Oct 22, 2011

Metal Disc sleight rides

When I was very young we used to get a lot of snow in the Uintah Basin. It was prior to the start of the Ski Resorts seeding the clouds so that it would snow at the resorts which then robbed the moisture form the air as it passed over the Uintah Basin where I was raised.

It was not a all unusual to have large snow drifts over the edge of the hill above our home and it made for some great times digging into them and getting under the trees that they would cover so that there would be a perfect cave without a whole lot of digging involved. Those drifts made for some other great winter activities as well however since they made great jumping off places for riding down the snow on sleighs.

Our sleighs were of an unusual nature though. Today we have plastic sleighs that are easy to carry anywhere and for long periods of time. Our sleighs were made from large metal disks that had been replaced on the farm equipment. Dad had welded metal handles on each and that way we were able to drag them along on the snow behind us. I do not remember how big they actually were but by sitting on them cross legged it was easy to ride them off the snow drifts and down the hill. The real tricky part was in finding a place where you could go down the hill and not run into the trees. The disks were practically impossible to steer once that you were sitting on them so it was very important not to have things in front of you that would have to be dodged. We would often walk it down the hill first to make a trail and then ride several times until the trail became easy to follow and each time also a lot faster. However due to the sheer weight of the metal disks that sleigh riding didn’t last a very long time as each of us were only able to pull them back to the top of the hill a few times before getting too tired to pull them.