Taiga is a

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

located at the

Linnanmäki Linnanmäki ( sv, Borgbacken, colloquially ''Lintsi'', ) is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on 27 May 1950 and is owned by the non-profit Children's Day Foundation (, ), which operates the park in order to raise funds for F ...

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Taiga is the tallest (52m), fastest (106km/h) and longest (1,104m) roller coaster in

History

announced in early 2018, after a series of teaser social media posts, that the park was to build "its greatest ride project ever". This was to be a launched roller coaster built by Swiss manufacturer

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement ins ...

, and would surpass each of the records of height, length and speed held to date by Finnish roller coasters. The coaster replaced the park's longstanding Premier Rides water coaster,

Vonkaputous Vonkaputous was a water roller coaster located at Linnanmäki in Helsinki, Finland. Ride experience In Vonkaputous, visitors rode in a roller coaster car appearing as a boat, seating 10 passengers in 5 rows. After leaving the station, the car ...

. Taiga opened on June 18, 2019.

Ride experience

The ride starts with a rolling LSM launch out of the station which leads into a Zero-g winder, followed by a series of banked right and left handed sweeping turns. Following these, the train arrives at the coaster's second and final launch: here the train is launched to the rides' top speed of up to a top hat, before pulling down to the right into a Zero-g stall. The train then navigates a small airtime hill before rising into a large immelman loop. A further series of right and left handed S-bends leads the coaster to its final inversion, an in-line twist after which it reaches the

brake run A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track meant to slow or stop a roller coaster train. Brake runs may be located anywhere along the circuit of a coaster and may be designed to bring the train to a complete halt or to simply adjust ...

and station.

Theme

The name

Taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...

derives from a Russian word that refers to boreal or snow forests - which make up much of

's geography. These are areas of land that are mostly

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, and larch forests. The ride's theme is primarily based around a nesting

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

(which can be seen on the front of the train), which makes regular observation flights from its nest around the park.

References

{{Intamin Roller coasters in Finland Linnanmäki Roller coasters introduced in 2019 Launched roller coasters Steel roller coasters Amusement parks in Finland