How high are you willing to go? Calgary welcomes new tallest playground slide in Wolf Willow

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Calgary has no shortage of slides, with around 1,100 playgrounds in total, but some stand out for their size and design, including some massive additions to the scene.

Calgary’s slides currently reach multiple storeys, but there is no strict physics limit on how tall a slide could get, according to Phil Langill, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary.

“From an engineering point of view, you can build a slide as big as you want,” Langill said. “If somebody built a spiral slide all the way around the Calgary Tower, you could take an elevator to the top and slide all the way down on the outside of the building down to the ground and that would be totally doable.”

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While height itself is not a limitation, Langill said engineers would have to consider the speed of riders, the stability of the structure, and the safety of the slide.

“The steeper the slide, the faster you go and the more level the slide, the slower you go,” Langill said. “When you build something tall, it tends to wobble, you can’t have any wobble.”

Langill said that it’s also important to take into consideration the enjoyment of the riders, noting that taller slides would not necessarily be better for everyone.

“For a certain fraction of the population, a very tall slide would be very appealing, but for another fraction of the population, nobody would go near it,” he said.

From multi-storey towers to long roller slides, here’s a look at some of the notable slides in Calgary.

Fish Park in Wolf Willow is the newest addition to Calgary’s playgrounds and is home to what is now the tallest public slide in the city.

The structure stands 3½ storeys tall and includes a nine-metre enclosed winding green and yellow slide.

“On opening day, the way up to the slide was jam packed with kids which felt unsafe and you couldn’t see what was going on in there,” said Dana Al-Zabet, Wolf Willow community member. “We came back on a calmer day and I can say my four-year-old and one-year-old enjoyed their time.”