>> ^radx:

This appears to be dead


Yep, http://www.topgear.com/us/players/topgear-embedded-v3.swf is gone and I can't find a video replacement.

Congratulations! Your video, Alpine Coaster in Mieders, Austria (with no brakes!!), has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 10 Badge!

>> ^Payback:

>> ^Deadrisenmortal:
buh, buh, buh... I wanna go NEXT!
Wow! So many questions...
How long is it distance-wise?
How fast did it get going?
What is it there for?
Why were there no other cars on the track?
How do the cars get back up to the top?

Without knowing a thing about it...
-It's got to be a good 3-4 km.
-Didn't look faster than 50km/h (30mph)
-Making money or having fun, depending on what side of the cash you're on.
-No other cars for the same reason there's only ever 1 car on any roller coaster. Collisions.
-I'd think you slide it off at the bottom and head back up the tram with it under your arm. Repeatedly.


Don't you guys don't know Sommerrodelbahnen? :-)

They are very popular in Alps' tourist regions (i.e. Austria, Switzerland and southern parts of Germany). I'd go so far and say every ski area has at least one of them. They serve a single purpose: entertain tourists in summer months.

Nearly every time there's other cars on the track. That's why its not so easy to go down without braking. most of the time you have some mom with their kid (usually there's one and two seated cars) in front of you. So braking is not a question of braveness but of collision prevention ;-)

Mieders is one of the longest tracks but a bit more boring compared to others which offer 360 curves etc.

The carts get pulled up on a seperate track, on older tracks you wear seatbelts, some have racing car like "H" belts and the newest and fastest have the same metal "bars" that roller coasters have. the cars cannot slip of the track because it's built something like that:

__cccc
cccccccc
cccccccc
cc_TT_cc
ccc__ccc

Where "c" is cart and "T" is track, "_" can be ignored ;-)

The only downside: A ride usually is pretty expensive.

It seems to me i just got a promising business idea for the US :-D But i guess those tracks are not popular in the Rockys etc. because you guys have 12 months of snow in your ski areas i assume whereas in most ski areas of the alps ski season is from early november to late march.

I take my family up to Big Bear CA in the summer months at least once a year. There is an alpine sled that comes down a ski slope there. It's probably only about 200-300 yards long and it simply zip-zags down the hillside.....that's what I was imagining in my mind before I watched the video. HOLY MACKEREL!!! This thing is awesome. My little daughters love that alpine sled in Big Bear, but this coaster is a another beast entirely. It looks like so much fun; however, I don't think there is any chance at all that I would go down that thing without applying the breaks.

Your video, Alpine Coaster in Mieders, Austria (with no brakes!!), has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

>> ^Deadrisenmortal:

buh, buh, buh... I wanna go NEXT!
Wow! So many questions...
How long is it distance-wise?
How fast did it get going?
What is it there for?
Why were there no other cars on the track?
How do the cars get back up to the top?


Without knowing a thing about it...

-It's got to be a good 3-4 km.
-Didn't look faster than 50km/h (30mph)
-Making money or having fun, depending on what side of the cash you're on.
-No other cars for the same reason there's only ever 1 car on any roller coaster. Collisions.
-I'd think you slide it off at the bottom and head back up the tram with it under your arm. Repeatedly.

This is like the Alpine slide in Whitefish, 10 times longer, and 100 times more awesome!

I guess this makes up for your #1 'best sign off evar', which I almost submitted an hour before you did.

In reply to this comment by eric3579:
by 52 seconds :

>> ^rich_magnet:

Freeze-frame it. First jumper clears by about 1m. The shadows match the background and the curvature of the ground. CSI the heck out of it: I think it's real and these guys are nutbars. I thought fake at first, and maybe it is. A good fake if so.


This is legit. Jokke Sommer is a well known wingsuit jumper http://jokkesommer.com/ This is from a Norwegian TV show, called Oppdrag Sognefjorden, about extreme sports, it might be region blocked, but you can watch it here: http://www.nrk.no/programmer/sider/oppdrag_sognefjorden/

I havent seen the show, but i recognize at least one of the guys sitting there, the one with the grey sweater is Lasse Kjus, an ex-alpine rider

While this footage does look suspiciously crappy, the alpine ibex does perform such feats.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'goats, himalayas, ibex' to 'goats, himalayas, alpine ibex' - edited by xxovercastxx

summer, summer, summertime

time to sit back and unwind

Verse One: Fresh Prince

Here it is the groove slightly transformed

just a bit of a break from the norm

just a little somethin' to break the monotony

of all that hardcore dance that has gotten to be

a little bit out of control it's cool to dance

but what about the groove that soothes that moves romance

give me a soft subtle mix

and if ain't broke then don't try to fix it

and think of the summers of the past

adjust the base and let the alpine blast

pop in my CD and let me run a rhyme

and put your car on cruise and lay back cause this is summertime

Chorus

Verse Two: Fresh Prince

school is out and it's a sort of a buzz

a back then I didn't really know what it was

but now I see what have of this

the way that people respond to summer madness

the weather is hot and girls are dressing less

and checking out the fellas to tell 'em who's best

riding around in your jeep or your benzos

or in your Nissan sitting on lorenzos

back in Philly we be out in the park

a place called the plateau is where everybody goes

guys out hunting and girls doing likewise

honking at the honey in front of you with the light eyes

she turn around to see what you beeping at

it's like the summers a natural afradesiac

and with a pen and pad I compose this rhyme

to hit you and get you equipped for the summer time

Chorus

Verse Three: Fresh Prince

it's late in the day and I ain't been on the court yet

hustle to the mall to get me a short set

yeah I got on sneaks but I need a new pair

cause basketball courts in the summer got girls there

the temperature's about 88

hop in the water plug just for old times sake

break to ya crib change your clothes once more

cause you're invited to a barbeque that's starting at 4

sitting with your friends cause y'all remincise

about the days growing up and the first person you kiss

and as I think back makes me wonder how

the smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia

all the kids playing out front

little boys messin round with the girls playing double-dutch

while the DJ's spinning a tune as the old folks dance at your family reunion

then six o'clock rolls around

you just finished wiping your car down

it's time to cruise so you head to the summertime hangout

it looks like a car show

everybody come lookin real fine

fresh from the barber shop or fly from the beauty salon

every moment frontin and maxin

chillin in the car they spent all day waxin

leanin to the side but you can't speed through

Two miles an hour so everybody sees you

there's an air of love and of happiness

and this is the Fresh Prince's new defintion of summer madness

You're not hardcore if you don't use Alpine or Mutt!

http://www.videosift.com/video/Alpine-Slide-Whitefish-Montana

They are rotating wings, as opposed to fixed wings.

And awesome! Did the video cut out just before it smacked into the glacier though? I think those Alpine rescue/tourism fliers have the best jobs in the world after astronauts and fighter pilots. I wonder if they can get life insurance on their wage.