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Skeleton must be experienced

I should have worn tighter clothes. Those aren't words that you would typically hear coming out of my mouth, but I repeated them over and over last Thursday as I lay down on my skeleton sled and was lowered onto the ice at the Maple Leaf start.
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I should have worn tighter clothes.

Those aren't words that you would typically hear coming out of my mouth, but I repeated them over and over last Thursday as I lay down on my skeleton sled and was lowered onto the ice at the Maple Leaf start.

It was supposed to be snowing that day, so I showed up to the Skeleton Sport Experience at the Whistler Sliding Centre in my baggy snowboard pants and jacket. Instead, the afternoon was relatively warm and overcast and I could have gotten by, like other participants, with jeans and a snug jacket.

What would that have given me? Maybe two kilometres an hour. The fastest time in our group was a speedy 99.1 km/h. And me? A tortoise-like 96.9 km/h.

Since none of the participants on this media tour knew how to steer or had ever been on a skeleton sled before it had to be the clothes creating wind resistance. Had to be...

The only way to find out for sure would be to go again, this time dressing in the tightest clothes I could find. And as of yesterday (Wednesday, Feb. 16) that's entirely possible with the Skeleton Sport Experience opening to the general public.

It's taken months for the tour to go through the certification process with the B.C. Safety Authority. Given that there are only a few programs like this in the world the BCSA was understandably cautious. Plus, the track itself has a reputation - it's the fastest in the world, and on the eve of the Games a luge athlete died after his sled was bumped from the course.

However, nobody seemed too worried about that. All of the members of the media in attendance had covered the story of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili and understood that our top speeds - while they may seem fast to us - are 40 to 50 km/h slower than World Cup level athletes experience. As well, there have been modifications to the exit of the last corner that would prevent the same type of accident, and some changes to the bottom corners of the track that make it easier for sliders to maintain control.

The tour itself lasted around three hours, starting with the orientation and safety talk, finishing with our two timed runs down the last six turns on the track. Afterward we filled out a survey that asked what we thought about the whole experience.

For my part, it's kind of difficult to explain - it was so unlike anything I've ever done that I don't have a point of reference for comparison. It is most definitely not tobogganing or tubing. It's not bungee jumping. It's not skiing or snowboarding, skating or skateboarding. The only thing I've done that compares was a stupid teenage ride down a country road on the top of a car, clutching the top of the windshield, and I don't think that car went over 50 km/h.

Many of the reporters had covered the sport of skeleton before, asking athletes like Olympic champion Jon Montgomery questions like whether he knew he was having a good run and how he liked the course. But until we took the tour, none of us could really relate.

For one thing, you're completely blind. Lying facedown on the sled, all you see is ice. You feel the speed, the G-forces in the corners and the tracks rumbling over the ice, but when you don't know where you are every corner catches you by surprise.

Montgomery may see a little more than we do because of his helmet design and strength - he experiences G forces that feel like four to five times his own body weight pressing down on him, while we experienced around 2.5 G's, or half as much pressure.

Most skeleton athletes have to steer by memory, picking up visual clues in their peripheral vision that let them know when turns are coming up. They can control the way they enter and leave corners, building speed and reducing any bumping against walls that could slow them down.

As beginners, we were instructed by our guide Carol MacLaine - who admitted that she had no desire herself to ride a skeleton - not to try and steer. Our job was to emulate a bag of potatoes and keep our elbows tucked in. We didn't even have to try to keep our chins off the ice if we didn't want to - the helmets would slide along if we couldn't handle the G's.

But even if it were our jobs to do nothing, that still meant doing something. For example, some people might clench up if (and when) they bump a wall, but by doing so they start to steer the sled and could wind up bumping other walls instead. We weren't supposed to lift our heads, or let our toes drag because that would also divert the sled from its natural course - a straight, safe line down the track - and make our rides bumpier. We had to stay on the sled, no matter what happened. We had to keep our elbows in or we could bruise them on the walls of the exit track.

In short, we had to think a little like the athletes.

"It's a sport. It's not an amusement park ride where you're a passenger - you're actually an active participant in the sport of skeleton," said MacLaine. "What you do or don't do is going to impact your ride on the skeleton. That's why we don't give you a sled and say 'good luck out there.' The speeds are up to 100 km/h."

Don't think the fact that we were only going down the last six of the 16 corners on the track means anything either - every athlete in the world started at this level once, and the bottom section of the Whistler Sliding Centre is arguably the most technical section of the course. One of the corners was even nicknamed 50-50 by American bobsleigh gold medallist Steve Holcomb because he figured you had a 50-50 chance of making it out upright.

"Although we're thinking of changing the name to 60-40," joked MacLaine.

The tour comes with conditions. For one thing, you have to be over the age of 16. For another, you have to weigh between 90 and 200 pounds. You shouldn't be over the age of 75 unless you're in good shape and should be able to grip the handles of the skeleton firmly.

You shouldn't be pregnant. You shouldn't have a pre-existing injury or condition that involves your neck or body, or a heart condition and you shouldn't be drinking or on drugs.

And an empty bladder is not a bad idea either. With two-and-a-half times your own body weight pressing down on you, accidents can happen.

The Skeleton Sport Experience is just the beginning for the Whistler Sliding Centre. Next season they hope to be able to offer a Bobsleigh Sport Experience as well, which starts much higher up the course and attains speeds of 120-130 km/h.

The cost of the Skeleton Sport Experience is $130, which includes the orientation; two runs and a certificate with your top time over two runs. It also gives you a greater appreciation for the athletes and what it takes to steer a sled at over 140 km/h.

For more information and to book a spot, visit www.whistlerslidingcentre.com. Act fast - the track closes on Mar. 20.