Extreme Sledding

Our next-door neighbor Mick has created quite the toboggan run in his backyard. After two years of "construction," he's got it down to a science this winter -- or should I say a work of art?

The "run" starts on top of his deck, where a board is erected to hold snow -- and sledders -- in place. Then, thanks to many buckets of water turned ice and the snowblower-built banks along the side, he has a run that envies anything you've seen in Olympic bobsledding or luge competitions.

Today I took the video camera over there to grab a few snapshots from the bottom of the hill. In this first video, you see the lay of the trail as three of the kids go down.



In this video, our neighbor Matt is following his daughter down the trail and takes her out in the end. But no injuries were reported.



In this final two-parter, I got talked into going down the run but thought I'd get cute and give you a first-hand look at what the trail looks like. I'm such a chicken, I accidentally turned the camera OFF after my first scream, but then had the where with all to turn it back on somewhere down the track.




I did bang my head on the ice on the way down, but if the kids can do this for hours a day without complaining, then I'll shut up... and definitely stick to taking pictures from here on out!