Innsbruck 2000

I2K - The Innsbruck 2000 New Year Event, Part III

by Mike Gendreyzig, 2003

The Sports Event

Temperatures dropped during night and snow conditions were quite ok the other day. We prepared all our ski and sledge equipment after a pretty good breakfast. As free ski bus were already gone the four tobogganing enthusiasts went down town to catch one of the regular post buses. At 12am we reached the Olympic ski area Axamer Lizum, about 40 min South-West of Innsbruck.

view from Axamer Lizum

The sports team

final preperations

The starting point of the 5km long and 670m high sledging slope is at the entrance of the big parking area, whereas ski sports people make there way up to the upper region by ski & chair lift or cable car. On Saturday just four slope tester went down on their racy sledges. The new snow covered the firm ground, so speed was ok. One traditional style wooden sledge was a bit slow as it always slid to the right hand side, but steering of all other metal stabilized toboggans was still easy.

 

Mike & his sports sleigh

It took about 15-20 minutes to the bus station at the bottom. The bus schedule is a bit vague, and buses run just every half or full hour during the day. So be prepared to wait at the windy road corner for the next 'shuttle'.

Muscle Fun with "Stony"

We went down about four or five times, to get finally back the right feeling of every bend and every bump on the slope. This was good as next day on 31th the snowbecame less.

That day all of us went tobogganing. As we brought just three toboggans we rented another seven from a shop at the parking area. It was really full on the slope, but the more people the more action and fun.