When Russian daredevils got bored sledding down hills in the 1600s, they decided to ramp things up. They started building 'flying mountains' - elaborate five-story ice ramps with drops as steep as 50 degrees. The sleds were originally made from hollowed-out blocks of ice, but when the French built their own version in 1804, they added a track and wheels.
The crude attraction didn't have any safety features but those hazards actually boosted attendance. By the 1840s, centrifugal railways featured the first loop-de-loops, flipping riders around a perfect circle that created g-forces three times stronger than most modern coasters.
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