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Ultimate Sleds?
frenchgates asks: "I recently moved near a long and steep sledding hill with dangerous trees right at the bottom. I have acquired a fleet of sleds at this point, plastic shells, inflatables, a toboggin, a flexible flyer, etc, but all have one potentially fatal (literally) flaw: no brakes. I figure this crowd probably takes its gravity-fun seriously so I am looking for info on sleds (or customizations) allow rapid stopping in all snow conditions."
That's the way I always did it when I was a kid.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
turn sideways quickly, pull back toward the hill as the sled turns, you'll dig in and stop dead(on pun intended) quickly...
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Do what ski resorts do for their tubing hills: before the trees at the bottom, build up a mound of dirt / strawbale / etc. that'll get covered in snow. Don't make the grade sharp enough to act as a jump though (unless intended!) The mound should slow you down enough to roll off safely.. assuming there's at least some flat area at the bottom of the sled hill to work with. Or you could always try a net. (:
I feel that I am well-qualified to comment on your particular situation.
First, why would you want to brake a sled? There's no fun in that. The whole point to sledding is to wipe out into the snow, run into a pile of friends, or come to a satisfying stop after a leisurely decceleration. I have never understood brakes on sleds.
Second, if you're going so fast that you need to brake suddenly to avoid hitting trees, wouldn't you go flying off the sled anyway?
Third, if you aren't going so fast that a sudden stop would send you off the sled, can't you just jump off, or better yet, use your feet or hands to slow the sled down on the way down?
Fourth, what are these "dangerous trees"? Do they bite? Or are they dangerous by virtue of the fact that they are so close?
My favorite sled after a snow tube is a sled made by Rubbermaid. It's a thicker, hollow one-person sled that has a place to put your feet into, with a seat and rope; the contact with the snow is limited to two blade-like protrusions on the bottom of the sled.
But neither of them have brakes.
I have found that rope can slow down your sled quite a bit if you let it fly under the sled.
Dogs attempting to snatch your hat off your head also help to slow down a sled.
When I was a kid we had a sled with levers on each side, so it you pulled on one, it would dig into the the snow and make you turn.
pulling both made you slow down.. kinda..... but ultimetly the best would be a gt....
metalgeek
windows, just another pane in the glass
This is what you want! Don't know if they are sold outside Scandinavia + Finland though.
Just step on the brakes, it will stop you within meters even on the hardest ice, although that should not be necessary with the excellent handling. I've repeatedly navigated forrested hills at lethal speeds without too much trouble. I think I hit a tree twice. Cracked one of the skis the second time (not too badly; it is still usable 12 years later without problems), but never injured myself. I'd say jumps are more dangerous than trees. >:)
Oops:
http://www.k2gravitytools.com/
Auto steering spring? I pulled that thing off my GT in the first few days I had it. First off, if I had to catch my toque from slowly slipping off my head, it would veer sharply, sending me rolling ass over teakettle down the rest of the hill. Second, when lugging it back up the hill with the tow rope (My GT was a later model and had a retratable pull rope. I don't know if this is a standard feature on the classic GT), it kept turning into the path of the slope. Third, it's a bitch when dad is towing you on this thing with a skidoo and the wheel slips. This is just like my first point, but at much higher speed. However, it IS all about the GT. And now that it's snowed here in Ottawa, I feel like going down to one of the engineering labs and building myself a GT adapted to my 6 foot frame. If you'll excuse me...