The View From The Top Of The Olympic Downhill Skiing Course

The Olympic downhill skiing course is 2.2 miles long, with a 3,205-foot height difference between the start house and the finish line.

The course starts at the top of the Aibiga Ridge and finishes near the Rosa Khutor ski resort that's the hub of the mountain events in Sochi.

You're basically at the high point of the Caucasus Mountains at the start of this thing. In the clouds:

View from the top of Rosa Khutor downhill skiing course in @Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/3lPJ7qpks0

- David Bond (@DavidBondBBC) February 4, 2014

.@DougMillsNYT rolls into #Sochi and about an hour later he's on top of the Aibiga Ridge, home of the downhill. pic.twitter.com/7Grd50WxIC

- NYT Sports (@NYTSports) February 3, 2014

The New York Times ran a nifty graphic yesterday that puts it in perspective:

For more perspective, that's the Downhill Course at Sochi's Alpine Center. pic.twitter.com/HI6l4UqhOk

- Michael Katz (@KatzM) February 5, 2014

It takes more than two minutes to make it to the bottom. The course ends with a crazy steep drop:

Sochi photos: View from top of @Sochi2014 Olympic downhill finish jump at Rosa Khutor. Now imagine going 100+ Kph! http://t.co/yDXHABdDnd

- Brian Pinelli (@Brian_Pinelli) January 17, 2014

The drop from the opposite direction. It looks like a vertical wall:

Wooosh! The #Sochi12014 #Downhill course was open for training this morning. pic.twitter.com/6RMepvInuO

- Sochi 2014 (@Sochi2014) February 6, 2014

Gorgeous: