G-Force Ice

Dragging your face is nothing new.

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Several things can happen to a rookie's head in a sharp turn: Those with strong neck muscles and an equally strong will to survive don't have much trouble keeping their face shields free of the shaved ice that sliders recognize as evidence of a face drag. Others, like myself, who fall into the pencil portion of the neck category, try valiantly on the first couple of runs to keep our faces off the ice but then, upon on a classmate's advice, try letting the helmet "bounce" off the ice. The result is a helpless feeling not unlike a large man pressing your head into the freeway with his foot while traveling at 50 mph. When the turn ends, instead of following your coach's advice and preparing for the next turn, the face dragger then rips his or her helmet off the ice, which in turn pulls your shoulders off the sled creating a domino effect of over-correcting wall bounces.

Sound crazy? It just may be the craziest sport ever invented.

Dashing for the nearest alcohol seemed to be the natural progression of events after our first night of skeleton school. Turns out, the century-old sport has a long history of post-sliding imbibing.

In the late 1880s, the men and women of St. Moritz, Switzerland descended the icy slopes from their home to the town of Celerina. The winner's loot was a bottle of champagne.

Following its second Olympic appearance in 1948 (the first was in 1928), the sport dropped off the Winter Games map. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics is considering making two additions to the already hectic schedule—women's bobsled and skeleton.

In Europe, where the sport's resurgence started in the late '70s, the sport is starting to take off once again. The North American version of a skeleton World Cup was held at the Sports Park last winter and the American interest is growing.

This low-cost, high adrenaline version of luge called skeleton is a new phenomenon to most Utahns who prefer their winter sports upright and powdery. There is nothing powdery about skeleton—sliding face first down a mile-long track at speeds fast enough to aggravate a Park City police officer. Yet, the sport is proving to be an affordable and accessible way for speed—and G-force—lovers to test their meddle at the crown jewel of the 2002 Olympics, the Utah Winter Sports Park's bobsled and luge track.

Unlike luge, which takes seasons of training and dedication, and the expensive sport of bobsled that requires a costly sled and a trained team, skeleton is a one-man undertaking that leaves most yearning for a slightly faster time and a little better entry into Turn 4.

Last winter, a group of 19 thrill-seekers and a journalist enrolled in a one-of-a-kind skeleton school at the Utah Winter Sports Park.

Some of the country's top skeleton coaches were on hand to help local sliders Max Sturgis and Dave Sabey of the Park City Bobsled and Skeleton Club pull off an impressive undertaking: Teach 20 people how to slide down an Olympic bobsled track in three days with the final day devoted to two-run race.

The first day of school is the same regardless of whether it's first grade or skeleton school. No one knows what's going to happen in this scary new environment. By 11 p.m. Friday (ice time is becoming a commodity at the Sports Park and first-timers are way down on the list), the majority of the class had decided it wasn't scary enough to skip the remainder of the school. With a few exceptions.

One cowboy slider wiped out, but didn't fall out (it's almost impossible to fling out of the track), and came back for Day 2 with a body full of bruises. The one disabled participant decided he couldn't control the sled without strength in his legs and he bagged out.

The rest were in it for the long haul and by the last run of the second day, it was no longer "Oh, this is fun," it was, "Damn, I thought I had a better run than that."

By Sunday afternoon, when the man with the speed suit and spikes had proven to those of us in ski parkas and running shoes that winning is important to almost everyone, 20 people had been converted to this wacky sport they call skeleton.