A pre-dawn dispatch from St Moritz, written in the lobby of the Kulm Hotel at 06:55 with a small cup of black coffee and a notebook that I will not bring up to the start hut because the start hut has no place for a notebook. In ninety minutes I will be flat on my stomach on a piece of steel, going down a piece of ice that has been groomed every morning since 1884.
The Cresta Run is the world’s oldest winter sports venue still in operation. The run was built in 1884 by the Outdoor Amusement Committee of the Kulm Hotel and the people of St Moritz, under the supervision of British Major William Henry Bulpett. The St Moritz Tobogganing Club was founded in 1887 and continues today in partnership with the village. The first race against Davos — the Grand National — was held on 16 February 1885 and is considered the oldest winter sports competition still in existence.
This is the place. This morning is my ride.
The wake-up
The wake-up is 06:00. I had set 05:45 and then snoozed once. The Kulm’s breakfast room opens at 06:30 for Cresta riders, with a smaller menu and a hot kettle. I took a single piece of toast with honey and a cup of black coffee and then walked across the lobby to the Cresta club office.
The walk to the start hut from the Kulm is about three minutes. It is the great convenience of staying at the Kulm in January. You can be in bed at 05:55 and at the briefing at 06:50.
The briefing
The briefing is given by a long-tenured club official whose voice carries the weight of having given the same briefing a thousand times. The briefing is short. It is about three things: how to hold the sled, where to put your weight, and what to do when — not if — you come off. The “when” is important. Beginners come off. Experienced riders come off. The run punishes anyone who thinks otherwise.
You are issued a sled, a pair of rakes (the toe spikes that you use to brake), a helmet, gloves, and a chin pad. The chin pad is not optional and you will be glad of it. Your face is the closest part of you to the ice for the entire run.
The first ride
Beginners start at Junction, not at Top. Top is the upper section, beyond Church Leap, and it is earned across many rides over many seasons. Junction is the middle. From Junction the drop is shorter but it is still a drop. You start by walking down a few stone steps to a small platform. You lie on the sled face-down, chin in the pad, hands gripping the sled’s nose handles, feet pointed back. A starter holds the back of the sled. You give the signal. He releases.
The first thing you notice is that the sled accelerates very quickly. The second thing you notice is that the ice in the corners is much higher than it looks from standing height — the banked walls of Battledore and Shuttlecock rise above you and around you and the sled climbs them as you go. The third thing you notice is the noise. It is not the noise you expect. It is a low whirr that becomes a roar and then becomes a pure rush of cold air past your ears.
I did not have a fast ride. I did not come off. I rode the line that the briefing had told me to ride, I tucked into Shuttlecock the way the briefing had told me to tuck, and I came out at the bottom in a long upward bank that bled the speed off the sled and let the run-out do the rest.
I stood up at the bottom. My legs were not entirely my legs.
What it feels like
I will try to put it on the page. The run is loud and cold and short. It is faster than skiing and lower to the ground than anything else you will do on snow. The corners do the work — the banks are engineered to throw you back into the line — and your job as the rider is to hold the line, weight the sled correctly, and use the rakes only when you must. The pull of the run is forward and downward and the sense of speed is multiplied by being twelve centimetres above the ice.
You finish each ride wide awake.
The second ride
I did three rides total. The second was faster than the first, which is what is supposed to happen. The third was slower, because I tried to think about the line in Bulpett’s instead of just riding it, and the run punished the thinking. The corner-rider’s old maxim — don’t think, don’t brake, don’t blink — is correct. The run reads your hesitation.
The hut
Between rides you stand in the small heated hut at the start with the other riders. The conversation is short and quiet. The riders are a mix — long-time SMTC members, season passholders, beginners like me, a few visiting riders from the club’s reciprocal arrangements. Female riders are now permitted; the historic men-only rule changed in recent seasons. The morning I was there, two of the eleven riders in the hut were women, one of whom rode from Top and recorded a time that I will not print because I did not write it down accurately.
There is a tradition of a sloe gin at the bottom for riders who complete the run from Top without coming off. I did not earn it. I did not order one anyway, out of respect. Someone at the next table did.
After
I walked back to the Kulm at 09:40. I was sweating under my jacket and shivering at the same time, which is the strange combination the run produces. I ate a second breakfast — eggs, a piece of bread, more coffee, a small bowl of muesli — and I sat in the breakfast room for forty minutes without speaking to anyone, which is what the morning required.
I am not going to ride from Top this season. That is not what this dispatch is about. This dispatch is about the morning of the first ride from Junction, which is its own milestone, and which is the only honest version of this dispatch I can write.
A note on getting on
The beginners’ programme is the route. Apply through the SMTC club office in advance — you cannot walk in. There is a small fee. There is a season; the run operates roughly from late December to late February, weather permitting. There are mornings when the ice is not ready and no one rides. Plan flexibility into your trip.
The walk to the start hut from the Kulm is three minutes. From Badrutt’s Palace it is closer to fifteen, and the walk is uphill. The Kulm is the right hotel for the Cresta. It always has been.
The afternoon
I have nothing planned for the afternoon and that is correct. The morning has been the morning. The rest of the day belongs to the chair by the lobby fire and a long, slow lunch at a window table.
Standing Questions
- Can anyone ride the Cresta Run?
- Beginners' rides are offered through the St Moritz Tobogganing Club on certain mornings in the season, weather permitting. You must register with the club office at the Kulm Hotel, attend the safety briefing, and be physically able to control the sled. Female riders are now permitted; the SMTC's historic men-only rule changed in recent seasons.
- How old is the run?
- The natural ice run was built in 1884 near the hamlet of Cresta by the Outdoor Amusement Committee of the Kulm Hotel. The St Moritz Tobogganing Club was founded in 1887. The Grand National race against Davos, first run on 16 February 1885, is considered the oldest winter sports competition still in existence.
- How long is the run and how fast does it go?
- The run is 1.2125 km long with an overall drop of 157 metres. Experienced riders from Top hit speeds well above 130 km/h. From Junction — where beginners start — the speeds are lower but still enough to be taken seriously.
- Where do you stay?
- The Kulm Hotel is the historic answer. The club office is in the building. Suvretta House, Badrutt's Palace, and Carlton are the other three serious answers; the Kulm has the shortest walk to the start hut.
