Video clip of Wisconsin Cascade Mountain coaster - more info wanted

I finally got around to posting an old video I acquired from a friend many years back, of what use to be the world's longest Alpine Coaster located at Cascade Mountain Ski Resort in Portage, Wisconsin.

I guess you would call this ride an early predecessor to the current style Alpine Coasters although maybe not as thrilling.

The video was taken back in the 1970's or early 80's but I am trying to find out the year this ride opened and the year it closed.

If anybody has any additional information to share about this forgotten ride I'd love to know more!

see video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kqic6SQ8tI

Isn't that what people call an Alpine Slide? I really don't know, but that looks a lot different than the Alpine Coaster I rode at Wisp Resort. Cool video though. I espscialy like the cheesey 70's music. ;) *** Edited 11/4/2007 2:37:01 PM UTC by Jason Hammond***

Jason, the Alpine Slides tracks are concaved (like a Flying Turns) and built in the ground. Unlike the slides thhe individual cars on this ride were locked to the track (according to the one person I know who rode this).

You might say this is a cross between an Alpine Slide & Alpine Coaster although the resort called it a coaster.

Yeh, the cheesy 70's music came from one of our favorite movie soundtracks....LOL.

Wow thanks for posting this. I remember when I was very young my father brought me a brochure of one these from a place in upstate New York. It was a very cloudy memory I had from childhood and I'd never seen it since.

I was am still am a big Alpine Slide freak. Since Alpine Slides are starting to go extinct, I'm sure this one never had much of a chance. Never got to go one one of these but it looks like a lot of fun.

Thanks again!

I was unaware the slides were going extinct. But, even if that is the case, it could be that over time, the alpine coasters may take their place.

Any coasterbuzzers ever ride one of these? Can't seem to find any info about this at all. There was a similar one at the defunct Mount Whittier ski area in New Hampshire from and old bruchure picture in a book. So there was at least two of them in North America. The ride in swampfoxer's video looks fun and those drops are pretty damn steep. Would love to know more about this or to hear from anyone that has been on one.

I guess I am one of the lucky ones that got to ride this every summer it was open. 1978, 1979, & 1980. It was a blast! And several times each summer as I grew up in Rockford Illinois, so a nice day trip. I'll admit the first time down, I rode the brakes, but then once I knew what this was about, I loved seeing how fast I could go, but also there were areas that we had to slow down as there signs instructing us to do so. And if you ran into another rider you'd would get kicked off.

I’ve ridden two alpine slides, one at Winter Park CO and the other at Jackson, WY. They are fun, but due the fact you are riding essentially a luge on wheels down a concrete track, I end up using the breaks a lot more. The Coasters are better because I don’t have to worry about careening off the track and can let it rip.

It was the fishtailing that made it a challenge. And the fix (accelerate out of curves) seemed counterintuitive and many novices crashed. We had a tandem course at a Bellefontaine, Oh ski area for years and I think it was the only one I ever tried. I just didn’t like it all that well. I stood at the bottom of the hill and watched a friend take the turn too fast, leave his sled, and end his trip with involuntary cartwheels for a few yards.
I wonder if Öber Gatlinburg still has theirs?
The mountain coasters are so much better to ride and seem safer. Things still happen, though, and complacency is risky. Waivers are signed, safety instructions are repeated, and its participatory nature requires that riders pay attention. Lately I’ve come across videos of mountain coasters that are impossibly long, like 20+ minutes. And while I think it would be fun, for me it would also be exhausting, lol.