going to give me a heart attack. Sixth paragraph down (in his Whistler Watch blog that he's doing) he talks about taking up skeleton. SKELETON! I copied some of it here.
Other than gasping for air after reading that, e mailing him with motherly pleas for him NOT to do it, making up the shopping list, it's a regular Saturday here.
What's up today?
Excerpts from Nick's Whistler Watch:
Have you seen the Olympic bobsleigh track? Its totally awesome! Its right near Blackcomb Base 2 and its so open and racing already!
Theres a total elevation drop of 152 metres. The length of the track is 1450 metres. This is the steepest and fastest track in the world. There are 16 corners and the athletes go so fast they experience 5 Gs in force against their bodies. Since the athletes go so fast and there is so much force on their bodies, as a general rule, athletes only make a maximum 3 runs a day.
The concrete track is covered with between 2 and 5cm of ice that is misted on and shaved down by hand. Theres no automatic machines that keep the track iced.
When I went there, there was a training camp going on where 8 - 16 year olds were learning how to luge. It was so cool to see a little kid, who couldnt be more than 150cm tall racing down on a luge.
The highest speed that has been reached down a track is on a luge. It was 149.7 km/h. Thats even faster than the 4 man bobsled that has a record of about 145 km/h.
Im super stoked to get involved in skeleton (my mom is going to kill me when she reads this), so I asked how someone like me can get involved. Come January, on Sundays, they have training camps for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton. Just head over to the Sliding Centre and youll be able to pay somewhere in the vicinity of $30 for a day of training.
KaeEll, I don't know what skeleton is. Bobsled and luge I know, but not skeleton.
In any case, I'm on your side!! I saw something the other day about a 16-year-old who's about to cross the Atlantic, and Jim started laughing at me as I watched the news piece. I swear to God, I would still hold my kids' hands crossing the street, if it were up to me! Which, of course, it isn't, and that's probably a good thing in the end...
So, I say a big NO to skeleton -- whatever it is. Nick has no business doing it!
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Moore, a skeleton sled is this little tiny highly honed sleigh that goes extremely fast down an ice run. The thing is also very light weight. Super dangerous. It makes a luge sled look like an old fashioned toboggan. I'll see if I can find a picture of one of these hideous things.