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.5M Connecticut Home Comes With an Olympic-Size Luge Track

With the Winter Olympics on the horizon, perhaps you’re toying with the idea of entering the competition. Do it on your own terms by scooping up this home with a private luge track in Ridgefield, CT, listed for $3.5 million with Leslie Krichko of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.

The five-bedroom, eight-bathroom manse, which measures 11,000 square feet, is owned by Brett and Pamela West.

The other occupant—when he’s not at college, or training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY—is 22-year-old Tucker West, a member of the U.S. luge team at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Tucker, who’s been named to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games team, was the youngest slider to ever represent the U.S., in Sochi in 2014.

The West family built the 483-foot-long luge track in 2003—a year after Tucker watched the 2002 Winter Olympics and expressed interest in competing in luge. According to a sign on the home, it is the “only known permanent ‘backyard luge track’ in the world.” There are only three other luge tracks in the entire country for aspiring sliders to train on.

Ruben Gonzalez, who recently competed with Tucker in Calgary and is a four-time Olympian in the luge event (competing with the U.S. team), is impressed by the private luge.

The track “would be a great place to practice your start and your form,” he says. “There’s not a luge store. You can’t go to a sporting goods store like you would for a basketball.”

For a guy like Tucker, it makes perfect sense to have a luge track at his disposal. “Tucker’s at a different level. He’s got a shot at a medal,” says Gonzalez, also an author and speaker on real estate.

The Colonial-style home features a grand circular staircase. The chef’s kitchen is equipped with a huge island, eight-burner range, and plenty of counter space.

Built in 1996, the home has distinctive features that lend a historical charm, including moldings and coffered, vaulted, and domed ceilings. But in a nod to today’s times, the garage features a shiny floor and three bays, each with its own overhead door.

Other luxe features include smart home technology, three pull-down movie screens, and a built-in bar system with a total of five taps between the main house and the pool house.

The home’s 3.27-acre lot also features a tennis court, croquet court, and pool with waterfall, slide, and cave. Now a buyer simply needs to slide on in to make a medalworthy purchase.

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