Track Construction
Built by hand – every year from scratch
Start end of November
In mid-November, the management starts waiting for the first snow, the building material for the Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz – Celerina. The South Tyrolean track workers arrive towards the end of November. Every year, they build the largest snow sculpture in the world within around three weeks in the magnificent natural landscape of the Upper Engadin. The building material they need: 15,000 cubic metres of snow and 10,000 cubic metres of water. Although every corner is precisely fitted into the terrain, there may be minimal changes to the course from year to year.
Combining tradition and modern technology
Much has changed in the more than one hundred years that the track has been in existence. Nevertheless, the principles of track construction have remained the same. Construction requires a great deal of experience and a sense of proportion, despite all the modern means. Of course, track construction today benefits from technical developments. Unlike in the early days, lorries are used to transport snow. During the construction phase, a Trax is also used to pile up the snow where it is needed for construction. But shovelling is still done by hand – just like back then, when the track was built for the first time.
Sustainable and ecological
The track construction starts every year at Sunny Corner. The track team then works its way towards the finish and the outrun. They tackle the stretch from the start to Sunny Corner at the end. No chemical substances are used in the entire track construction. This makes the Olympia Bob Run in the Engadin not only the oldest, but also the most ecological bobsleigh run in the world.
Management
From the beginnings of the track until the early 1980s, responsibility for its construction lay in the hands of the local Angelini family, who constructed the track for three generations. In 1985 Louis Prantl took over responsibility for the track construction. He was replaced in 1990 by Christian Brantschen from Celerina, who is still responsible for the construction of the track today.
