I really enjoy having grand kids.You will never hear me say maybe next week when they say"Grandpa,will you take us sleigh riding".Plus they know their Father likes to go too so it is even more fun for them.I used to have trouble getting my son to stop saying saying"just one more time"as I would start to get hungry after a few hours of walking up the hill and racing back down it with my kids.
My kids actually got to ride down on the same toboggan I had when I was a kid after I repaired it a little with some new rope,new screws and a super wax job.
But I wanted to see what I could come up with as far a sled for the grand kids because sleds are mostly all plastic or air filled tubes and while OK they just don't have the speed I used to like about sleigh riding and the old toboggan had it's last run before they were even born.So I went on craigslist and found a really interesting metal runner sled called Snow B 111.The runners were just like the shape of a snow ski but made of metal.It was about 5 feet long total and it had a padded seat with the vinyl and padding worn out that was about 3 feet long with 2 feet of it in the front being configured for the steerable part.The front steerable part has two short runners and the whole portion is connected with a flexible part.The back has two steel runners to support the riders.This looks like a really old sled but was in good shape.I had never seen one before myself and it looked like it could be a fun project to recondition it plus two kids and a adult could ride it or three kids.So I put a new foam pad on it with a new vinyl cover and then I bought some used skis which my friend Bill cut off for me and drilled the holes and I bolted them on to the main back runners.You can view the pictures and some videos of the results of the kids,me,and their Dad having a great time.When it comes to sledding it seems like this is something that always brings out the kid in people.But after seeing how slick the skis were I was hoping I wasn't doing a Clark Griswold thing like in the movie Christmas Vacation and worry about the kids getting hurt.
I always used to love winter when it would finally snow and we could all meet back at the hill behind my house and go sledding.Because my parents bought us a five foot long toboggan when I was about 9 years old.Before that I had a standard flexible fl yer steel runner sled which was great in itself once the street or hill got packed down enough.I remember a couple of winters when if it snowed a lot the city would shut down a really steep hill in Newark called Hunter Hill and the people that lived on the steep part of the hill would have to park way down at the bottom of the hill and walk up.All of the kids that lived in the East End of Newark were happy to see this kind of snow because they knew you could really fly after the snow got packed down really well.Back then almost everyone had a steel runner sled which were mostly flex able flyer's.I remember one time when I was sledding down a boy in front of me wiped out and his sled turned sideways right before I hit the sled with the boy laying on the other side of the sled.I couldn't do anything because it all happened so fast so I just sort of held on.Next thing you know I was air born but I hit back down on the snow covered street just right and finished my ride to the bottom.I caught up with the boy who was sort of waiting on me and I asked if he was OK plus I asked him if the sled runners had hit him.He said no that he thought that when I hit him that his runners had sort of dug in to the snow which made his sled sort of tilt which catapulted me right over him without even touching him at all.
And then when our parents bought us the toboggan one Christmas we started to do all sorts of crazy things on it like standing up,hitting ramps as fast as we could to see how far we would fly and you get the picture.But when we would go up to the Granville Golf course and sleigh ride down alligator hill we wouldn't do any of that because this hill is steep.A few people have been hurt on this hill because they didn't think about the powder and visibility.And then their was the three jumps.Two of them were just small little hills where you would hit it and barely notice that you had been air born.But the last hill which was near the bottom when you were at top speed was about twice a big as the other two.And I can always remember the sound of the snow as the sled was racing down at top speed and then the moment of silence as you attempted to do a good landing rather than wiping out.And even if you jumped and landed just right your safe trip wasn't over just yet.Because sometimes the hill would be really packed down with a good base but a little drifting would occur down near the bottom and when you would hit this you sometimes couldn't see a thing.Then if this was a year where no one had bothered to place some old tires over the old water pump,well you get the picture.And then to complicate the safe run down the hill you would have visualize what I call the chute effect.By this I mean that the middle part of the hill was OK if you could go down just right and stay straight in the middle because if you went off to the right or left the jumps were to high to land good enough to keep going and you would wipe out.And I remember that even if you went straight down the middle that you had to hit the big jump that was right in the middle of the hill really straight in order to have a chance of landing good and continuing down for the rest of the ride where you would try and miss the pump by five feet to the right or bail out.
The worst I ever saw some students get hurt and I say students meaning college students.Because one time when we were sleigh riding at alligator hill at a time when the base was packed really well plus the snow even had that iced over effect where the day before the snow had started to melt but then the temperature had dropped and it all froze.But it was snowing some more and we were staying away from the right hand side of the hill because of the drop off and the drift portion of the drop off had frozen over somewhat.I would say the drop off was about 7 feet and no one was going that way.So we were coming back up the hill when we saw the Dennison students starting down on their toboggan.I couldn't believe they didn't bail out when they started to curve over to the right hand side where the drop off was.These students had been drinking before they came over to sled.I think they were probably from out of town and no one bothered to tell them not to go down to the right because they thought they knew not to.Their were four guys on the sled.I was right across from them when they hit the drop off.The sled just literally took off and sort of nosed over before it hit the snow at just about a 90 degree angle.The dude in the back actually was propelled past the other three.The were groaning and moaning when they finally tried to stand up after a minute.One guy looked like his ankle was broken and one was holding his shoulder.The other two were limping around.I think the drinking before going down the hill helped with the pain a little but they were lucky someone didn't break his neck.
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I didn't write this but thought I would add this to this blog about winter.
In the middle of the winter
The thermometer gets cold
Pull your boots on in the morning
(Yeah)
And hear them crunch, crunch, crunchin'
In the new white snow
Love to leave my tracks
In the new white snow
In the middle of the winter
After lunch you hit the hill
Zoomin' on your sled and whistlin'
Well it's one of my
All-time favorite drills
Racin' on a sled
Down a slippery hill
In the middle of the winter
Back at home it's nice and warm
Take those icy winter boots off
(Ahh!)
And drink a big cup of cocoa
With your slippers on
Cuppa hot chocolate
And your feet are toasty warm
(Cuppa cocoa, marshmallows floating around)
Middle of the winter.
(Yeah!)
