The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-01
COASTING IN PERFECTION
GREAT SPEED ATTAINED BY
 CONTESTANTS
Tn the PIoturs.qus Valley of the En-
 .ad.ne ln switzerland.

cndine in Switzerland.
 Coasting is one of the joys of life l which is not for the New Yorker. Here it is limited to tumbling over ter race, grinding across walk and shoot 1 ing over another terrace into the gut. | ter. The children get a great deal of | fun out of their Christmas sleds in this | way. but, fortunately for their happi- | ness. they know nothing of the possi- | bilities of the sport. It is not until one | gets over in Switzerland, in one of the 1 | valleys of that mountainous land, that l one finds the sport of coasting carried | to the highest point of perfection. It is l there in the valley with the poetical l name Engadine, at St. Moritz. that 1 coasting becomes an art. In this valley, | | it's floor as high above the level of the sea as the crest of Mount Washington, l where winter reigns for half "a year and people go to regain health, there is a slide nearly mile long. which has | descent of $50 feet. At some points in | the course the sleds travel at the rate of eighty miles an hour There is sport! The Engadine Valley is an interesting l locality. Tn the summer time it is a meadow, two score miles long. In no other valley in Switzerland are there so many such populous villages to be found at so great an altitude Oddly, | it's many solidly built houses are not l the fruits of labor performed in the val- ley, but the evidences of wealth earned all over the Continent. Its opulence represents the skill of the inhabitants as pastry cooks confectioners, distillers of liuuors. keepers of cafes and sellers
 of chocolate in the capitals of Europe.
 Having secured millions of fiorins in their sundry occupations, possibly.as result of the visits of many liberal handed Americans to Europe, they have
 retired to their native valley to round
 out their lives. The baths of St, Moritz
 draw many persons in the summer and
 consumptives and many others find it
 winter resort of great merit. The win ter pastimes are coasting and skating.
 Glaciers grind their way down the
 slopes in the neighborhood of the valley, and snow may be expected at almost | any time at St. Moritz, but usually sthere is not enough snow for coasting luntil the autumn months are well on | their way. Then the Crosta Run, as the
 great coasting track is called, is pre-
 pared. The course is 1,450 yards long. | It is not of the same level as the sur rounding snow but resembles a mead | ow ditch. The snow is thrown up on
 either side, leaving depressed track as
 level as a floor, about eight feet wide. Coasting on this course rises to the dignity of a sport, for it may not be
 undertaken without the use of consider able skill, and in order to make speed Irecords one needs to use his judgment
 several times in the course of his speedy flight. The track is not straight. The
 curves are banked up at the sides, but
 not sufficiently to prevent coaster who has not retarded his speed going over the bank at a tangent. Here is where Judgment is required. It is the ambi- l ton of the coasters to make speed rec
 ords Too great or too little a reduction of the speed defeats his purpose.
 Some of these curves have been named, such as Church Leap. near the little
 snow covered church, and Battledore
 and Shuttlecock, the latter very appro-
 priately. At the point of intersection with the post road a semaphore signal | can railroads keep the coasters and
 travellers on the highway informed as
 to the proximity of each other. The run
 terminates in leap..
 It is the morning of the speed contest
 for prizes. The sunlight slants ath- q wart the course and the surrounding
 snow sparkles in the crisp air. The
 contestant is on his way to the crest of thet run, in white sweater and white k knit cap. On the toes of his shoes are tsteel caps, for he will need to use his
 toes as rudder and brake. Behind him
 he drags a skeleton racing sled, consist
 ing of a pair of skeleton steel runners
 rounding up at both ends under the
 wide board On some are cushions for
 the comfort of the owners. Each con-
 testant understands that he is to have
 three turns, the time for all to be added
 the one making the shortest time to re. s' ceive the prize. The first, at the word
 grasps his sled, and taking short run
 throws himself on it ten or twenty feel
 from the crest. Already he seems hal
 way down the incline to the frs
 curve. Faster and faster the air splits
 past his ears. He can hardly see fol
 the moisture in his eyes, but he know. = that he is travelling more than thirt.
 miles an hour. He is almost upon th' N first curve. He digs into the cours U with his steel capped boot and clout
 of fine snow dust obscures him from tn
 sight of these at the top. It was no
 soon enough, for over the edge of tn
 bank he flies and almost disappears il
 a deep bank of soft snow. Up h
 jumps, none the worse for this, for ex
 perience has taught him to alight il
 such an event, and, shaking and brush
 ing off the snow, he starts back up tn
 hill to await his second turn. Tn
 second contestant. observing that tn
 track is clear has got the word, and a | the first laboriously climbs up agair ss shoots past him. He slides around tn