Posts tagged with “Whistler Sliding Centre”

Had the chance to check out the mens action at the FIL Luge World Championships this weekend… hope you did too With speeds over 140km/hr heading into the finish its amazing to experience in person…

Put together this slideshow of my highlights of 2012, hope you enjoy it and 2013 is an even better year. Had a challenging summer this year being off my feet for the majority of it. All shots taken in the Whistler area… Watch in full screen and 720p resolution for full effect!

My highlights of 2011 slideshow can be found here.

Keep up with my latest photos from 2013 here.

Headed up last night to the Whistler Sliding Centre to catch some Womens Bobsleigh action.

If you haven’t been up to check out an event at the sliding centre yet I highly recommend it. For the more adventurous you can even take a ride yourself…

The Whistler Sliding Centre played host to world class athletes and World Cup sliding Feb 2-4, 2012. On Thursday the Canadian women cleaned up with Skeleton and Bobsleigh taking place for the ladies. On Friday Men’s Skeleton and Men’s 2-Man Bobsleigh took place, while the last night of competition on Saturday night featured 4-Man Bobsleigh. Here are a few of of my favorite shots from the competition.

Loved watching the explosive starts the athletes make to start their run

The fact that you have to launch yourself onto the sled while sprinting adds to the level of difficulty involved.

The sliding centre is amazingly spectator friendly, especially for young fans

Slider getting encouragement from his fellow Russians

a track crew member works to prepare the track between runs

Canadian sled in the starting blocks

Running sprint before hopping in

Speeding through a corner

Lyndon Rush and Jackie Lumsden going through Thunderbird Corner on their way to victory in the 2-Man bobsleigh event

Had an awesome time at this event which even featured a beer garden made of snow with scuptured bobsleds guarding the entrance and a homemade icebar! Took a load of shots, check out a slideshow featuring more of my favourites on Flickr here: FIBT Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup

Now that 2012 has started I decided to put together a little slideshow of my past year in Whistler and the surrounding area. Going through my photos from 2011, it struck me how lucky we are to live in such a great place with such a huge variety of activities and events to keep ourselves busy  in our free time. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the photos!

This week, the Whistler Sliding Centre opened its public bobsleigh experience. This activity on the fastest track in the world now joins skeleton as a once in a lifetime bucket list item that brings you closer to being an Olympic athlete than you ever thought possible.

Many Canadian lads and lasses have grown up watching the Winter Olympics on TV with their parents. Aside from figure skating and ice hockey, what else is more iconic and exhilarating than bobsleigh? Hulk-like men and women running, then jumping into a tiny bathtub sized sled and pummeling down the track at lightening speed. We’ve all secretly wanted to be one of those bronzed gods and goddesses in tights and spiked Adidas shoes.

Much to the chagrin of my boyfriend – who has wanted to be a bobsledder since he was a little boy – I had the opportunity to try the experience with some of my colleagues.

After a brief introduction to the sport and some important safety information, we are shuttled up to the start, which is more than two-thirds up the track above the public skeleton start.

There, we meet our professional bobsleigh driver Pat Brown, who just so happens to have been the coach of the original Jamaican Bobsleigh Team and the inspiration for John Candy’s character in the film “Cool Runnings.”

Pat tells us that the minimum age to begin bobsleigh is 16 and there is only one junior bobsleigh team in Canada.

As my 2 female colleagues and I hop into the sled, my heart skips a beat. “Has anyone ever thrown up in one of these things?”

Our fearless leader Pat bonks us all on the helmet as a show of solidarity and good luck before he hops in.

The track crewman gets us off to a running start – we aren’t allowed to run ourselves for obvious reasons. And, we’re off. I can hear one of them on the radio: “Be prepared. It’s a light sled.” What does that mean?

At first the sled moves at a slow, rattling pace and I think: “This isn’t so bad. It’s like bumper cars.”

Then all of a sudden, the sled picks up speed.  I assume the position we learned: shoulders shrugged, arms wide and strong, holding on for dear life with a white knuckle grip.

As we swerve from left to right through the turns, our sled is now a Mack Truck and then a 747 Jet. “Sweet Jebus, hold on!” I’m screaming the whole way down and so are my 2 sled companions. Pat is as calm as a cucumber – I assume.

As we enter the final Thunderbird turn, the sled hits its fastest speeds and my brain feels a little fuzzy.

As we come to a complete stop, my head is still buzzing from the G-force and adrenaline. Pat high-5s us as we step onto the finish platform, just like his Jamaican brethren many years ago.

In just 45 seconds we’ve descended the world’s fastest track, reaching speeds at 125 kilometres per hour. No big deal.

Would I do it again? Heck yes! And you should too.

More Info

The public bobsleigh experience is $149 CAD + tax

Sessions are 2 hours

1 bobsleigh ride per participant

http://www.whistlerslidingcentre.com

BC Luge Development Team member Jessica Solly goes into a turn at over 115km’s/hr.
Evening training for the luge, skeleton, and bobsleigh at the Whistler Sliding Centre. It’s free to watch the training during the evening, and a schedule can be found on the Whistler Sliding Centre web page.

BC Luge Development Team member Reid Watts.

A two man bobsleigh.

A skeleton athlete completes the last turn on a training run.

Photos by David Buzzard

Images from this past weekend’s Luge World Cup up at the Whistler Sliding Centre – Doubles and Men’s action.

Beautiful evening in Whistler for a Luge World Cup

The scene at the doubles'/women's start

And they're off

I'm guessing this guy is someone important

The lone Japanese competitor makes his way down the tricky course

The night setting of the competition makes it fun to watch

For those of you that missed this event, there’s an upcoming FIBT Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup February 2-4, 2012…Check it out!

In the lead up to this weekend’s 2nd Viessmann Luge World Cup Whistler I’ve been taking some photos up at the Whistler Sliding Centre. One of the many legacies left behind after the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the track is a marvel unto itself. One of the fastest in the world, if not the fastest, it plummets 152 vertical metres in 1.45km with top speeds reaching over 140km/hr by the top level athletes. Its also a great place to take photos and I took advantage of this week’s international training sessions to snap a few.

Grooves in the ice at the men's luge start

An athlete's visor rests on his sled

An athlete waits for the green light to start his practice run

A luger slides up the finish ramp

An athlete talks to his coaches via radio after his practice run

Luge sleds lie waiting for their turn down the course

Other athletes look on as a team of doubles luge prepares for their run

Frosty timing clock at the women's luge start

A luger approaches the finish area after a run down the track

Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!) Please feel free to share your photos HERE to let everyone know how awesome Whistler really is.

Lovely day to be in the mountains..

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