So with a short queue and this being my #1 reason for even going to Hersheypark this year, I still managed to rack up ten laps throughout the day, and quickly found a riding position with my arm used as a lapbar brace that could make for tolerable rides. Not, however, ideal.

View of the rear of the Skyrush sign, visible from all the queue.

Skyrush's unique lift support structure, made from triple stacked i-beams.

Skyrush towers above the park.

Skyrush's yellow track and sky blue supports simultaneously attract and camouflage the twisted steel structure.

Skyrush's 85 degree drop was fairly strong in the back, although the parabolic shape feels much the same as many other steel first drops.

Installation of Skyrush's cable lift mechanisms must have been a planning nightmare situated this closely to The Comet.

Also, I'll admit, despite being officially listed as 85 degrees, it didn't quite feel it or look it. If that support column is vertical, I'd think that the track would be closer to parallel at it's steepest point. I don't have a protractor handy to figure out if that's really what five degrees looks like, though.

Still, I love the negative space defined by this unique lift structure.

Skyrush bottoms out at 75 mph.

This is the moment that distinguishes a good ride from a painful one. If I could keep the restraint from pinning me down here, I could have a relatively enjoyable ride... provided I was also able to keep it from pinning me down on every subsequent dip on the layout.

Skyrush is different from most hypercoasters in that after the first steep drop, the hills and curves are relatively shallow and not very tall.

The result is that Skyrush has relatively narrow dyanmic speed range between slow and fast (almost all fast) with none of the "undulating" rhythm between valleys and peaks that typify most modern steel coasters.

Whether it's barreling around a high banked turn or cresting one of the airtime hills, it always does so with a breakneck speed that seems slightly faster than is safe. Especially when there's a hard foam restraint digging into your femur.

Skyrush ironically has a very low to the ground layout.

Pulling out of the far turn...

...Into another airtime hill.

It then makes another rising turn...

Launching into the overbanked Stengel dive, possibly Skyrush's most dynamic element and what I'd consider the midpoint of the ride layout.

The force is strong with this element.

After the Stengel dive, Skyrush changes tempo slightly, focusing on a faster back-and-forth S-curving rhythm with more quick direction changes and less sustained force. It's a simple but effective strategy to keep interest sustained throughout the ride layout.

Skyrush going "WHOOOOSH!"

And then it launches back up and away through a super aggressive bunny hop.

Skyrush makes one of its final turns as it heads back over the Comet.

Skyrush through the... pergola?

After (somewhat awkwardly) crossing back over the classic Comet, Skyrush returns to the station...