Down A Slippery Slope With No Brakes

This summer if youre heading for the hills to beat the heat, toss your skis and skates away. So many upwardly mobile people have taken to those sports that theyve become decidedly downwardly mobile, in more senses than one. Instead, try luging, the sport that was dreamed up by a speed demon who didnt see why he should go less than 100 km/hr just because he was in the mountains.

The word luge is French for a racing sled. If youre a luger, this is how you get down mountains: lie back on a luge and careen down the course feet first. Says Harish Kumar, president of the Indian Amateur Luge Association: Its like driving a car downhill without brakes! The luge sled was originally controlled by a hand strap that guided the front of the runners (wheels). Now luges are steered by the lugers exerting pressure on the sides of the sled with their feet and shoulders.

 

Shiva Keshavan, Indias sole representative to the Winter Olympics in Japan, in luging, took up the sport because he wanted to do something different and adventurous. He got what he wanted: luging, to put it bluntly, is all about whizzing downhill, the wind whipping your face, with no means to brake or slow down aside from friction and wind drag!

Luging is popular in most countries where there is snow Japan, Austria and Norway to name a few, but has yet to take off in India. Says Harish Kumar: This sport is bound to become a regular feature. Now, its only because of Shivas qualifying and representing India in luging that people have heard about it at all. But India can easily introduce luging in Auli, Gulmarg and other winter resorts. Look at the infrastructure ski lifts, courses for different levels of skill in skiing, equipment coming up in Auli and Gulmarg. With a little more effort, luging could be introduced as well. In fact, during the recent winter games at Gulmarg we created a luge course.

Luging is similar to tobogganing and bobsledding. There are two kinds of luging courses: artificial and natural. In the artificial course the ice is manufactured and maintained by a refrigeration plant. That makes it a costly proposition and requires technical expertise and emergency back-ups in the event of power failure and mechanical defects. The natural course is cheaper and easier to construct and maintain, and can be manufactured by snow scooters and bulldozers pressing the snow into ice. This was the kind of course that was created at Gulmarg.

It isnt strictly necessary to wait till Gulmarg freezes over you can luge on roads as well. All you need is a gradient of about 200 metres or more to build up sufficient speed. This could technically be carried out on most flyovers, but youd have to be insane to try this in any Indian city!

Luges are expensive, and arent produced in India yet. An imported luge costs around Rs 60,000, which seems expensive for something that looks like the tray from the Mad Hatters tea party. But a luge is made of aluminium or composite materials to make it light, and custom-made according to the dimensions of your body, which explains the hefty price tag.

Many people prefer to construct their own luge, with the help of information from the internet or books on luging. Once youve laid hands on a luge of your own, heres how you propel yourself down the course. Sit in the sled with your feet pressed into the horns of the cufin (the end portion of the luge). Then slide the sled forward with your knees close together till your forearms are almost parallel to the surface. This is known as the forward stroke. Next is the compression stroke, where you slide the sled back so that youre stretched out like a rubber band. Your knees should be spread apart to allow for maximum reach.

Repeated forward and compression strokes propel you onto the course. Dont lean back past the vertical position if you want your start to be explosive. Once gravity takes over, settle back into the sled carefully but quickly in a supine position. To negotiate bends, if any, apply pressure in the desired direction by using your feet and shoulders. Stopping is the least important part all you have to do is use your shoes.

To achieve greater speeds ,you have to cut down on friction and wind drag. Wear gloves equipped with spikes in either the finger tips or on the backs of the knuckles in order to grip the surface to impart more speed. Tight rubberised suits, special helmets with rounded shields or sleds with a low centre of gravity, all reduce wind drag to a bare minimum.

Sliders have limited visibility because of their body positions and this combined with the high speeds that can be achieved make the sport quite dangerous. So ensure that theres somebody to help you in case you have a bad fall. Too much speed, after all, could have you on very thin ice indeed.