JASON CHRISTMAN/Scroll
Alexis Floyd of Rexburg, age 4, slides down the hill at Smith Park Saturday, Jan. 8, with help from her mother.

Hitting the hills: a sliders’ guide to the slopes

by Sonja Lee LEE03004@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Cheaper than skiing and just as fun. Sledding provides an alternative to other winter sports on the slopes of Rexburg.

There it is. The once ominous monster of a hill has turned into a white shimmery playground. The child inside squeals for joy at the prospect of hurling down the slope at breakneck speeds. The thought of warm hot chocolate afterwards makes the inner child even more excited.

“A sled increases contact with the snow, making the rider go faster,” Lynn Thomson, a physics professor at BYU-Idaho, said. Thomson also said that sleds are easy to turn because of the law of conservation of motion. A little turn goes a long way.

BYU-I students do not always have a sled at their disposal when the white stuff starts falling. That has not stopped them from enjoying hills around campus.

The girls in Davenport Apartments number two are waiting for snow to fall so they can strap skis on a chair and send themselves down a hillside. Kathleen Hansen, a freshman from Granby, Mo., said, “You definitely want to wear a football helmet.”

If in the bustle of packing for college, the sleek, shiny, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet sled was left at home do not worry; there are plenty of alternative objects that will satisfy the speed demon in anyone.

Hansen has also used a car hood to slide down hills. “Wear gloves,” she said.

Natalie Klinger, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., used an old milk can. “It didn’t work very well, but we did it.”

Maranda Keel, a senior from Winlock, Wash., grew up using an alternative. “Garbage can lids work the best,” she said, “The metal ones aren’t so good because they can freeze or the snow sticks to them, making the sled go slow. Plastic lids are the best.”

Other students have used anything from old book covers to cookie sheets to garbage bags in order to satisfy their need for speed.

Mark Lee, a sophomore from Hesperia, Calif., favors body sliding. “Its fun until you hit ice, and then it hurts,” he said. Lee also uses inner tubes as a mode of transportation down the hill.

Brother Thomson said that if the day is warm, the snow will stick to whatever is being used, making it travel slower. Going on a colder day will increase the hardness of the snow, making it easier for things to travel over the snow thus increasing speed.

Winter is the season for fun. Grab anything and head for the hills. Just do not do anything dumb. Remember, winter is less fun when in a cast or sling.