It's a reasonably priced attraction: €2.50 will buy you one trip down, or for €12 you can go 6 times. We purchased the 6-pack and got in line. There are no mountains of liability release forms to sign, for the German mentality is that you are mostly responsible for your own safety.
The "bobs" come along on a continually moving track. When you get to the front of the line, you hop on the next available bob and buckle up sitting upright with hands on the hand breaks. It feels more like a go kart than a toboggan.
After a quick explanation of the hand break (in German), we were off! A lift system pulls the bob up 300 meters to the top of the mountain.
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| The beginning of our ascent. |
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| We're still going up; there's part of the downhill track on the right. |
The downhill track took us through a varied descent with roundabouts, jumps, and tunnels on a 1,150-meter long track. Besides being something to grip onto with white knuckles, the hand break allows you to control your speed. The faster you go, the more you feel like you're going to fly off the track! I was a bit cautious at first, but grew more daring after each descent with the kids screaming, "Faster! Faster!".
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| One of the many corkscrew turns going down. |
Six rides may have been a few too many, but it was a lot of fun, especially for the small children. They can't wait until they're old enough to ride by themselves!
There are dozens of other rodelbahns throughout Germany so I'm sure we'll be doing it again. If you're curious, you can Google Sommerrodelbahn Gutach and watch the youtube video.
