Ice Story One

This is my first of two posts about ice. A week ago on Friday after weeks of no snow, we finally had a short snow storm. The kids were quite excited and I offered to take them sledding. They got all their gear on and I drove them over to the sledding hill. It was beautiful outside. GORGEOUS! (It could have been a little warmer out!)

Bentley, Jake, and Lincoln hopped on their sleds and flew down the hill. It was a great run on fluffy snow. Once at the bottom they made a discovery…under the fluffy snow was a very thick layer of ice. They could not get back up the hill! We were watching from the top of the hill and it was kind of funny because Lincoln would take a step and go nowhere. His feet slipped and stayed in the same spot.

It took them ten minutes to get back up the hill. Bentley and Jake had to half crawl and pull Lincoln up the hill on his sled. 

Were they ready to concede the hill was too icy for sledding? No. Of course not. They continued to sled for another forty minutes. They found if they walked across the icy flats to the wooded part of the sledding hill, they could more easily scrabble their way up. 

I had Kara bring some rope over so I could try pulling the sled up the hill using the truck. It worked, but we didn't have enough rope--Viva could only slide half way down the hill before her sled came to a bone jarring stop. Also, I need to brush up on my knots. My knots worked, but I wasn't confident in them.

I don't recommend sledding on icy hills.

Kara helping Evan into his snowsuit. 

Viva with earmuffs over her hat. Check out the ice in this photo. 

Unbelievably thick and slick!

It was so pretty on that hilltop!

The Intrepid Sledders