Cathedral will be site of adrenaline-filled bloodbath this weekend [Photos]
Is it really Red Bull that gives the church’s angels wings?
Jason Zabel
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Red Bull is known for its huge, attention-grabbing PR events that feature extreme stunts and strange, verifiably German concepts, such as the Flugtag event that took place last year during the Aquatennial.
Well, this year, even though wintry weather hasn’t fully arrived in Minnesota, Red Bull is holding its Crashed Ice event, set against the picturesque Cathedral of St. Paul. The event takes insane contestants, wraps them in protective hockey gear, straps ice skates on them, and sends them careening down Cathedral Hill on a man-made ice course. Here is a video that explains the complicated race, which involves gravity, a bit more thoroughly.
Though much of the course is on city-owned land, the path does veer onto church-owned property. According to the church’s website, the people at Red Bull were too sweet and complimentary for the church to say no to their request to set up their fast-moving ice track smack-dab atop the Cathedral, so they allowed it. Oh, and, the folks at Red Bull have “shown their appreciation of this historic landmark by making a generous contribution.” In other words, Red Bull has given the church’s angels their wings.
We inspected the scene this morning. It’s still very much an active construction site that includes a handful of security guards sitting around, making sure no one from The A.V. Club gets too close to take a decent picture. We managed to snap a few.
Jason Zabel
Jason Zabel
The “Line Of Imminent Danger” denotes that place where security informed us we were not allowed, because it was unsafe, due to, uhhhhh... just stay away.
It’s not just city- and church-owned land being taken over for the event. Nearby apartments have been set up with lighting.
The hill does not look very steep from the angle of the above picture. However, it is. It is very steep.
The A.V. Club wasn’t the only local publication on the scene. Channel 5 had a guy there!
The event takes place this weekend, Jan. 13-15. Parking will be hell.
