By the summer of 1988, Blackpool’s seafront had a new little piece of the Alps. Avalanche opened at Blackpool Pleasure Beach as a steel bobsled coaster by Mack Rides, giving the resort a national first in a compact, channel-guided form. en.wikipedia.org· coasterpedia.net

The timing was splendidly of its day. With bobsleigh fresh in the public mind after the Calgary Winter Olympics, the Pleasure Beach tied Avalanche to the sport itself, sponsoring the British bobsleigh team and directing part of the ride’s takings to support them. pbdb.co.uk· en.wikipedia.org

Mack’s design did not hold the traveller to a conventional rail for the whole descent. After the chain lift, the cars run free within a steel trough, climbing the sides on the bends before settling back toward the brakes. pbdb.co.uk· en.wikipedia.org

Coasterpedia records Avalanche as replacing Cyclone, while the Pleasure Beach’s own education pack still presents it proudly among the park’s coasters: opened in 1988, fifty-nine feet high, and good for forty-five miles an hour on a summer afternoon. coasterpedia.net· blackpoolpleasurebeach.com