When you talk to B.C. Luge President Chuck Edwards, his enthusiasm for the future of the sport of luge in the province is downright infectious. He’s thrilled at the focus the 2010 Games and a new state-of-the-art sliding centre on Blackcomb has brought to the sport. He says the number and quality of volunteers, officials and even new young athletes all point the way to a more competitive World Cup and Olympic future for Canada’s lugers.

But Edwards comes from the natural luge side of the sport, which is quite unlike Olympic luge, with its high-tech, banked-corner refrigerated track. Natural luge is practiced on icy snow and can be done almost anywhere you have a three-metre-wide hill. And Edwards has found a perfect location for a natural luge track: beside the ski jumps at Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley.

The service road for the jumps is an ideal location, needing only some protection from trees on about six corners. The Whistler Olympic Park has snow-grooming equipment that can be used to make a smooth surface and there are snowmaking water hydrants that can be used to spray water on the track to ice it up.

For obvious reasons, Edwards’ dream of sliding at the Callaghan will have to wait until after the Olympics, but he’s determined to have a natural luge track up and running this winter. “We’ll have a local luge club that will have natural and Olympic-style members,” says Edwards.

On Saturdays he envisions entire families will gather at the natural luge track, where they’ll have a bonfire, hot chocolate and hot dogs and mom, dad and the kids will all slide. Since at its basic level natural luge is no more complicated that the old two-runner red sleds that have been used by generations, Edwards says it’s truly a sport for everyone.

At a beginner level that’s true, but for those with World Cup aspirations, where speeds exceed 80 km/h, natural luge becomes a very physical endeavour.

The going fast part is easy — just lay back. But to turn a natural luge, you have to sit up, push with a foot on the front runner of the sled and at the same time pull on the rope attached to the runner. At speed, you’ll also need to put the other arm out to prevent a sideways spill off the sled.

Braking is also something unique to the natural form of luge. It’s done with the feet directly on the snow. Finding the balance between getting all the speed possible, braking for a corner, moving smoothly through the curve and then lying back for more speed is the skill set that will separate the real racers from those just out for an exciting time.

For Edwards, finding sliders with talent is one of the key benefits of having a natural luge track in the Whistler area. “In Europe almost every town has a natural luge track developing racers for the World Cup tour,” says Edwards. With a mission to develop more natural and Olympic sliders, Edwards is looking to tap into Canada’s Saturday afternoon toboggan hill culture for the next generation of World Cup stars.