St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun

46.5039166666679.8486111111111Koordinaten: 46 ° 30 ' 14 " N, 9 ° 50' 55" E; CH1903: 784960/153130

The Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz- Celerina was taken in 1904 in operation, making it the oldest still in use bob track in the world. At the same time the ice channel between St. Moritz and Celerina in the Engadine, the last surviving natural ice rink in the world, with about 5000 m3 verbautem snow is the world's largest snow sculpture. All other bobsleigh tracks in Europe, North America and Japan must be artificially frozen due to lack of climatic altitude.

History

Mainly British winter visitors looking for a place for the exercise of their newly invented sport, the Bobs. They were founded in St. Moritz Saint Moritz Bobsleigh Club in 1897, the oldest Bobsleigh the world united. In the early years there were disputes with the Skeleton drivers of the St Moritz Tobogganing Club at the Cresta Run of use. 1903 brought a gala evening with a return of almost 11,000 Swiss francs. This could be started immediately with the construction of a bobsleigh run. Thanks to the support of Alphonse Badrutt and provided extensive grounds of the Kulm Hotel, the train was inaugurated on January 1, 1904 with a bobsled race. It thus covers next to the bobsleigh track Arosa as the oldest permanent bob run in Switzerland.

The ice chute still leads through the pine forest of the St. Moritz to Celerina - Badrutt 's Park Cresta along the Via Maistra, the road connecting St. Moritz- Celerina, which is locked during the entire Bobsaison. Technology and equipment of Bobsportler have changed fundamentally over the past century; the course of the St. Moritz Bobpiste is still more or less the same.

Major events

During its more than 100 - year history of the Olympic bob run hosted two Winter Olympic games was in 1928 and 1948. The competition on the occasion of the Games of 1928 provides in this respect quite unique dar. It was the only race that was held in Fünferbob. 1948, two and four man was driven back in the today's popular disciplines. Overall, the Olympic Bob Run event was held from 22 world championships (18 in bob, 3 in 1 Skeleton and Luge ). Bob Various European Championships, a Skeleton Championship, the Bob World Cup in 2013 and countless World Cup in the disciplines of twos and Vierbob, skeleton and luge were held here.

Railway construction

From the beginnings of bobsleigh in St. Moritz to Celerina until the early 1980s, the responsibility of the building was in the hands of the native Angelini family, which built the track in three generations. 1985, Louis Prantl responsible for the construction. He was replaced in 1990 by the Celerina Christian Brantschen who is responsible today for the construction.

In the last week of November, the South Tyrolean track team will travel to in order to build the railway within three weeks of 5000 m3 of snow and 4,000 m3 of water. They will be built each year from scratch. Although each curve in the terrain is leveled precisely, every year there are minimal changes in the lines.

The construction starts from the Sunny Corner. The construction team is working in the direction of travel to the Horse -Shoe Corner before, then on through the forest to the Bridge Corner, then down to the corner and up to the Martineau Portago Corner until finally with the outlet the target house is reached. Finally, the route is built from the start to the Sunny Corner and united with the final track to the one piece. The desired sequence can be adversely affected by high temperatures or lack of snow.

After completion of the structural work of the web, the web team splits. Each railway worker gets a part of the track assigned and is responsible for the final development and maintenance. The daily repair works are mainly carried out in the afternoon and take per section to four hours. After the end of the season will begin immediately with the removal; the protective awning be removed.

As a major difference to other engineering structures is felt primarily by the assets the quietness when driving, because otherwise bridged by concrete cavities are missing.

Route

The route runs today almost unchanged over a length of 1722 meters. The height difference is 130 meters at an average gradient of 8.14 %.

The curves have been nominated by the British Bobsportlern who had brought the car to life. The English names have been preserved until today, they are also depicted in the logo of the Saint Moritz Bobsleigh Club.

The most obvious changes in alignment resulted in the lowest part of the web. Due to the ever-increasing speeds, the brakes became more and more difficult until the braking zone no longer met the requirements of the sports equipment. After the World Championships 1957, the railway was first modified.

More route changes followed in the 1980s and in 2002. During the winter 1955/56, the Horse -Shoe bend at the heart of the web, reinforced with natural stones and the radius was increased by 2.5 m. A 4.5 m high wall with a 1.75 m high wall board also allowed it to make the Horse Shoe quickly ready for operation even with small amounts of snow. However, a second time had the curve 1995 are adapted to modern realities. Especially the pressure from the Bob became greater, so that even the guests of the popular " Bobtaxi " rides had up to 5 g, ie five times their own body weight bear. Due to this pressure and the narrow runners of the season came in the course very fast grooves and holes, which compromised a regulated training and maintenance shop more and more. Within three months of the radius by another 2.5 m has been extended by the entrance was moved by nearly 4 meters to the right into the hillside, which curve round and made a little larger. At the same time the entry was increased by 1.5 m, by which the speed is reduced by about 2 km / h and the damage in the ice could be substantially reduced.

Building

Not only the trajectory and the curves had to be adjusted in the course of the history of the Olympic Bob Run St. Moritz- Celerina. The small start house, the bar and dressing room was at the same time, more in 1972 a new building. A new start house with offices, dressing rooms, the club premises of the St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club and the Dracula Club was built. This new building in 1992, 1993 and 2002, expanded again to meet the increasing demands.

The Sunny House was in the early years of the Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz- Celerina a popular meeting place on the web. The ladies and gentlemen of high society considered in the heated bar by a large window front, the Sunny Corner. Over the years, this meeting has been canceled and the Sunny House converted into a storage space for various building materials.

Today the bar is at the Horse -Shoe Corner. Every year, a temporary is created, the viewers but not offered the opportunity to warm 25 degrees at temperatures up to minus. This deficiency was remedied in 2005 with the final construction of the Horse -Shoe - Lodge. At the end of the old target outlet direction Crasta Hill a small target house with latrines was built in 1992.

Train

The Olympia Bob Run offers during the season depending on a bobsled and skeleton school. The bob is led by Donald Holstein, the Boberfahrung has on several international tracks. Already several pilots who have attended his course stand today in the limelight such as Martin Annen, Daniel Schmid, Martin Galliker, Urs Hefti and Maya Bamert. Prerequisites are a minimum age of 18 years and good physical fitness. The course lasts for five days and, depending on the general season program, usually organized in January. The Skeleton school is run by Lorenzo Buzzetti and Michaela Pitsch. Prerequisites are a minimum age of 16 years and also a good physical fitness. The course lasts three days and is usually held in early February.

Gästebobfahrten

The history of Gästebobfahrten dates back to the 1930s when Nino Bibbia went to Celerina with intrepid ladies of society by Bob of St. Moritz. The Gästebobfahrten in the modern sense are known only since 1973, when the then manager looking for a way to bridge the less frequented opening times. The runs were then completed with the Bobs of the type " Feierabend ".

The current fleet includes 15 rides for guests Bob. It is slightly modified Rennviererbobs from the workshop of Renzo Podar in Cortina d' Ampezzo. To complete a Gästebobfahrt, a prior reservation is essential. Driving is daily after the training and / or racing rides, the weekends are the sponsors reserved. During international events can be limited or even not performed guests rides.

Television documentary

• The roller coaster of the Alps by Erich Grünbacher and Andreas Niederkofler ( 3sat )