In February, 2025, I attended the 53rd FIL
Luge World Championships in Whistler, British Columbia. Highlights of the event
are available here
(https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8B0YVf_mLDybUfVRnBrlO5zxU9AuI1YW&si=AABMUv2q0GdSj25r)
How could you not have curiosity about this sport and
the athletes who reach speeds in excess of 150 kilometers an hour on a track of
pure ice. The chance to see the championships in Canada was too good for me to
pass on.
Like most Canadian kids I grew up sliding during
winter on our crazy carpets and toboggans, but I’m sure I never reached speeds
of 150 kilometers an hour, although we didn’t have devices to measure back in
the day.
Personal Rush: March 23, 2025 at Whistler Sliding
Center
Watching these racers in February, many of them Olympians,
was fun and inspiring. So inspiring that
I decided to give the track a run myself in March. For $249 you can experience the Olympic track
at the Whistler Sliding Center during winter– but not during the world
championships.
Here is the beginning of my first run (Notice how
quickly I hit the wall, and lose speed and direction)
https://youtube.com/shorts/bex7MmUH3yk?feature=share
For the price of entry, you can experience two runs
with a bobsledder, or solo on a luge, or solo on a skeleton. I decided to go
full bore, head first, on the skeleton.
It’s the same icy sliding track, but the risk varies. Skeleton I was told is the safest. I suspect
that’s because a bobsled is quite wide for the narrow sections and does require
some steering skill, and the skeleton is slimmer in design. Therefore, if you
trust gravity, you will do fine.
On the skeleton sled, so named because of the body
hugging snug fit, it easy to look up, and peek at the track, even though we
were advised to keep our heads down and look at the ice. When your big, heavy head
is down you have less wind resistance and more weight forward, which helps
manage the path. If we wanted to peek, we were advised to only crane our necks
slightly.
The advice I heard three times that day was “act like
a sack of potatoes.” Sounds easy. But unlike a sack of potatoes, I peeked and then
skidded around on the icy track quite a bit at 92 kilometers an hour.
Lessons
1.
Women Follow Instructions – Men Should
Too
In our
briefing we were told women are usually fastest because they follow
instructions, and it was true. Eleven of us enjoyed the experience that day.
Lorene was fastest at 97.1 km/hour. I
was slowest at 92.0 km/hour. Lorene
finished the track in 33.57 seconds, and I finished in 35.28 seconds.
(Lorene told
me she was from Alaska and often runs a toboggan on 10-minute runs on
snowmobile trails, so she had some relevant experience).
2.
Do Less to Achieve More
The advice at the Whistler Sliding
Center was to “act like a sack of potatoes,” to trust gravity and the sled. But
I had to peek from time to time at the frequent fast and scary turns. Peeking slowed me down and caused me to drift
off course. Lifting the head causes slight wind resistance and a subtle shift
in weight distribution over the sled.
Sometimes it’s best to do less, and
to trust the plan and the process. The pros have enough experience to know how
to touch a toe or lift a shoulder to affect a turn. I didn’t. I should have
stared down at the ice during my two 38 second runs.
3.
Act and Avoid Regret
I’ll offer
more comments in the conclusion.
Conclusion
People have asked if I’d do this again, and I would. I
likely won’t be back there, but I would gladly give it another run. I felt
compelled to have this experience, and now I’ve done it. I know what it feels like, and I’m a
satisfied customer.
I recommend this experience if you’d enjoy a roller
coaster-like experience on an 80-pound metal sled where you’re held in place by
your hands and your body weight, you are comfortable knowing there are no
brakes, and knowing if you fall off the sled it will continue forward without
you for a while, until gravity pulls it back down the slope towards you at a
high speed. For example, see https://youtu.be/i9eGpz5-MmI?si=IGWJS1iEamFn-hZg
I would have regretted not completing this experience
this year. I had to shift some commitments around to enable this to happen in
2025. I’m glad I did. I would have had regrets if I had missed this opportunity.
