Status Operating Max speed 70 km/h Opened 30 April 2003 | Status SBNO Height 30 m Height restriction 1.32 m G-force 4.5 g | |
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Opening date April 30, 2003 (2003-04-30) Opening date May 27, 2004 (2004-05-27) Similar Tornado, Sidewinder, Mind Eraser, Twister II, Viper | ||
Half Pipe off-ride HD Elitch Gardens
Half Pipe is a Steel Launched Shuttle roller coaster located at both Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado and at Särkänniemi in Tampere, Finland. The structure is 100 feet (30 m) in height and consists of 230 feet (70 m) of track. The ride is currently one of two rides of its type offered in the United States (the other being Avatar Airbender at Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America).
Riders are placed in one of two cars on the train which is made to resemble a giant skateboard. Each car is a free-spinning circle that holds eight people. The track is essentially a giant, upright U and trains are loaded at the bottom of the U. LIM engines accelerate the train up both sides of the track. A typical ride consists of approximately five to six cycles of the train traveling through the U.
There is another Half Pipe, identical to the others, on top of the Don Quijote store in Roppongi, Tokyo. The coaster was completed in December 2005, but it never opened, and remains standing but not operating.
On October 5, 2013, the ride apparently derailed "and crashed" early in the morning. The park's site lists it as closed for the remainder of the season.
