Sledding to the Extreme

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In the 1960s, there were basically two types of sleds: the wood toboggan and the venerable Flexible Flyer. As many people as possible would pile on the toboggan to hurtle uncontrollably to the bottom of the hill. There were frequent casualties. The Flexible Flyer was a thing of beauty. It had steel runners and a handle that curved them enough to steer. Sliders sat and controlled the sled with their feet, or, to go faster, laid their bellies on the sled and steered with their hands. It sank like a stone in powder.

The ’70s and the prevalence of plastic brought forth all manner of ingenious inventions, from tubes to saucers to cheap toboggans no more controllable than their predecessors. Sledding remained the sport of children, and it was the rare adult who participated once their offspring could walk up the hill alone. The Flexible Flyer was relegated to the antique store.

Three manufacturers now make a new generation of sleds. Each is a controllable, high-performance machine worthy of adult attention. Airboard comes from across the ocean, while Hammerhead and Mad River Rockets are made here in the Green Mountains. It is a new day!

The Hammerhead, made by CherryMax of Ferrisburg, VT, is a lightweight steroidal version of the Flexible Flyer. It features an ergonomic aluminum frame, mesh fabric deck, and interchangeable plastic runners. The optional wide rear runners are key to floating on powder. The Hammerhead looks as if Dr. Vermonterstein had the old Flyer strapped to the table during a particularly nasty thunderstorm. It’s the hands-down choice for those who love accessories. The selection runs from the useful to the absurd. Front and rear lighting, carry and towing straps, and a cargo net top the practical list. A GPS system, bell, and even a drink holder are there for those who want everything a sled doesn’t need.

Mad River Rockets are made in Waitsfield, VT, and are like whitewater kayaks for the snow. The thick polyethylene hull is designed to steer, thanks to a center channel to hold the snow and double-edge chines, or grooves, on each side for steering and braking. A strap crosses over the rider’s legs holding the slider in a kneeling position on dense foam pads. Kneeling is a distinct advantage in scoping the terrain and avoiding things like rocks, stumps and bumps. The Rocket is controlled from the waist creating an experience much like skiing; technique controls the sled. If your knees aren’t made for kneeling, you can sit.

The Airboard is an inflatable, triangular pillow made of the same tuff stuff as a whitewater raft. There is a harder, grooved plastic control surface on the snow and two handles on either side. The slider’s upper body rides the sled with legs and feet trailing behind like a boogie boarder who made the wrong turn at Maui.

With so many options for a controlled trip to the bottom, it seemed logical for me to try them all at Umiak Outfitters’ Sled Demo Day behind Stowe Elementary School last year. At almost $300 each, it is prudent to know you like it before shelling out the dinero (the Rocket is $100 unless you get the clear Lexan version). This year they have Demo Days scheduled for January 18 and February 22 at Marshall Hill behind Stowe Elementary School.

Each sled is a unique experience. The Airboard is the most accessible and forgiving, the Hammerhead most immediately controllable, and the Rocket took a little practice. All are lightweight, and light years beyond the sleds of the last century.

For Flexible Flyer fanatics, the Hammerhead is like coming home, but relegates the old sled to a status akin to wood skis—hanging on the wall in the den as a dust-gathering decoration. The independent controlling runners of the front skis are cupped and the back skis are flat. On packed snow, the sled carves like a fine kitchen knife cuts through butter. Doubting Thomas suspects that with more than eight inches of powder, even the wider runners wouldn’t prevent it from sinking to a stop. In wet sticky stuff the sled performs best of the three, traveling much farther in an un-scientific test on the closed road on the Stowe side of Smuggler’s Notch.

The Mad River Rocket is in its own class. Where the Hammerhead and Airboard are intuitive, the rocket is a new sensation. It is one part angling the body to turn as in skiing, one part leaning way over with glove extended like a sailor on a trapeze, and one part knee-boarding. There is fear in the first attempts because you are strapped in across the thighs while kneeling, but I found that in many instances the sled releases in a major crash. It takes some getting used to but once done, the advantages are huge. The sled is controllable and can navigate tight corners with ease.

The average Baby-boomers can spend the day on an Airboard and even launch multiple jumps before their lower backs begin to protest. Riding a cushion of air to the bottom is lovely and it softens the ride over the smaller bumps, a big advantage for the survivors of the “Summer of Love.” The softer the snow the better the inflatable performed, and it seemed to beg for a big powder day. Europe has organized Airboard races, where it is allowed on ski slopes.

Most sliders must earn their turns by walking up the neighborhood hill, but some businesses are beginning to cater to the sledding crowd. The Hawk Inn in Plymouth maintains a lighted, groomed hill just for sledding. Catamount Family Center in Williston charges $2 per person and you can borrow a sled. Morse Mountain at Smugglers’ Notch Resort has a few trails where Airboards are allowed between 2 and 4 p.m., Monday thru Friday. They require a helmet, a minimum age of 10 and first-time sliders must attend a short clinic before being cut loose to ride the lift and slide the hill.

CherryMax lists 36 places on their web site to slide in Vermont and boasts they have the largest database of sled hills, over 600 nationwide, and the company is working hard to get their sleds on the snow at ski areas. Last year, Tenney Mountain in New Hampshire touted a lift-served hill for Hammerheads. It was a boring tubing hill served by a poma-lift and on some days the tubes were faster than the sleds. This year, they plan to enhance the excitement with what they call the Hammerhead Sled “Go Fly Zone,” a sledding terrain park with gates, jumps, and moguls. They will also expand upon the successful race they held last year, setting up a course for weekly races every Saturday afternoon. A stage race is also planned for 2009 in a luge-type track groomed by snowmobile. There are many one-day events planned at Jay, Burke, Stratton, and Ascutney.

CherryMax calls the act of riding their machine sledding. Mad River Rocket takes a cue from snowboarding and calls it “freesledding.” Airboard uses the unwieldy term “snowbodyboarding.” Whatever the moniker, sliding on these beasts is a blast, and one day it may do what it took snowboarding years to do: gain acceptance at the ski areas. In the meantime, the ride down is well worth the walk up.

CONTACT INFO
www.hammerheadsled.com
www.madriverrocket.com
www.airboard.com
www.umiak.com
www.smuggs.com
www.tenneymtn.com

John Bauer is a writer who discovered the joys of performance sledding last year. He lives in Jeffersonville and can be reached at bauer.vt@gmail.com.

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