COASTING, usually called tobogganing (q.v.) in Europe, the sport of sliding down snow or ice-covered hills or artificial inclines upon hand-sleds, or sledges, provided with runners shod with iron or steel. It is uncertain whether the first American sleds were copied from the Indian toboggans, but no sled without runners was known in the United States before 1870, except to the woodsmen of the Canadian border. American laws have greatly restricted and in most places prohibited the practice, once common, of coasting on the highways, and the sport is mainly confined to open hills and artificial inclines or chutes. Two forms of hand-sled are usual in America, the original "clipper" type, built low, with long, pointed sides, formerly shod with iron but since 1850 with round steel rods for runners; and the light, short "girls' sled," with high skeleton sides, usually flat shod. There is also the "double-runner," or "bob-sled," formed of two clipper sleds joined by a board and steered by ropes, a wheel, or cross-bar, and seating from four to ten persons.
Coasting has become a very popular pastime in the Adirondacks, in upper New York state, where there are numerous artificially constructed chutes in popular resorts.
The chute at Mt. Royal, Montreal, consists of five tracks, side by side, separated by ice. Dufferin Terrace, Quebec, has three tracks. Berlin, N.H., has a famous toboggan chute. The Dartmouth winter carnival, held each winter at Dartmouth col lege, Hanover, N.H., features tobogganing, coasting, skating, etc.
In Scandinavia several kinds of sled are common, but that of the fishermen, by means of which they transport their catch over the frozen fjords, is the one used in coasting, a sport especially popular in the neighbourhood of Oslo, where there are courses nearly 3m. in length. This sled is from 4 to 6f t. long, with skele ton sides about 7in. high, and generally holds three persons. It is steered by two long sticks trailing behind. On the ice the fisherman propels his sled by means of two short picks. The general Norwegian name for sledge is skijalker, the primitive form being a kind of toboggan provided with broad wooden run ners resembling the ski (q.v.). In northern Sweden and Finland the commonest form of single sleds is the Sparkstottinger, built high at the back, the coaster standing up and steering by means of two handles projecting from the sides.
Coasting in its highest development may be seen in Switzer land, at the fashionable winter resorts of the Engadine, where it is called tobogganing. The first regular races there were or ganized by John Addington Symonds, who instituted an annual contest for a challenge cup, open to all comers, over the steep post-road from Davos to Klosters, the finest natural coast in Switzerland, the sled used being the primitive native Schlittli or Handschlitten, a miniature copy of the ancient horse-sledge.
The construction of great artificial runs followed, the most famous being the "Cresta" at St. Moritz, begun in 1884, which is about 1,32oyd. in length, its dangerous curves banked up. The famous run has an electrical timing apparatus. The record time for the descent is 53•7sec. made in 1911, an average speed of 47m. per hour. The total drop from start to finish is 514f t., the average gradient I in 7.7. On this the annual "Grand National" championship is contested, the winner's time being the shortest aggregate of three heats. In 1885 and the following year the native Schlittli remained in use, the rider sitting upright facing the goal, and steering either with the heels or with short picks. In 1887 the first American clipper sled was introduced by L. P.
Child, who easily won the championship for that year on it. The sled used by the contestants is a development of the American type, built of steel and skeleton in form. With it a speed of over 70m. an hour has been attained. The coaster lies flat upon it and steers with his feet, shod with spiked shoes, to render braking easier, and helped with the gloved hands. This is called the ventre a-terre position. The "double-runner" has also been introduced into Switzerland under the name of "bob-sleigh." Both bob-sleigh and skeleton-tobogganing are controlled by the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Tobogganing, and both races are included in the winter sports of the Olympic Games. Each nation participating may enter three bobs in each, but only two may compete. Each bob may carry four or five men. At the winter games of the Eighth Olympiad, held in Chamonix in Feb. 1924, Switzerland's second team won and Great Britain's second team were close runners-up, followed by Belgium third, France's second team fourth, Great Britain's first team fifth, and Italy's second team last.
The race was run on four descents of the track, two on each day—the results being determined by the totals of times. The length of the run at Chamonix, starting at the first station of the Teleferique Railway, is 1,433 metres, there are six big curves and in all 18 turns; the track was specially constructed for the Olympic Games and intentionally made difficult. By some ex perts it is considered dangerous. The French bob of M. le Comte de la Fregoliere, which met with disaster, was the only ventre-d terre bob in the race.
In the winter sports of the Ninth Olympic Games held at St. Moritz in Feb. 1928, the United States won the bob-sleigh race, United States second team was second, Germany third, Argentina fourth, Argentina fifth, and Belgium sixth. In the Skeleton tobog gan the United States captured the first two places, with Great Britain third.
See T. A. Cook, Tobogganing at St. Moritz (1896), and Ice Sports, in the Isthmian Library, London (19o1) ; W. Duston White, The Book of Winter Sports (1925). (V. M. C.; J. B. P.)