Toboggan runs

History
Tobogganing is a popular traditional pastime in winter. The well-to-do population in Russia was already sliding down snowy hills on ice blocks in the 16th and 17th centuries. They also occasionally used wooden toboggans. In urban Moscow and St. Petersburg, people constructed what are known as “Russian Mountains”, i.e. wooden ramps covered with ice and snow so they could also go tobogganing in the city. The French or Russian troops brought the “Montagnes Russes” to Paris in around 1813, from where they also spread to the rest of Europe. In Switzerland, tobogganing became popular at the beginning of the 19th century and regional types of toboggans and sledges also emerged at this time.

Types of toboggans
A toboggan is traditionally made from ash or beech wood, with iron-clad skids, while newer versions can also be made from plastic. It can usually accommodate one or two people on a seating area of wooden slats or a fabric covering and has a cord by which it can be pulled uphill and along flat surfaces.
The Davos toboggan was further developed in the 19th century based on a light Norwegian toboggan, which had been introduced in Switzerland at the time. The name arises from the first historically documented official toboggan race, which took place in Davos in 1883 and at which this type of toboggan was used. Traditionally, the Davos toboggan is a solid wooden structure made from ash, complete with iron-clad skids. The Davos toboggan is the most widely used type of toboggan in Switzerland.
Other Swiss wooden toboggan models are the Aros toboggan, the Grindelwald toboggan, the Bergün toboggan and the Goldiwil toboggan. They are based on the Davos design, but offer an improved sitting position and collision protection (Bergün model).
The racing sledge is the logical further development of the toboggan. The design of a racing sledge with curved skids, flexibly connected components, seating area and tilted skids leads to much more manoeuvrability, better braking characteristics and comfort compared to the rigid toboggan. The flexible construction also requires a special technique for going around corners. The racing sledge alone has been used for the luge on the ice track at the Olympic Winter Games since 1964.

Toboggan runs
You can go tobogganing at more than 200 groomed tobogganing slopes in Switzerland today (2019). The Bernese Oberland alone has over 170 km of toboggan slopes, while the Glarus region has five toboggan runs with a total of 16 km of groomed slopes.
“Big Pintenfritz” in the Jungfrau ski region is the longest tobogganing slope in the world. The run is around 13 km long, from Faulhorn situated at 2,686 m above sea level via Bussalp to Grindelwald. You have to earn the rapid descent first, however, by hiking for around two and a half hours first.
The toboggan slope of La Tzoumaz in western Switzerland is a special place, as it has a specially constructed slope and is not laid out on existing mountain trails.
Switzerland’s first toboggan training course has been available at Melchsee-Frutt since the 2018/2019 winter season. You can learn how to correctly steer and stop the toboggan on the course. Floodlit night slopes are also increasingly on offer in tourist resorts.