Today I had the extreme pleasure of a Media Orientation day at the Whistler Sliding Centre. I'm there next weekend for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton event. I did not have a lot of time to shoot the training runs of Team Canada and Russia. But for being dropped into a totally new sport and falling and breaking a lens shroud I personally like these three.
1:
Not a great shot and heavily cropped......BUT the eye's?
Thanks guys.....A lot of the course is tarped off to stop snow falling into it during the days. For the event next week it will all be rolled up so a few extra spots will open up for sure.
Image 1 is turn 13 or 14. The transition from right to left is crazy and time to get ready and shoot it not a lot. From coming into view and going under my elbow was way less than a second. I'm stood just by the speed trap and these skeleton guys are upwards of 140 KPH (80 miles).
I was drawn out of the hat from the media peeps yesterday and got to ride the course with Pierre Lueders in a 4 man Bob. I have video too. What a rush. Best speed fix EVER.
Jeff.......I was trying to work the rule of 3rd's on the drivers face but I see what you mean. I'm back all weekend coming for the main competition so fingers crossed I will have better results to choose from.
Matt......the track is really rough as you can hear over the wind noise. But trying to glimpse a forward view past helmets and deal with the 3.5G in the last few corners was the real issue. I still cant really put words together to do the run justice. Not scary, not like a roller coaster, not like a sport bike, not like sky diving. More like a long water slide without the wetness. Oh and almost 80 MPH!
as for the video pretty wild ride! One of the wildest tracks around along with Altenberg and Sigulda. Only the old Lake Placid track was hairier, no track has ever been close, for skeleton is was particularly difficult where even the world's best could barely even make it through &feature=plcp&context=C3c7427bUDOEgsToPDskLitXOSGutPi2K7SpgwYoLo and even record fast run had him going all over &feature=plcp&context=C3bb1c0eUDOEgsToPDskLWwpK_iqx0WTBlMD23v0Sk. European skeleton and bobsledders absolutely dreaded the track. The old Cortina track was pretty insane too.
too bad Universal Sports went off the air (other than if you have DirecTV) so hard to watch now in the states....
skibum......That's just plain mental of a track. Soooooo different from WSC. I know the Georgian Luge guy died on day one of the Vancouver Olympics but I look at the Whistler track compared with the Lake Placid course and I'm surprised more did not die on it. Shallow sides compared to Whistler, wooden fences at the top etc etc etc.
But make no mistake....Whistler is the fastest course in the world......currently. 153.98 KMH 95.68 MPH.
I now want to join the senior sliding programme in Whistler. It was the best thing I have ever done.
WestCoastSnapp wrote:
skibum......That's just plain mental of a track. Soooooo different from WSC. I know the Georgian Luge guy died on day one of the Vancouver Olympics but I look at the Whistler track compared with the Lake Placid course and I'm surprised more did not die on it. Shallow sides compared to Whistler, wooden fences at the top etc etc etc.
But make no mistake....Whistler is the fastest course in the world......currently. 153.98 KMH 95.68 MPH.
Yeah Whistler is the fastest track ever. I think Park City and St. Moritz are next fastest, currently. Whistler is also one of the trickiest current tracks that gets use routinely used for World Cup events in addition to being the fastest, even the home team Canadian sleds had flips during Olympics, although Altenberg and even the new Lake Placid tracks are no picnic of a drive. But that old Lake Placid track was probably the most difficult of tracks all-time to drive. And the way it worked for skeleton was really insane almost. And the scary thing is those videos are from the EASIER shortened and slightly slowed down version of the old Lake Placid track!!
I wonder if anyone has footage from ABC World Wide of sports of the old Lake Placid bobsled events or at least the 1980 Olympic games. I've looked all over and haven't found more than a few brief clips of mostly partial runs.
I finally came across the footage from the1984 Sarajevo Olympics for bobsled and luge though, that wasn't an easy track either. The 1988 games track in Calgary was really easy to drive (although as the Jamaican team showed, even an easy to drive track can nab you especially if you don't have tons of sliding experience).
I now want to join the senior sliding programme in Whistler. It was the best thing I have ever done.
