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|  Dutch Coastin' .// Nemesis (Alton Towers)"Nobody knows where it came from! Nobody knows what it wants! There are theories and then there is the Legend, Nemesis comes from another dimension. A Dimension beyond our Imagination. Its tragedy is that it has no home. It has suffered rejection throughout the solar system. It could not communicate or make itself understood! No civilization anywhere in the galaxy would come to terms with its awesome power, it's brooding unpredictability, it's mind bewildered and afraid mentally tortured by not knowing it's origins people turned against it. They Thought it. They used everything against it, but Nemesis has no fear. They were mere irritants to Nemesis to be squashed away like flies. It left to seek sanctuary but it searched in vain. Unwanted it was jettisoned to earth towards earth 2 million years ago. It had remained here ever since, drawing it's energy from the earths core. For centuries people were drawn to the mysterious place where it was thought to lay buried. They paid homage to the power, they bought it gifts. They gave their souls. It's resting place became a mystical place a place of worship." "Few pilgrims returned to lead a normal life. Such was their disturbance, such was the gravity of what they felt. Often these meddlers met mysterious ends and crazed by their findings-driven mad by the force, some simply disappeared leaving only their fear, Nemesis was too disturbing. It defied scientific
"Nemesis was discovered during maintenance work in the Forbidden Valley of Alton Towers. A Group of workmen complained of dizzy spells, of an uncontrollable force drawing them towards a place where the place of two giant oak trees met. The force was overpowering. They were compelled to dig, to seek the source. What they found defies description. The nemesis had been disturbed. The sanctuary of soil for so many millions of years was broken. It was awake. It thrashed crazily in the earth removing all before it. Like a giant excavator it sent trees and small buildings hurtling skywards. Dementedly it released it's anger of being discovered. Crazily it formed a pit what you see before you today." "A Security silence fell over Alton Towers while archaeologists and historians nervously investigated. Eventually they described their worse fears. This was Nemesis, Nemesis had to be controlled." "It took 250 men and 250 tonnes of steel! Not ordinary men, not ordinary steel. Pinned down by this massive structure it tires to escape steaming anger. We merely irritants ride it, fuelling it's annoyance. Its controlled but not tamed." I couldn't think of a better intro than the official legend of Nemesis by Alton Towers. Nemesis is a beast, Nemesis is a monster.. no, nobody knows what Nemesis is. Some call it "the thing" or "the monster". Alton Towers prefers "the worlds most intense roller coaster". Back
I visited Alton Towers in early 2002. I spend the night in a nostalgic bed and breakfast in the ancient town of Alton. Seeing that the person who was attempting to enlighten my stay nor I had a motorized vehicle at our disposal, we walked to Alton Towers on our first day in Alton. During the long, very long road to Alton Towers we heard the most terrifying sounds echoing from above the trees, coming out of the direction of the park. We didn't see anything though. This is a typical phenomenon for Alton Towers. You can hear the coasters, but you can't see them. Even from within the Sky Ride I could see the lift-hill of AIR positioned in the Alton Towers landscape. I could also hear the roar of a B&M in the distance. But I didn't see Nemesis. Even when I entered the Forbidden Valley, when I walked post the first rides and shops, I couldn't discover a single clue that confirmed the existence of the Nemesis. Only the roar and screams that seemed to come from within the rocks betrayed it was there.. Then, suddenly, a large number of feet appear in the sky in front of my. The roar and the scream becomes unbearable. Nemesis just passed me. I was stunned. I have never before - or after - seen a roller coaster go through a zero-g roll so fast. No wonder you can hear the scream even from a great distance. Once you enter the queue line, Nemesis is all around you. Above you, in front of you, behind you, even beneath you. The screaming comes from all around. Red water - water like blood - is dripping down from the cliffs, and crosses the queue line just a few metres in front of you. The nerve wrecking music and the mystic roar create a rather enervating surrounding. And then, you enter the station.. Nemesis starts of nice and easy. Perhaps a bit too easy. Nemesis starts with the lift-hill. :P Slowly and with the necessary noise the train is jerked up the slope. Then you can spot your first glimpse of the drop. A great swoop down of at least.. two metres? The helix that follows is rather slow, a warming-up for the real thing. You only drop a few metres. Still tensed because you know what will come next, you're blinded by the flash of the on ride photo and are hurled into an extremely fast corkscrew. When you're starting to regain your eye-sight you notice you're in an intense helix, and you feel an invisible force sucking all of your blood out through your toes. The moment the train exits the helix, stars appear everywhere, and you can experience a nice black-out. Once back on this world you are upside down in a miraculously fast and smooth zero-g roll, followed by a slow stall-turn to regain your calmth. You then dive down through the rocks and over a small red creek into the loop. There's barely enough room for this inversion, and you almost smash into the solid rock on either side of you. Next up is a nice helix around the queue-area, followed by the fifth and last inversion, a zero-g roll that almost rockets you into a cliff and an old army truck. After a 'mild' turn you hit the brakes. That's Nemesis.
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