The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-23
DOWN THE ALPS
MOST DANGEROUS OF ALI SWISS
 PASTIMEs.

BaIancing-How the Track is AL
 ways Guarded.
 It is something of a far cry from the
 Upper Engadine in Switzerland to New
 England, yet the winter sports in both
 regions are very much akin. Needless
 to say, it is the Anglo-Saxon visitor
 here who has made them so, writes P.
 Henry in the Booklovers Magazine, for
 although tebogganing is indigenous to every country having a suitable winter
 season, the old Swiss sport Of "looge-
 ing is child's play compared to the
 scientific and very dangerous .pastime
 which is known as tobogganing; on the
 ice runs at St. Moritz.
 The St. Moritz "bob'' double runner is
 built of iron with tempered steel run
 ners. and Of various lengths to take
 four, five or six riders. For racing pur- poses ballast is carried in the form of
 heavy pieces of sheet lead screwed to
 the under side of the frame. The front
 rider steers by means of two cords and 8 pulley, and thus is able to move the fornt of the two runners on which the 1AetAlAO 10 1ltuAltlGNs allIAlG have tried variations on this steering
 igear. The Duke of Manchester devised a pair of handles, which he worked by lying on his face and reaching forward, a pattern that no one else has cared to emulate. More rational is the arrange ment of a wheel like that of a motor, | connected with the front runners.
 Until two years ago bobbing races were held on the main road leading down from St. Moritz toward the viI- through which a railway has just been 1 lage of Cresta and the Albula Pass, built. Winding down the hillside, this
 road has two charp corners on which l more than one crew experienced a bad upset. The road has steep sides, with
 no barrier between it's edge and the l pine woods immediately below. Even l emitting dangerous. Crews used to l shout '.Achtungl" ("Look out!") as l they flew down, and every driver ex- cept the post, pulled wildly out of the way when he heard the dread sound l ringing from the woods above. One wonders how it was that no fatal acci- dent ever occurred. I LII COll0C1uCllCC VI uNI Ul lLG Ndli- ! tonal authorities forbidding bobbs on ] post roads. a track has been cut I through the pines. Although it does ] not run quite straight, the corners are less dangerous and they are also l banked" making the task of steering
 easier. None the less, the pace is now
 apt to be much greater, since the sur l face of the new track becomes as hard
 as ice. When a spill occurs, it affords a terrifying exhibition. '''@@s Fs Bob races are the great afternoon oc- cupation of the majority of those who
 are young enough to take the risks 1 while the older ones turn out to watch. ] Each crew has name and wears it's emblem embroidered on it's sweaters , men and women alike; and the intense l rivalry between the crews has made I the practice of running a bob very scientific. For many seasons the "Bee- l tie" has been almost inyincible. Being
 the property of a St. Moritz habitue, 1 and the crew seldom varying from year to year. the reliability of this machine l Is the envy and worry of all competi- ! tors, It seldom fails to head the time I list. s
 Every bob Is furnished with a pair xot handles manipulated by the last rider, l and the big six crew bobs have some- l times second brake an1idships. These l handles act by levers on very large steel toothed rakes. The steerer is the l chief factor, like the coxswain of a l college eight. The brakes are manipu- ! lated in accordance with his stentorian ! cries, and the crew has also to lean simultaneously on the inside curve whenever the machine Is taking a cor. ! ner. If for any reason the machine has | lost way, the crew rock in unison to 1 the steerer's shouts, the action helping I to force the pace. Thus the sport af- fords plenty of exercise as we'll as fresh air, for the course is over a mile long and a steep climb has to be made be- tween successive runs, A horse in at tendance drags the unwieldy machines back to the top of the hill. The races are started by fiag-a sort of inn provised block signal--afld no new race is allowed to start until the previous machine is signalled as safe at the bottom. The word "toboggan''. is specifically appropriated to the skeleton steel built racer used on the artificial ice runs, riding on which constitutes one of the ! most exhilarating and dangerous ex- ercises known. This is the favorite I sport of winter sojourners in the Enga- l dine; a sport at which the natives, with I few executions. are prone to wag their
 heads. One, at the time of the Boer l War, said to me that the English were assuredly mad; they were not content with being wounded in the field, but ] when they came to St. Moritz to get I well they tried to commit suicide on the ! Cresta run. Nor were his strictures I without justification.x As we stood on
 the edge Of one of the steep banks we
 saw an officer of, the British Army, who was there to recuperate, almost sever
 main artery by a bad fall. ! Davos boasts an ice run, and there 1 are smaller ones here and there in
 Switzerland-the village run at St
 Moritz among them. The great run is however, at the Cresta St. Moritz, SC
 called since it leads down from the vil- 1age of Cresta in the valley below
 This run is about four thousand feet e.