Altenberg track mapWoman's single luge start house (left). Track (right) leads uphill through turns #2 and #1 to men's single luge and bobsleigh-skeleton start houses.
Altenberg raced bobsleigh as early as 1908 on a natural track going downhill. By the late 1970s, the East Germans were already successful in luge, and had increasing success in bobsleigh. This included a total of six Winter Olympic medals in bobsleigh in 1976 and 1980, along with five world bobsleigh championship medals between 1977 and 1979.[1][2][3][4] In order to increase East Germany's effort to win more bobsleigh and luge medals both at the Winter Olympics and their respective sport's world championships, a track was constructed.[5] The track at Altenberg was constructed under the order of then-Stasi (Ministry for State Security in East Germany) Minister Erich Mielke.
In 1997, the women's single luge start house was created before turn three after being shared with the men's double luge start house before turn seven from 1989 to 1996.[10] Women's skeleton first began competition in 1999 while women's bobsleigh first started the following year.[11][12][13] An 18th curve was modified during the summer of 2007 with the addition of a finish curve and straightaway.[14]
Over the weekend of 1–3 February 2008, the track hosted the 200th FIL Luge World Cup event, which began in December 1977.[15] The track was awarded the 2012 FIL World Luge Championships at the 2008 FIL Congress in Calgary, Canada, on 28 June of that year, following Whistler's bid withdrawal.[16][17] Refurbishment of the track for the 2012 World Luge Championships was projected to cost €1.4 million, which included modernizing the electronics and refrigeration system and renovation of the women's and junior start houses.[5][18]
Track technical details
The track is powered by four refrigerationcondensers each with a 200 kW (268 hp) capacity which combined can keep the track frozen at ambient conditions up to 20 °C (68 °F).[19] Its storage tanks hold up to 45 metric tons (50 short tons) of ammonia, generating the equivalent of 12,000 household refrigerators.[19] There a total of fifty sensors located throughout the track with its staff contacted at a moment's notice if anything bad occurs.[19] Monitoring is done by closed-circuit television to further enhance track security[19] The icing of the track starts in October, taking eight workers one week to evenly ice the track to a layer of 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) at a temperature of −13 °C (9 °F).[19]
The vertical drop is 122.22 metres (401 ft) from the bobsleigh start, with a maximum grade of 15% and an average grade of 8.66%. The elevation at the base is 660 m (2,165 ft) above sea level.[20]
FIBT track profile - Click on video for ride down the track. It will show the bobsleigh-skeleton part intersecting with the men's single luge track prior to turn one, the women's single luge track prior to turn three, and the men's doubles luge track prior to turn seven.
