The longest alpina roller coaster in the world

Now this is something I gotta ride before I move on to my heaven of roller coasters...
You haven't seen a terrain coaster before you've seen this: http://freizeitparkweb.de/cgi-bin/dcf/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=1399&forum=DCForumID39

WOW. That looks absolutley AMAZING. I wonder how long it is?

Does anyone know of any cool Alpine Coasters like that in the States?

The manufacturer of these rides haven't ever built any rides in America, despite having hundreds of toboggan and alpine coaster installations around the globe. I'm sure there's something similar over in that part of the world, but nothing at all comes close to what these Germans can do with a bit of steel and a lot of hills.

If I'm looking up the right ride, then this is 3060m long (that's 10037ft for those of you incapable of multiplying by 3.28), which hence makes it the longest roller coaster in the world, and debuted a year before Millennium Force or Steel Dragon 2000.

I've never ridden one of the alpine coasters, but I've ridden all of the toboggans that they've built in Australia, and they're simply the most amazing rides I've ever been on. Like the alpine coaster, they're entirely rider-controlled speed, so it can be as intense/dangerous as you want it to be.

There were Alpine Slides here in the states and I think there are some left. The tracks are cement troughs (sort of like bobsled tracks). There was one at Ski Liberty in PA and my family went there a few times, but one time we went and it was gone. You could control your speed with a stick on your sled, and some went too fast and jumped the track. It was not hard to be safe and we were just fine riding as kids, but you did have the idiot factor. A friend told me about one up here somewhere (I am in MN). If I find it, I will post a link.

edit: Here is one (I think there are more)
http://www.wildmountain.com/waterpark/alpineSlides.html *** Edited 5/9/2004 5:08:36 PM UTC by RavenTTD***

there is also one at Racoon Mnt. in Chattanooga, TN. it is a lot of fun and is worth the stop if you are ever in the area.

The largest one that I know of, and have ridden is at Winter Park Colorado, outside of Denver. It's very fun and I've ridden it numerous times while Mountain Biking in the region.

I also rode one back in 98 in Austria. Quite fun as well.

Charlie

There is a longer one at 3535M. Here is the link to the manufactures site (the news page with the info on the longer one)
http://www.wiegandslide.com/cpages/news.php?lang=en&sel=news

You can also go to www.alpine-coaster.com and when you surf, make sure to check the english link at the top. (It took me a while to find it.) There are some great pics and it looks like tons of fun.

And there is a downloadable video of the Alpine Coaster in action at:
scroll to the bottom and click on "Video anzeigen".

http://www.wiegandslide.com/de/alpine_coaster.htm

and here is another POV video:
http://www.feeblitz.ch/livefahrt/

This photo just blows me away!
http://members.aol.com/wecorhsc/Uebersicht_Rodelbahn.jpg

More than one company makes these. Here is a link for one manufacturer:
http://www.geise-engineering.com/coaster_photos.htm

and more:
http://www.feeblitz.ch/bildergalerie/
*** Edited 5/9/2004 11:39:49 PM UTC by HarryTraver***

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auscoasterman said:

Like the alpine coaster, they're entirely rider-controlled speed, so it can be as intense/dangerous as you want it to be.

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The top speed on an alpine coaster is controlled with centrifugal braking, so it really isn't entirely "rider controlled."

This look amazing! I wonder how long a single ride cycle is on this thing. (time-wise) *** Edited 5/10/2004 11:54:30 PM UTC by RCmuzikGuY***

There's a great alpine slide in Brugen, Germany (just outside Monchengladbach, which is near Koln). Last time I was there it was a mark a pop, thus it's been a while considering the mark was still in use. At the park there are many great single rider flats, slides for kids, and a monorail. There also still may be a zoo there. Low insurance in Germany really pays off considering all of the "dangerous" rides there are in the country. I remember seeing some larger alpine slide riders wipe out on the final banked turn. I think they were ok though...

RCmuzikGuY, the link I posted said the longest one was 6-12 min.

^If you "floor it" you can make it in about 4 minutes. Top speed is 50 km/h. There are as well some steep drops, one is hidden in the trees and is coming as a complete surprise.
The feeling of speed is vastly enhanced in the forrested areas and sadly many people seem to slow down to a crawl, which can ruin your need for speed.
Unlike with the alpine slides you cannot "derail" on an alpine coaster.

The chair lift costs 4€ and the coaster is 5€.

Jeffrey Seifert, trust me, that 40-50km/hr that they're fixed to is plenty fast when you're hugging the track like these things do, and doing the tight curves that they have. The toboggans generally don't have a fixed velocity, and if you start to creep much above about 50km/hr, you're seriously risking getting flung out if you don't know how to centre your weight properly and bank the sled exactly right. Same would go for the Alpine Coaster. If you could get those things up to 80 or 90km/hr, there's not much chance of staying on the thing. The banking of the curves just couldn't handle your centripetal force and you'd be out of there before you know it.

Well according to the websites the top speed of a Weigenslide is 40 km/hr, the top speed of a Geise is only 22 km/hr. I'm not sure how you guys are going up to and over 50 km/hr (or how you even know) when according to the manufacturer, the "coasters" don't travel that fast.

*** Edited 5/11/2004 3:49:01 PM UTC by Jeffrey Seifert***

According the manufacturer's documentation on the coaster, it's only "roughly 40km/hr" and can be adjusted or completely removed, depending on what is desired. 40km/hr is essentially the recommended maximum velocity.

Older installations of the toboggan (alpine slide or whatever else you want to call it, the non-rail trough ride) don't have the centrifugal braking system that is mentioned on their website. I can assure you that there are several installations by Wiegand in Australia at least where speeds of 90km/hr+ can be attained.

As far as classing them as coasters goes, I personally consider them all coasters (both the toboggans and the true rail alpine coasters), because they're as much roller coasters as Intamin bobsleds etc., and there's not one single reason that anyone could give that would discredit them as coasters. I think it's just because there's not many in America and they can be harder to track down that most American enthusiasts don't consider them coasters.

^I guess the "no closed circuit"- argument could apply against considering them as coasters.

I even don´t know how the fact that each rider controls his own speed would play a part in classifying them.

So do they all come with little speedometers? :)

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auscoasterman said:

As far as classing them as coasters goes, I personally consider them all coasters (both the toboggans and the true rail alpine coasters), because they're as much roller coasters as Intamin bobsleds etc., and there's not one single reason that anyone could give that would discredit them as coasters. I think it's just because there's not many in America and they can be harder to track down that most American enthusiasts don't consider them coasters.

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The alpine slides in America that I have ridden have a combination of wheels and anti-friction pads and do more sliding down the trough than they roll. That is why over here we call them alpine slides. I would never consider these to be "roller coasters."

As to the new alpine rail coasters, I'm sure that will be debated for years.