They can reach over 90 km per hour.

Whistler has the fastest track in the world. Our track record is 146.6 kmh set by Jon Montgomery at the 2010 Olympics.

it could be from 15-30lbs without everything on it.

newsliders.com/skeletonfatality.htm

Excerpted from The St. Petersburg Times (Russia) (10/30/01)

Bobsledder Killed

RIGA, Latvia (AP) - An alternate driver on Latvia's Olympic bobsled team was killed during a practice run when he plowed headfirst into an empty sled that had drifted into his path.

Girts Ostenieks, 33, was on a skeleton sled - a small, brakeless sled on which riders lie down with their heads at the front - traveling at about 58 kilometers per hour when a blade on the errant sled pierced his skull, officials said. He died instantly.

It was the first fatality at the Sigulda Bobsled Track, 45 kilometers northeast of the capital, Riga. The track, built when Latvia was part of the Soviet Union, is the scheduled site of the 2003 World Luge Championship.

Officials said the second vehicle belonged to the Russian women's national bobsled team, which was practicing nearby. It lost control of a four-seat sled, which slid onto the track and overturned seconds before Ostenieks sped into view."

The sport was named when someone commented that a new metal sled, first used in 1892, resembled a skeleton.

Skeleton has been an official Winter Olympic sport on five occasions - as a men's competition only in 1928 (St. Moritz) and 1948 (St. Moritz), and as a men's and women's competition in 2002 (Salt Lake City), 2006 (Turin), and will be contested once again as an Olympic sport in Vancouver in February 2010.

Skeleton is dangerous for a variety of reasons. First, the sleds that skeleton sliders use lack brakes and steering. The sliders have to use their own body weight to help steer and their own feel to brake.

Secondly, when sliding down a track, sledders can reach high speeds. The faster they are going, the more difficult it is for for the sledder to try to control his or her momentum and speed.

Finally, in competitive skeleton, the conditions of the track itself can deteriorate as more and more slide down the course. This puts sledders that are near the end of the running order face a disadvantage and more potentially dangerous elements.

It depends upon the particular Olympics. There are summer and winter Olympics. Examples of races in the summer Olympics include competitions among the world's fastest runners and swimmers. Examples of races in the winter Olympics include competitions among the world's fastest skiers.

Well your on a small little board sliding on ice racing. I wanted to do skeletan racing in the Olympics. So anyway yes skeletan is a dangrous sport. You must be very good to do it

English soldiers in the late 19th century

death by crashing

In 1882, English Soldiers built a sliding track in Switzerland. The first sleds used down this track were the Canadian ( or Indian) sleds. They became known as Toboggans, and were originally used for transportation. According to historians, 1892 was a great year for Skeleton. In this time a tourist named child told some citizens about a new sled, made of all metal. Fans of this new design claimed that it looked like a skeleton. That is how it got its name. It was by 1905, that skeleton started to spread across the world. Australia was the first to hear and take on the new sport.

similar to luge but the contestant races down headfirst

The skeleton sport involves racing down an icy track, head first on a small sled. Some of the strengths needed for this sport include strength to keep your body straight as you race down the track, and speed so the racer can get a good running start before getting on the sled.

It really depends on where you are sledding but on record the whistler sliding centre in canda that was used for 2010 winter Olympics is the longest and fastest sliding centre in the world at 78 miles long and the fastest speed ever there was on luge by a germen lugr loch who flew down the track at 95.68 miles per hour!

Skeleton -- like other outdoor winter sports such as skiing, bobsled and luge -- doesn't have a stadium or arena so much as they have a track. Spectators can line up along the track (at a safe distance, of course) and watch their favorite athletes as they speed by.