Natural luge tracks are tracks that are used for naturbahn (from the German "natural track")

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

competitions. Tracks are often located along mountain roads and paths. The track surface is made of packed snow and ice, with a slope of not more than 15%. Unlike its Olympic counterpart "kunstbahn" (artificial track) luge, natural tracks are to be adapted to the natural conditions and artificial refrigeration and banked curves are not permitted. Natural tracks are partly built on existing paths, but also on specially created areas and must of course be adapted to the given terrain. They are delimited with wooden bands, plastic walls or foam mats and only prepared with snow and water (ice). The lanes must have a minimum width of and the curves must have a minimum radius of seven meters. In contrast to the artificial tracks, they must not be raised. The usual lengths of these natural tracks are between , they must not exceed an average gradient of 13% and a maximum gradient of 25%. The natural track should have at least the following elements: * a left turn * a right turn * a hairpin (left and right) * a combination of curves * a straight Parallel competitions (approximately ), chase races () and city races (approximately ) are held on shortened tracks. From the 2015–16 season there are trial runs (city event in Moscow, Junior World Cup Seiseralm) and parallel competitions in ski areas (for example in Kühtai / Tyrol and on the Seiseralm / Italy). Artificially excessive curves are not permitted: the curve base is to be horizontal. More than 50 natural toboggan runs are mainly used in Italy, Austria, and Germany. In addition there are runs in Russia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Switzerland, France, and Liechtenstein as well as Canada and the United States. The most well-known natural track in the United States is in Michigan, hosted by the Upper Peninsula Luge Club. Canada has tracks in Camrose, Hinton,

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

, and

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

in Alberta, as well as a track at the Ontario Luge Club at the

Calabogie Peaks Calabogie Peaks is a ski resort in the municipality of Greater Madawaska, Renfrew County in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located west of Ottawa, and was founded in . Although the resort is named after the nearby community of Calabogie and C ...

resort. The track in Naseby, New Zealand, is the only one in the southern hemisphere. Below is a list of all natural luge tracks of FIL member countries.

References

FIL-Luge.org information on the different tracks used.
{{Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks Natural luge tracks Natural track luge