New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-03
EXPERT TOBOGGANING.
In the Alps the Sport Is Brought
to Fine Point.

-An the expert toboggan races at st. Moritz.
IN the Alps. run by timing and not by actual
esse by side comparison" says Ward Muir in
The Bystander" And the timing on the
Csesta, the favorte tobogganng course, has
been reduced to exactitude of tenths OF sec
snds. How is this managed? Simply enough
As the tobogganer crosses the starting line he
Snaps a thin thread, which sets in motion a
specially made electric clock The instant he
Peaches the end of his run another thread is
Nroken similarly, and the second hand of the
said clock stops. registering his precise time in
szansit Down at the finish of the run is tele
pAone box, and the tobogganer is hardly off his
xHachine before he be told by attendant
sSw Ions he took to descend. All of which, it is
sevfous, spells money 1t is impossible to have
eaectric clocks and miles OF telephone wires and
0Emaphores and lookout turrets without paying
Oar them. Still who has ever seen the
CSesta-Or, better still, ridden twill say it is
@oney i'll expended
The Cresta, after all. is not so extravagant
a. say tiger shooting, But it provides hardly
Aess excitement, and certainly not fewer perils
II the measure of a sports excellence lies in the
proportion of danger which it holds for its pur
snerS, then the CreSta ought to be well up in the
MT Scarcely day passes but some one comes
Aome from the Cresta with broken wrist, a
eYraned ankle or minus few teeth; and occa-
sonlly, alas! the accidents are far more serious.
Tor is this anything to be astonished at. You
cannot hur yourself down a sinuous trench OF
bee at from 80 to 20 miles hour on a machine
which Will alter its course in response to the
slightest inclination of your body or the tiniest
Aequality in It's path without taking some haz-
ards. But a training for the nerves and
muscles. as a teacher of presence of mind. the
whole performance is Incompatible. What if
0ere comes day when you break a rib?
Eightn't the same thing have happened on
seotba field? Don't we run equal risks every
Tame we dodge through the traffic in the Strand?
The top section of the Crcsta. known as the
CHURCH Leap, is something sleeper than the roof
81 house; and to see one of the masters of to-
sogganing negotiating it is a vision for the
gods But the most exciting place, without
&oubt, is at the finish. After n Iongish strip Of
STRAIGHT and a sudden dip. the course rushes up
q steep hill, and at the summit loses Itself in
soft snow on the level. SO terrific is the speed
~ the tohogganer at this point q think I am
correct in saying that eighty miles hour has
been registered over n measured fifty yards on
me straight Just mcntioncd) that although he
brakes hard UP the hill, he cannot prevent his
Hachine from leapnc skyward at the top To
see rider after rider swoop up that slope and
~ into the air. landing twenty thirty forty feet
sf in a shower Of snow, is to experience an in
sescrihable thrr. Mr.. Spence once Icaped sixty
feet here. and another rider who won the
Grand National on the Crcsta. was flung so
badly that for couple Of hours aftcrward he
was unconscious, and did not know Of his trt-
mph. on landing after the jump the heavy
steel skeleton is apt 10 give its rider a severe
mow, and knock the breath out OF him: and for
chfs reason it is almost wiser TO let go Of the
machine just before falling and allow II TO bury
ezelf in one drift while the rider buries himself
On another