On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:54:54 +0000, Rod wrote:
Last time I went sledging we used fertiliser bags filled with straw and
snow.

Ahh yeah, I remember doing that too when no 'real' sled was
available. And on flattened cardboard boxes, somewhere up in the wilds
of Yorkshire.

I remember my dad homebrewing a wooden sled, too - weighed a ton, all
solid runners. Had a good few high-speed collisions with it, but amazingly
never managed to break any skulls. Eventually got sick of hauling the
bloody thing back up the hill each time, and we got a plastic sledge
(albeit one which I remember as being far more sturdy than the ones they
sell these days).

We've got three kids though and I've since discovered that inflatable
tubes are *way* faster down a hill than a wooden or plastic sled (but the
crashes aren't quite as fun ;-)

cheers

Jules