My grandpa used tie the toboggan to the back of his car and tow my mom and her siblings up and down the streets of Vegreville.
Mom says they also tobogganed down the embankments on to the river. I assume they waited til it was good and frozen. She says the only person who died was an unfortunate boy who had an unrelated brain aneurysm while skating. She chose to relate this story to my 5 year old the other day, who is now worried she will die while skating. Thanks mom.
That is AWSOME! What a terrific way to enjoy the snow!
I do something like that in Northern Ontario on skis, sans bus. Along the North Shore of Superior there are a few cell towers (usually one per town), and each cell tower has a road to the top, which makes for gentle, relaxed cross country skiing. Shuffle uphill for about a mile in length, and then coast downto where you started, with really nice views along the way: http://youtu.be/OHMvRwbxTYg
There’s a lot to be said for traction kite flying. I took it up while living in a rather flat region, and still pull out the kite when the spring winds hit. Trying not to go Toto is quite an adrenaline charged workout. It’s a blast in the winter on skis across farmland (or where I live now, across lakes).
Tell that to the handful of kids that leave St. Andrew’s Hill (kitty corner from McMahon Stadium, home of the Calgary Stampeders) in ambulances every winter. It’s a fairly significant and steep drop – probably in the 30 metre range – and there’s a chain link fence at the bottom to keep people from shooting out onto University Dr. Crashes into that fence are usually what does all the damage. Although one time I did see a massive inner tube with about 8 people on it hit a kid about half way down the hill and knock the kid flying like a pinwheel. Awesome!
ETA It’s currently -27 with a -36 windchill here. Wow, this sure sucks a lot.
I’ve only ever been through your part of the country in summer, but it sounds like I should make a winter visit someday.
I agree. We haven’t had much of a winter to this point, and to suddenly go from what we had to this–it’s a bit much. Apparently, it will warm up as the week goes on, but that’s cold comfort now.
That’s growing in popularity around here as well. I’m partial to kite-skiing, but some of the folks are getting into it with skates – for example, one of my friendstrying it for the first time: http://youtu.be/oCIlKyfa1Ok
So far there is no ice on the big lake, so kite skating/skiing is on hold for the time being.
A few years ago there was an attempt at a world iceboat speed record, but unfortunately there are very few locals into the sport. Too bad, for it looks to be a blast, and heaven knows we have enough sailors in town who could transfer their sailing skills.
Le Ministre, you would have enjoyed this evening at the cross-country ski chalet up the street. After work, Frank Pollari (a brilliant harp player) and equally talented blues guitarist Dave Jonasson popped in to play a set. Great skiing and great music.
Time to set up some skis for Friday – I’m heading up-lake where there may be some more snow for a bit of back-country skiing.
Bitterly cold Arctic air combined with westerly winds of 15 to 30 km/h will produce wind chill values in the -40 to -49 range throughout most of Southern Saskatchewan tonight through Thursday. At these extreme wind chill values frostbite on exposed skin may occur in less than 10 minutes. Temperatures will begin to moderate slightly on Friday as a low pressure system approaches from the west. By Saturday temperatures will have returned to the single digits over most of the province as the storm pushes snow and milder temperatures in from the southwest.
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Wind from the S (190 degrees) at 12 MPH (10 KT)
Visibility: 10 mile(s)
Sky conditions: partly cloudy
Temperature: 77 F (25 C)
Dew Point: 69 F (21 C)
Relative Humidity: 78%
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Proposed: Northern Piper gets banned from the Dope … or at least this thread… until he returns from vacation because his posts about how nice it is in Hawai’i constitute being a jerk.
It’s a fairly significant and steep drop – probably in the 30 metre range – and there’s a chain link fence at the bottom to keep people from shooting out onto University Dr. Crashes into that fence are usually what does all the damage. Although one time I did see a massive inner tube with about 8 people on it hit a kid about half way down the hill and knock the kid flying like a pinwheel. Awesome!
