Sommerrodelbahn Erbeskopf — Local services in Thalfang am Erbeskopf

The speed of the monorail toboggans can be controlled via a 'joystick'. The braking is intuitive enough (a few taps will do) and explained in the queue up area. Who is actual in charge has to be intuited. Railcars also sport multi-lingual signs explaining the use of emergency brakes. The start is somewhat precipitous. A green sign says that the 'joystick' should be fully released (it is already fully released - the towing would otherwise haved stopped - with a blaring loadspeaker coaching any slow learner). Yellow signs will pop up eventually (they are actually rather stationary) to provide instructions. There is no need to brake at the finish line. A scrubber system will bleed off any excess momentum. A top speed of 42 km is mentioned. Question mark, actual measurement or did someone simply use potential energy calculations. Relevant highschool physics: mgh=½mv². You want to feel like Larry Niven, fiddle with the value for 'g'. The lack of banking feels unnatural. Bicycle riding instincts are hard to ignore. Or waterpark slides for that matter. The safety belt has an extra buckle for children. The management will not be held responsible for deorbited dentures (or footloose headgear for that matter).

The machine shed is near the entrance. The top station is unmanned. Paganini assessment of the shown gear train: anything with strings needs periodic tightening.

I did approach the Erbeskopf via 'Bundesstrasse' 269 (Birkenfeld-Morbach). The exit to the 'Landstrasse' 164 is well marked. Minor hurdle, the first touristic sign (telltale brown color) will point to a panoramic era on top Erbeskopf. One should wait for the second touristic sign for getting to the sled rides. Different 'lagerpoint'. It will heave into view eventually. An unmarked road in-between can also be taken but the signed exit will deposit a visitor directly at the designated parking area.

There is a 'skylarking' park nearby where the treetops pack enough rigging to inspire a Weissmuller script. The undulating anaconda shown in Google earth has nothing to do with larger than life totem animals. Mountain bike trail park. Selfsame parking lot but a segregated lift system.

As for the closeby mountain top site. Half the peak is reserved for the military (a big radar dome plus various transmission towers), the other half is set aside for civilian usage. It would be possible, at least in theory, to use the sleds as powered ascend vehicles. A wedding on a Shinto inspired bridge to nowhere was in progress. Official name, wind chime - the alluded to spherical sounds were above my range. Not sure if the elevation, 816m makes much of a difference but high altitude flowers will always sport fruitier colors. The built in sunscreen factor. Shown, brownray knapweed (Wiesenflockenblume), 'knap' as in swollen head (nob),...

Was nice and quiet the day we went. Staff is extremely friendly and nice. Little expensive, and like all rodelbahns in the area the ride down is over very quick. They were very understanding of the fact my kids went down a little slow but we had fun. On to...

Hier hat die ganze Familie Spaß und das mitten auf der Skipiste des Erbeskopfs.

Kinder, bis zu einem gewissen Alter, müssen mit einem Erwachsenen mitfahren und fahren daher kostenlos.

Man fährt auf einer Aluminiumschiene eine gute Strecke den Berg hinunter, so hat man ein richtiges Rodelgefühl.

Bei großem Andrang, muss man eventuell auch mal mit Wartezeiten (bis zu einer Stunde) rechnen, da der Betrieb sofort pausiert, wenn jemand z.B. viel zu langsam fährt bzw. mitten auf der Strecke anhält (was aus Sicherheitsgründen verboten ist).

Vor Antritt der Fahrt bekommt man eine kleine Einweisung und wenn man sich an alles hält, kann auch nichts schief gehen.

Es gibt auch einen kleinen Imbiss. Hier bekommt man Snacks und Getränke.

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