Evening star., 1897-03-13
REAL TOBOGGANING.
Something That Takes Skill and
Courage.
From the London Globe.

Something That Take. Skill and
Courage.
From the London Globe.
TobogganinG as 2 recognized sport is of
very recent origin. and is practically con-
| fined to Dawes and ST. Moritz. For, as
played in Canada. the United States and
Russia. it is not game of skill and en-
d0rance. In those countries the toboggan
simply slides down an incline, usually in a
| chute from two to three feet wide. covered
with snow or ice The speed attainable IS
said to be from seventy TO eighty miles per
hour, and the tobcggan used is the Ca
madam" of thin ash boards turned up in
front 1t is perfectly safe and easy. In
the Alps things are altogether different,
anu a notable sport has been evolved in
the last few years. 1t may easily he con-
ceived that the mere rush downhill, even
at eighty miles hour. is apt to pail
Englishmen winterirg at Davos sought for
something more than that. They sought to
exercise hand and eye. muscle and brain,
skill and nerve; true sport. In fact. Ready
| to hand Were the despised ''schlittli," the
ungainly Swiss hand sled, and the post
| road winding and doubling down to Klos-
ters. To coast down this road. sitting
upon the 'schlittli, good fun. The
| sharp turns allowed frequent opportunities
slopes the outside edge and the ruts
and other inequalities required careful ma
! neuvering, while the frequent sleigh added
a pleasing source of danger.
Now, Peter Mnsch, the Davos postman,
dragged his mail up this same road each
day, and, naturally, coasted down, through
out the winter. He had thus become an
expert tobogganer-for the term was now
applied to the 'schlittli' rider-and was
skilled in the iaiosyncrasies of the road.
The late J. A Symonds and Others seeing
this. and also that other natives and visit
ors were good riders, conceived the happy
notion of International
road Accordingly, on February II, 1SSi,
the first race slid, and the evolution of
tobogganing may be said to have begun.
The course was two miles, less 1o yards,
with fall of $50 feet. Minsch tied with
an Australian visitor, but in the next years
race won outright, as he has done once or
twice since. one small Improvement was
soon Introduced into this road-racing, In
the substitution of Misunderstanding. by means
OF iroa-tipped pegs, for the old foot-steer-
ing.
The winter of 1SSi-S5 saw the first build
ing of the Cresta run at ST. Moritz and
after that changes We're quickly introduced.
There is no road like the kloSters at st.
Morltz. so from the beginning its runs
nave been artificial. The earlier ones are
only important experiments 1t had
been found on them that very sharp curves
-"cornerS''-could be ridden If banked with
Show (on the same principle as a cycle
track) But the toboggan runners soon cut
the banks to pieces. and icing was resorted
to. Soon the whole surface of the run was
iced, and fast, smooth travelling, with ac-
curate steering, became possible. So the
first Cresta run was iced and Crooked
and altogether a deviish invention.
AS Davos had taken the dignlfied title of
international for its race, it was laugh
ingly suggested that the Cresta race should
be called the grand national And so it
was and is Davosers carried off the
championship for the filst three years, bat
after that the EnGadiners found them
selves and have never since lost the pride
of place.
The 1887 Cresta race saw an important in
povaton. which was laughed at, but which
conquered finally. One of the competitors
rode head first. He failed to gain a place:
hut next year the Davos race was won by
a head-first rider, who rode an America
machine, lower, longer ana heavier than
the Swiss Its superiority and his position
were manifest that all the st. Morltz
men rode Americas in the following year.
head-first rider again won, and since
then the prone is the only position for fast
riders In this style of riding steel "rakes''
are screwed to the toe of the boot sole,
with projecting serrated edges, Tor the
purpose of steering and braking- A steel
skeleton" toboggan appeared in lS'2 and
carried off not only the grand national,
but the "interna tionar' also, thus proving
its superiority on road and path. 50 to
speak. A steel Skeleton is somewhat
ike an America with a steel framework
in lieu of wooden sides. 1t is five inches
high twelve inches wide and its length
should equal the distance from the riders
this type of tohoggan. Thus. in a few
years. the sitting gave way to the head
foremost position, and the antique Swiss
coaster 10 the modern steel skeleton.
But while the machine was being evolved
and the rider fitting himself to 1t, the
crooked artificial run being perfected
Its course has now become most devious
and desperate. 1t twists and turns de-
scribes semi-circles and SIS, goes down hill
and up. or. occasion, keeps level. 1t has
leaps and corners, banks and
'StraightS. THE Cresta is the highest and
most startling development in this style of
thing, and MIR. Egmont Hake Well calls II
the steeplechase course Of the toboggan-
ing world Its total length is three-Quar-
ters Of mile from point above st. Nor
Twelve skilled laborers, with some amateur
help, take six weeks to construct ii. w. H.
Bulpett, president of the St. Moritz To-
bogganing Club experimenting. The
course is marked out with stakes before
the snow falls. One foot of snow permits
of start Four men arm in arm tramp
over the projected course several times
Then sncw shovels are used to fiji up in
equalities and to bank the curves and cor
ners." The whole is finally iced. and re-
minds one Of the winding crystal staircase
of fairyland. The method of racing is
against time, since only one toboggan can
with safety be run at once. Three courses
are ridden by each man. the fastest agsre-
gate winning. In 1895 the winners aggre-
gate was minutes 81 % seconds and the
fastest single course II 4-5 seconds. In
1896 this single-course record was cut by
ly. This speed is about forty miles an