SPECIFICATIONS
- 1.6 km long (nearly a mile)
- Top elevation of 3080 feet (939 meters)
- Base elevation is 2582 feet (787 meters)
- Sliders reach speeds of up to 95 miles / hour (153 km / hr)
- Competitors can create more than 5 Gs of force around a corner
- Straight stretches of the track are U-shaped
- High banked curves are C-shaped and can be overhanging
With a 121 meter verticle drop, the Whistler bobsled track is considered to be the fastest in the world.
It is located on the lowermost slopes of Blackcomb Mountain in the Fitzsimmons Creek valley in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, 78 miles (125 km.) north of Vancouver.
Completed in 2007 the track presented some daunting challanges for the five ice specialists, known as ice_meisters, hired by the Vancouver Organizing Committee.
In February when the Olympic events will be held, Vancouver's sea-level and high humidity can sometimes leave it raining at the bottom of the track while it's snowing at the top. This combined with parts of the track being angled toward the midday sun and others being in constant shadow made designing the refrigeration system very demanding. The .79 - 2 inch thick (2 to 5 cm) ice must be maintained at 24 t0 25 degrees. Variations can leave the outer layer of the ice slushy if too warm or brittle if too cold making conditions dangerous or even fatal for the athletes. Texture, composition and even color must remain consistent throughout the event.
Built from 7.5 miles (12 km) of steel conduit with 350 tons of concrete sprayed on to a thickness of 6 inches(15 cm), the track has over 62 miles (100 km) of ammonia refrigeration piping to keep it frozen. It will seat 11,650 spectators. Additionally the track has 36 on-track video cameras and 42 timing sensors.
