I'm officially over the hill

I'm officially over the hill and it's a thrill of a lifetime. I finished the toboggan run for the grand-kids early this year. This is the first time we've had snow. It's over a 30 ft drop with the first 20 feet drop at a 45. In theory, that means you are pulling .707 g's if there is no friction. It's a very fast 20 feet. Can't wait for the beginning of our winter Olympics.

George

Looks like a fun run, could probably use a little more snow on the beginning part.

When I was a kid, We discovered a really long hill, which had a flat at the bottom, then a creek. Most of us had the presence of mind to steer to one side or the other before hitting the creek, but not everybody. So we had to be quick to pull some out of the creek.

Old guy who owned the property was not known for being particularly friendly, and we figured at some point he would come out and put an end to our fun. But we showed up one day, and he had installed a post near the entry point to the creek, and hanging on the post was a circular life preserver, like on boats, with a rope attached. He never did come out while we were playing, but we used the life preserver several times- saved us from having to go into the creek!

Did you leave that one big tree in there as a challenge?

We had a slope on our farm like that when I was a kid. It seemed like we were running at least 60 mph! The run off at the bottom was pretty long and if we had deep snow, the fun was over when we had to make the trip back to the top. There is also a slope like that at the county park here. But that hill is on the road they shut down. It goes pretty far and even has some curves. So far, we have not lost any kids but we did send out a search party a few times.

Problem with a great slope like that is the return trip to the top. You need to work on some kind of lift or tow set-up.

This is just one of my "growing up on the farm" stories. Tom and Steve are my brothers. We were not too bright.

Tom decided to ride the toboggan all by himself. He towed it to the top of the hill up past the orchard and decided to ride it down in a new way. Steve and I watched as Tom lay face down on the craft. What the hell was he doing? He had his head under the curved front cowl of the toboggan and therefore couldn’t see ahead. He started his slide down the hill anyway. As he picked up speed his track started curving to the right, toward the ditch. Obviously he expected it to go straight. It didn’t. Unfortunately he was taking dead aim at the only tree at the bottom of the hill but he didn’t know it. Steve and I yelled at him to bail out but he ignored us or didn’t hear. He continued on at a high rate of speed right at the tree. We tried not to think what would happen to his head when he crashed into the tree. We braced ourselves for the inevitable. Then he zoomed right on past the tree and disappeared off the ditch bank. We ran down there not knowing what we’d find. He had sailed off the bank and landed on the far side of the ditch, narrowly missing some big rocks. We found him standing there next to the toboggan with that “what the hell just happened” look on his face. He was OK. We followed the track back to the oak tree. He had missed it by about an inch and a half.

Good chance that old guy was really kinder than folks thought. I remember a few like that... Just liked to keep up a grumpy appearance..

We had a big hill at my granddads ranch. Using a hood off of a pointed nose car. That thing would move. Went right into a herd of cattle. No kids or Cows got hurt.

When I was a kid, we lived in NW Georgia. Rarely had snow so we used either a sheet of cardboard or an old car hood to slide down the steep, pine needle covered hills. Unopened pine cones and green, unripe gumballs from sweetgum trees substituted for snowballs.
Also, instead of sleds, we had what was known as a "flexie" (sp?) which was basically a steerable sled with narrow, wagon-like ball bearing wheels instead of runners.
Have scars from both forms of the wholesome entertainment 50 plus years later.

when I lived in New York we used to go to 'Mount van Hoganberg?' In lake Placid. They never stopped using the 1980 Olympics bobsled run and ski jump.... fascinating enough to stop thinking about how cold you are just standing there... the luge? skeleton? 100 feet up and away from that curved jump? with out even ski poles?....just don't seem natural for a human to do things like that... nevermind survive...

Tobogganing reminds me of a date I had in high school. Here's the scene: Nice big hill, 8-10 inches of new snow, temp around 25. I had never been on a toboggan before but being the gentleman I put her in the front. When we finally stopped I could hardly find her. All the snow came up over the nose. I don't think we went out again for several years. She must have not forgot the tobogganing because that didn't last long either.

Larry

Well since the grand kids are all out west I do not have to do that. Sure would be a lot of work to do so on my place since all the hill sides other then the power line is full of trees and the power line has a spring at to bottom and a small creek so that would be a big wet mess

I built the dirt up around the tree. No way to hit it. Did have to remove other trees. Had to move a lot of dirt too. I'm more concerned about hitting a tree that isn't in the pic. The sled goes farther than I ever expected.

Larry,
The same thing happened to me on the first run. I was covered head to toe with snow. Next time there is new snow, I'll weight down a sled and send it down to plow the path and compact the snow down.
George

I had a cousin about ten years younger than myself, more like a brother, actually. I was in my early twenties and we were sledding one night, I was on my stomach on the sled and he gave me a push and jumped on top of me, about a hundred feet down the drive we upset and I went head first into the snow, losing part of my bridgework in the process. After several minutes frantic digging, with the aid of a couple flashlights, we saw the gold backing shining in the snow. What a relief that was! Trip to the dentist and everything was OK.

Don't say no way, some one will hit it for sure now! Lol

Didn't know Terre Haute had hills!
Used to visit dads side of the family there alot. That town always seemed flat.
Good to see someone enjoying the winter too.