by Christopher Mcphail

Created on: January 08, 2009

Sledding, the very word brings about images of laughing, bundled cherubs flying down a hill at breakneck speed, bouncing and careening helter skelter without any control what so ever. It is perhaps, in my opinion one of the single greatest things a child can experience, and as an adult it only gets better. When I was a kid growing up in upstate NY, winter was looked at with great anticipation...was it going to be a good snow year, or a poor snow year. Without snow, you just cant sled...or can you?

Quite possibly, one of my greatest childhood memories, involves sledding, some snow, and a cow pasture. Now, while that image takes a few seconds to sink in, I can assure you, it is as bizzare as it sounds. This one winter was particularly stingy when it came to snow. It wouldnt stay cold enough, or long enough to give the ground a good solid freezing, and if the ground isnt cold enough, snow just wont stick. This year we hadnt had many opportunities to sled, because even though it would snow at night when it was colder, by early the next morning the thaw had occured, and poof, there goes the fun. Well, on one particular weekend I was asked by my best friend if I could spend the night. It was quickly cleared through my parents, and off I went. There was a promise of a cold snap, and we were hopeful that we could finally get some sledding in, especially as the cold snap promised at least 6 to 7 inches of nice wet snow. Wet snow is the best for sledding, because it packs down, powdery snow just isnt substantial enough, its too poofy, and doesnt allow for a trail to be blazed, and slicked. Things were looking up.

When we went to bed the night of the big storm, it was just starting to flurry, we could hardly sleep, it was worse then Christmas Eve, morning couldnt come soon enough. When morning did finally come, we werent dissapointed. Outside the grey, bleak landscape had been transformed into a winter wonderland, sledding was on! We quickly filled our bellies with fuel for the day, and bundeled up, ready for a day of bliss. Once outside however, we found that it wasnt as cold as it should've been, in fact it was borderline freezing...time was of the essence. We quickly concluded that we wouldnt have enough time to reach our normal sledding hill, and would have to make due with a hill closer to his house. Here is where the cow pasture comes into play, you see, my friend lived on a farm, and the closest hill was the one behind the cow barn.

Now, when we looked at the hill,

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