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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."
You are going to have a tough time trying to stop something on snow in any kind of device. If the snow is deep enough, a rudder would provide you with steering, and if turned to a 90 degree angle, would almost certainly bring the sled to a complete stop, while simultaneously hurdling you through the air, thanks to our friend, inertia. But at least you were able to steer your sled in the moments before your tragic accident.
Brakes in the back? Effective for the sled, not for you. Brakes in the front? I hope you like flipping over and having a sled land on you.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
Rudder? That better be some wicked-soft snow!
:) Those round plastic "plates" don't stop for anything... just lean back and plant your ass in the snow!
I remember having a "trike" some time ago. It was basically three skis with the front, middle one mounted on bycicle type handlebars. The undersides of the rails were ribbed to grab the snow and ice just a little bit and turn you.
This works extreamely well. You don't want to use any kind of "anchor" to stop, since you'll probably be going quite fast... and the jerk from the anchor rope will be just as bad (or worse!) than hitting the trees!
Another brake design I've seen is a triangle-shaped plate with SMALL spikes on it, hinged at the point opposite the spikes and held up under the sled with a light spring.stomping on the plate pushed the spikes into the snow and slowed you down safely.
And, of course, "Jump the fuck off" is still the most reliable.
(Building a berm of leaves at the bottom of the hill before it snows would make a great safety net, too)
=Smidge=
Or just build an arrester cable near the bottom and put something on the sled to hook onto the rope like some of us Discovery channel watching kids did.
It's a wonder we're all still alive today really...
I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
It's all about the NOMA GT Snowsracer..I think I may even still have mine in my basement somewhere. Never had a problem using it...except that time that my friend went down the hill on his, let go of the wheel for a sec, and the auto-turning spring smashed him into a tree and he broke both his legs.
Moral of the story: it's all about the GT. Except if you ever let go of the wheel, get the fuck off the sled.
Cue The Sun...
I just posted, but here's another idea that might actually be original. How about some sort of bungie apparatus? This could work in all sorts of ways. Either the cord could release and spring back away after slowing you down or else you could ride out the oscillations... perhaps getting a free ride halfway back up the hill. (: Heck, if you get this figured out, charge admission. (and take out a huge insurance policy! hehe)
Just space several hay bales at the bottom several feet/yards in front of the obstacles. Break them apart a bit so they'll cushion the shock enough. It'll still smart to hit one, but you'll likely walk away unharmed.