PTR: Mountain Coasters, Bobsledding and a Skeleton run

[larrygator]

This trip is about 15 years in the making. For a long time I've wanted to drive up to Lake Placid and try the Bobsled run. But for whatever reasons I was never able to pull the trigger and make the trip. My interest in driving to Lake Placid was further peaked a couple of years ago when Lake Placid starting offering Skeleton runs, also. This is where you lay on your stomach on a sled and glide down the course head first, as opposed to the Luge where you lie on your back and travel feet first.

 

It's a 5-6 hour drive to Lake Placid and now that the Northeast has some Mountain Coasters I figured I could make it a two day trip versus just an out and back drive. Also this whole trip gave me another excuse to stop by Wild Bill's Nostalgia Store to get an update on their dark ride construction, but that will be covered in another thread.

 

The schedule at Lake Placid had the Skeleton run open from 9AM-10AM and 4:30PM-5:30PM, then the Bobsled run open from 10AM-4:30PM, since they don't teak reservations I needed to get there by 9AM to make sure I was done by 10:30.

 

Starting a drive at 3AM is never fun, but a necessary evil in this case. But I did have the added benefit of no traffic on the road.

 

The price do to both the Bobsled and Skeleton is $120, although you can do them separately for $80 (Bobsled) and $65 (Skeleton). The price provides you one run with each vehicle along with a t-shirt, commemorative pin and 4 x 6 photo for each ride. Personally, I thought the Skeleton was a huge rush and the better experience as it is a solo ride. The Skeleton is more intense and the ride sends a rush of blood to you head and makes you a little woozy when you first get off the sled. Start of like your first two steps after a great spinning tea cup ride.

 

With the Bobsled, a trained driver and brakeman take 1,2 or 3 riders through the course, but you have a limited vision so you really don't know what going on. But you get a great image of the helmet of rider sitting in front.

 

The discount when doing both rides makes the Bobsled worthwhile, but the Skeleton was the highlight for me. FYI: minimum height requirement is 48 inches for both rides.

 

After leaving Lake Placid I drove southeast to Okemo Resort for their Mountain Coaster then northeast to the Mountain Coasters at Attitash and Cranmore mountains. I bypassed the Mountain Coaster at Jiminy Peak, since I rode it a couple of years ago.

 

Now on to the pictures.

This must be the place

Those look like the ride troughs.

Follow the signs, I really needed to get to that bathroom, also.

Keep walking you are getting close.

History - The sliding courses are about 10 miles from the Village of Lake Placid. And no there is not a killer alligator in this Lake Placid.

Sponsored by Chevy, check!

The Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid twice: 1932 and 1980. While waiting your turn you can watch documentaries on those two Olympiads or see some artifacts.

What the bobsled looked like in the 1930s

and some vehicles through the years

And here are today's vehicles

NOTED!

After the Bobsled ride with my driver and brakeman.

The Skeleton run was a little more daunting.

You lay down on the sled and await word that the previous rider is finished. An announcer says your name and provides live play-by-play of each ride and the live video is shown in the waiting area. They should seriously sell that video and voiceover, I would have bought it.

Since you are not properly trained, instead of jumping on the sled, you bend your legs and the starter pushes you down the hill. I think you reach speed of 35-40 MPH, but with your face 2 inches from the ice, it is intense and disorienting.

Pre-ride picture

Post-ride, Yes I decided to wear sleeves.

I'm not sure if this was the original medal stand.

Before heading to Okemo, I drove into the village of Lake Placid to make sure there wasn't a giant gator and to also get a photo of the ski jump. I'll get the rest of the trip posted later today.

Edited January 2, 2012 by larrygator

[gisco]

How cool. I'm with you on the skeleton being more fun than the bobsled. If you are not the driver it would be like riding a coaster with your eyes closed.

[SharkTums]

Bummer you didn't see the giant gator. Skeleton looks awesome though. Do they try and teach you anything? Like how to lean or not kill yourself? I'd much rather do that than the bobsled and just see a helmet in front of me, although they say the bobsled goes faster right?

[chadster]

Thanks for adding to my bucket list Larry! #itsbecomeareallybiglist

[larrygator]

Bummer you didn't see the giant gator. Skeleton looks awesome though. Do they try and teach you anything? Like how to lean or not kill yourself? I'd much rather do that than the bobsled and just see a helmet in front of me, although they say the bobsled goes faster right?

 

I expected a little more training but since these are practice sleds with rounded versus sharpened blades I guess they are not concerned about major injuries. Also you start at the halway point, not the top so that you don't have to take the most harrowing turn.

 

They pretty much show you where to put in hands on the hand holds, remind you to keep your elbows in (as to not hit the wall) and tell you that the ice and the sled will do the rest. I saw some people hit the wall pretty hard and get jolted. I thought one guy fell off, because the hit slowed him down considerable and he was off camera for a bit. I'm sure TPDave would find a way to hurt himself.

 

I talked to the starter a little bit, as one of the Olypmic lugers from a few years back hailed from Staten Island. The starter mentioned that some people staying at the resort for a week take a more intense course and at the end of the week these trainees can do the whole run.

 

For the purposes of these rides, I think they said the Bobsled gets up to 50MPH which is faster than the Skeleton's 40MPH. The Bobsled run is also a lengthier ride. Not sure of the exact ride specs.

[STR8FXXXINEDGE]

Larry... this is AWESOME!!! I would love to do this one day! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

[robinschroder]

Wow - this is so amazing! I can't believe that you can pretty much turn up and do a Skeleton run without weeks of training (even though obviously they do run longer intensive courses)! The ski-jump next for you, Larry - surely you can't just turn up and do that by the end of the day!

[xVicesAndVirtues]

This seriously makes me miss living in upstate NY

 

Seriously amazing pictures and coverage, thanks so much for posting! I've never had the opportunity to get to the Bobsled/Skeleton runs, but Whiteface is an awesome resort right in the town of Lake Placid. Another great place to visit up there is Ausable Chasm, right on the border of Clinton and Essex counties, if you're into sightseeing. Pretty much every winter for the past 5 years (except this one), some friends and I have made a bit of a trip of Lake Placid/Ausable Chasm/Montreal. All accessible in a day trip!

 

Can't wait to see the pictures from Okemo!

[larrygator]

The ski-jump next for you, Larry - surely you can't just turn up and do that by the end of the day!

 

 

Only if you are Eddie the Eagle

[SharkTums]

I'm sure TPDave would find a way to hurt himself.

 

Adding this to the next TPR Trip now.

 

Interesting that the bobsled only goes 50mph, the Utah Olympic one is advertised as 80mph.

[-Edge of Beast-]

Interesting that the bobsled only goes 50mph, the Utah Olympic one is advertised as 80mph.

 

They probably do something to the track to increase and decrease the speed. I'm not sure though, but that's what I'm assuming.

 

Anyways, I liked the trip report. I never knew they let un-experienced people onto, or even near these things. It looks pretty fun, I want to try it out myself.

[larrygator]

I'm sure TPDave would find a way to hurt himself.

 

Adding this to the next TPR Trip now.

 

Interesting that the bobsled only goes 50mph, the Utah Olympic one is advertised as 80mph.

 

I think Park City is the only bobseld run where paid participants travel the whole course. Since you start further down the run at Lale Placid the sled can't reach the maximum speed.

 

I would also bet that at Park City they say the sleds "could" achieve 80MPH, but that would be if you had 4 trained riders pushing the sled and jumping in one at a time without the brakeman keep the ride safe during the run. But I could be wrong, maybe they go "balls out" in Park City.

[SharkTums]

^I can totally picture you in a sleeveless winter one piece pushing the bobsled!

[larrygator]

There was a very light bit of snow falling as I left Lake Placid and headed on my 2 hour 15 minute drive to Okemo to ride Timber Ripper. I was a little disappointed in the ride in that it did not feel as fast or forceful as other mountain coasters I have ridden.

 

I decided to stay in Littleton, New Hampshire for the night and take in two popular spots on Main Street of this small town. The first stop was Chutters - Home of the World's Longest Candy Counter. Luckily I didn't snack too much before heading to the Littleton Diner for dinner. I left the camera at the motel and don't have pictures of my excellent dinner, grilled chicken carbonara over garlic toast. The garlic toast was so good that after dinner I got an order of garlic toast in lieu of dessert.

 

The next morning started with an 90 minute drive to Cranmore Mountain on a cold rainy morning, I was a little scared driving in the New Hampshire mountains on unfamiliar roads in this weather, but luckily I never saw one patch of ice, nor did any moose run in front of my car. At Cranmore I enjoyed the mountain coaster even less than the one at Okemo. I might have been biased since the seat was wet from the rain (and I was wearing jeans instead of my ski pants). Also when going up the lift hill I was playing with the brake handle and it slipped from my hand and smacked right into my knuckle (which is still swollen).

 

It's only a 20 minute drive from Cranmore to Attitash Mountain and I got to the load platform just as they closed the coaster due to icy conditions. I ended up waiting almost 2 hours to get a ride in. This mountain coaster is the only one in the US not built by Weigand. Instead of an over the shoulder seatbelt it is just a lap belt. The specs say this coaster only goes 25 MPH, but it seemed faster and had a pop or two of air. The layout also takes you through a more forested area than also mountain coasters I had been on. This was my favorite of the 3 mountain coasters on this trip, but not as good as the ones at Jiminy Peak nor WISP.

There she is in the distance

<---------Tickets are thataway

The Mountain Coaster Adventure

and there are the sleds.

Let the lift hill porn begin.

These lift hills seem a lot longer when the weather is cold and you have your gloves off to take pictures.

and a second lift hill

Notice the supports over on the left, they look sturdy versus some supports I'll show you later. I put my camera away when I got to the top of the lift hill as I wanted to keep it safe and make sure I could enjoy the ride at full speed.

That night I stopped by this place which is listed in the Guinness Books of Workd Records as having the world's longest candy counter.

The counter is 112 feet long, and there are candy jars elsewhere in the store, also. There are hundreds of candies you can mix and match for $9.99 per pound. My bag cost me $13.86 and my favorites were Dark Chocolate Peppermint Nonpareils and Dark Chocolate Covered Amaretto Drops. I did not care to try their Mango Chili Fruit Slices, Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds nor the Dark Chocolate Apricot Chunks.

The start of the candy counter

and the end

The next morning I arrive at the Cranmore Mountain ticket booth

Here are the rules of this originally named coaster

and there's the coaster with a giant swing ride on the right side of the picture.

I really should have wiped the snow off the seat before sitting down.

Lift hill porn

Over to the right is the snow tubing track. The people riding seemed to be having a blast.

Me failing to get an action photo

The return trip takes you around a couple of trees.

Around this point I started cursing as I was messing with the brakes and the handle slipped out of me hand and smashed my left knuckle, so I put the camera away for the ride.

Next stop was Attitash

I stayed at the wonderful Attitash Lodge 18 months ago on my last trip to the area, right before they started building the mountain coaster.

Ticket Window

Rules of the rides. The mountain coaster is the longest in the US at 4,300 feet (Okemo was 3,085 and Cranmore was 2,395)

Some of the supports appear to be made from an erector set.

Here is a closer look at some of the supports.

and here is the picture of the station as I wait for it to re-open. Icy conditions had forced it to shut down. The seatbacks fold down allowing the seats to stay relatively dry.

Edited January 2, 2012 by larrygator

[Nrthwnd]

Wow, what a great exciting thing for you to (finally) get to do, Larry!

 

And thanks for sharing all the pix you could take, when you weren't

jumping up and down with (hidden) glee?

 

The skeleton looks amazing. SCAD Tower intensity? Probably and more, heh.

The skeleton goes on a lot way longer than a

quick few seconds drop into a steel mesh net, lol.

 

Great winter adventure, Larry!

[thrillerman1]

I've always thought it'd be fun and amazing to do an actual bobsled ride as it's my fav winter olympic event. Massive cool points to you, Larry!

[RoCo]

I'm very impressed that you did the Skeleton run. Many years ago, after an Okemo ski trip, a group of us stopped in Lake Placid and did the four-man bobsled. That was plenty intense. I cannot imagine doing that sort of thing with your skull that close to the ice. That must have been a serious rush.