Little Sledding Hill

  My house growing up had a nice little hill in the back. If you managed the snow and your sled correctly you could slide left across the hill, around the tree, and then edge back toward center to extend the ride. My siblings and I became quite good at building a berm at just the right spot to push us to our goal. It was alot of fun, but I did not know what sledding could be.

  Thankfully, as I have grown my sledding has grown with me. I can now say that I have gone down some very big hills and been pulled behind some very strong four by fours. The largest hill I have sled might be more accurately called a mountain. Not the Alps or anything, but a foot hill of the Appalachians. I was driven to the top in the back of truck and we then slid on our stomachs about a mile and a half down a utility road. The only other people we saw were on snow mobiles. It was intense and crazy fun.

  The other side of intense and crazy fun is being pulled behind a truck across the snow filled fields of the Amish farm land. (The trucks are provided by our English neighbors). The first time around the field is generally easy and somewhat lazy, but soon there are ruts and waves of snow and everything changes. There’s nothing like the rush of mowing down the remains of corn stocks at about 20 mph behind a truck with all four tires spitting powder.

  I have now found a parallel for my city dwelling neighbors. (It was new to me but maybe not to you). This past weekend I enjoyed my first sledding experience down the steps of the PMA. You have seen these steps before when Mr. Balboa ran up them in his grey hoodie. But now you must envision those steps encased in a frozen water fall. Every ninety degree filled with snow and the lip of each step serving as a rumble strip. There are 5 flights with a small landing that gives the rider 2 choices. You can either take the small landing as a place to slow down and establish your balance before moving on, or let the landing be the launch pad for the next set of steps and sail on with ever gaining speed.

  I had just come from dinner and was dressed in my earth toned finery, so I opted for the more subdued ride. But even so there was very little subdued about thundering down 72 steps with nothing but a rubber trash can lid protecting you from a snowy grave. I highly recommend it.