Mountain coaster

A mountain coaster or alpine coaster is a gravity-driven amusement ride with bobsled-like cars on tracks installed on a mountain. It is similar to alpine slides where a low-wheeled sled is used to navigate the track, but instead of running over smooth concave tracks like the alpine slide, alpine coasters run on rails with up-stop wheels like roller coasters. Thus, an alpine coaster isn't necessarily safer due to the jerky movements the cart makes as it navigates its way on a fixed track. Alpine coasters are undoubtedly slower than an alpine slide since alpine coasters have speed regulated carts that prevent a rider from experiencing the track at full speed. Tracks are usually tubular rails, like a steel roller coasters, while some have monorail-type tracks. Unlike a traditional roller coaster, the rider has the capability to control the car's speed with its rider-controlled brake system. Alpine coasters can also operate year-round, even through light rain and snow.

Safety features, speed, tracks and layout vary by manufacturer. Leading makers of mountain coasters (with trade marks in parenthesis) include Wiegand (Alpine Coaster), Brandauer (Summer Toboggan), Alpine Products (Alpine Mountain Coaster), and Erbschloe Fun Construct (Rolba Bob).

As of 2007^[update], the longest alpine coaster in the world is Tobotronc at Naturlandia, in the Pyrenees of Andorra. It is 5.3 km long. The highest alpine coaster in the world is the Alpine Coaster of Glacier 3000 in Gstaad, Switzerland with the starting elevation of 9,747 feet (2,971 m) and a length of 3,300 feet (1,000 m).

The predecessor to the mountain coaster is the alpine slide, which came out in the 1970s. Wiegand, a German company in Rasdorf, installed the first stainless steel tracks for the alpine slide in 1975 rather than the customary fiberglass or concrete tracks. The company later developed the first mountain coasters in 1997. Josef Wiegand, the owner, envisioned the idea of creating a roller coaster-type ride for ski resorts that would take advantage of the topography of the land, rather than building the structure to create the elevation changes that traditional roller coasters require. The company installed its first coaster under the "Alpine Coaster" trademark in 1997.

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