coasterer Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 12/30/08 - My family and I went skiing over winter break over at Park City and Deer Valley in Salt Lake City this past week. And turns out, though I never would have expected it, Park City has a coaster that they operate all year long. I've never heard of it before - I tried looking it up both on TPR and RCDB and didn't find anything. But I did find a site http://www.sgeise.com/alpine_coaster.htm from Geise Engineering that talks about bringing the alpine coaster to the states, yadda yadda yadda. But the coaster. So in a word, it was nifty. Not terribly thrilling, not terrifically intense, not threatening any top ten lists, but it was a pretty neat, pretty unique coaster experience. The left makes it's way from the station, across a bridge to the other side of the ski slope, and then up quite a ways. You are seated in these single chair trains, and there is a self-operated hand brake, and the only restraint is a seat belt. Once you reach the top, you push the brake lever forward to accelerate, and hold it there for as long as you feel comfortable. The track was pretty smooth, and surprisingly long. It wove in and out of the trees, stayed pretty close to the ground, and was really pretty cool. Would I rush up here to ride it again? No. But the one-time experience was pretty worth it I'd say. The website says it's 4000 feet, and can get up to over 30 mph, but who knows. Anyways, on to a few pictures. One final shot of the coaster cutting back across the mountain. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. They did allow cameras. This was one of the rare moments that the ride wasn't hugging the ground, zooming in and out of the trees. One of the multiple helixes. You could take some of these turns really fast. Surprisingly fast, when all you had on was a seatbelt. Sorry about the glare. The coaster is off to the right, you can kind of make a little of it out. Over the bridge. This was pretty cool Coasting down the ending strip It was really exciting, ok? Give me a break Lift hill POV. No joke, the lift hill took at least 4 minutes squinty It was so weird getting ready to ride a coaster in the snow and 30 degree weather Here's looking back. You can see the bridge that takes the coasters over the ski run to the station on the other side. You can kind of get an idea of the layout, a lot of meandering low to the ground and through the trees. You can imagine my surprise riding up this chair lift, only prepared to ski, when all the sudden there was an operating roller coaster under our feet
socalMAN123 Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 Dude! I totally rode that this last summer! It was very fun and I was quite surprised at how fast it took some of the curves. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. ---Brent
SharkTums Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 Cool pix...and it is on TPR! We even had a construction update! http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27435
coasterer Posted December 31, 2008 Author Posted December 31, 2008 Huh! I searched the site multiple times to try and find anything but nothing came up. My apologies.
mcjaco Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 No apologies necessary. This was a cool little PTR!
thrillrideseeker Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 This looks just like the coaster from RCT3! It does look like it could be a bit fun! Is it the same as this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIlRirNw8k ~Matthew
BeemerBoy Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 Oh, and SOOOOO not a credit!!!! I have not yet consulted the Jeff Johnson credit handbook, but I heard the Russian judges are scoring it like this: It rolled, it coasted, and the handbrake is the equivalent of any mid-ride trims or old-school station handbrake on a classic woodie - therefore, a credit. God bless those crazy Russians.
SharkTums Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 Yes but Jeff Johnson has been influencing the Russian judge since long before even Stalin's time! In fact, if you look closely at the photos of some of the Russian Ice Slides from the 1600s you can clearly see Jeff there!!!
Crazy4Coasters! Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 ^ The coaster even has a nice net structure so you don't die if you fall off!
ebl Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 I'd like to ride one of those Alpine slides. At some point, I'll do some research and find the nearest one to Southern California. Thanks for sharing the Utah one. Eric
alpengeist04 Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 ^ The coaster even has a nice net structure so you don't die if you fall off! It's especially important to have when you don't use the break the whole way down. I really enjoyed my two rides on it last year and I did count it as a credit.
RCFreak Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Yes but Jeff Johnson has been influencing the Russian judge since long before even Stalin's time! In fact, if you look closely at the photos of some of the Russian Ice Slides from the 1600s you can clearly see Jeff there!!! AAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WOW, that was quite amazing and totally made me pee a little. I felt like Jeff for a second! Awesome TR, I've never been on any type of alpine-ish thing even if there is one up in Big Bear like an hour from me. Looks like it was a lot of fun!
whakojacko Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Ive been on the Park City one twice. Lots of fun actually, assuming you have something to cover your eyes (so you can actually see)
Meteornotes Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 In fact, if you look closely at the photos of some of the last ice age, you can clearly see Jeff there!!! Fixed! dt
WFChris Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I'd like to ride one of those Alpine slides. At some point, I'll do some research and find the nearest one to Southern California. The nearest one is at 'Magic Mountain,' in Big Bear City, CA. But the above mentioned alpine slide is just that, a slide, not a coaster like at Park City. Chris.
DATman Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I had a blast on that over the summer. It flies when you ride with two people! The alpine slides next to it are a lot of fun as well. However, best activity in Park City is the bobsled run at the Olympic center. Craziest thing ever.
larrygator Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I haven't been on this one in Utah but I certainly consider the one at Jiminy Peak exciting and thrilling. I don't care if it's a coaster or not. It's still a blast. I'm driving out of the way coming home from Dollywood on Saturday to try the one in Western Maryland.
ebl Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 "The nearest one is at 'Magic Mountain,' in Big Bear City, CA." (WFChris) I've heard of that, but didn't realize exactly what it was. For some reason I thought it was just...a slide. But I'll look into going up there at some point. It's only a couple hours away. Eric
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