute, for an average speed of more than 45 miles
(72 kilometers) an hour.
A ride for the fearlessIn The Cresta Run 1885-1985*, Roger Gibbs describes a ride down the ice chute on a skeleton toboggan:
And now, it's your turn.You, too, can risk life and limb on the Cresta Run--providing you're in St. Moritz during the season (which normally runs from just before Christmas through the end of February), are a male over 18 years of age, and can afford the CHF 600 fee. (Women are out of luck--the SMTC is a bros' club.) Your payment entitles you to a beginners' booklet, a quick introduction to the basics of skeleton toboganning, and up to five rides down the Cresta Run with equipment supplied by the club. Related Web site and articleSt. Moritz Tobogganing Club Winter Resort Report: St. Moritz europeforforvisitors.com * The Cresta Run, 1885-1985 About the author: Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation. After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post. For more information, see About Europe for Visitors, press clippings, and reader testimonials. |
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