| The toboggan, whether made of elegantly carved wood or smooth lightweight aluminum, may soon become a romantic element of our past as a result of climate change in Canada. Globally, traditional toboggan centres are noting that the winters are no longer staying cold enough, long enough, for proper toboggan runs to be maintained. However, this does not mean the death of sledding, as the warmer weather has led to a convergence with the world of extreme sports, giving birth to "dirt sledding."
Fuelled in part by YouTube videos, viewers can watch users like atkunkler and friends hurl themselves down grassy hills, or, as in the case of Tcup4, makeshift hiking trails and BMX runs. Nowhere in these videos though, does the large, multi-passenger toboggan make an appearance. Instead, one can catch glimpses of a bright plastic children’s sled amidst their flailing limbs.
The toboggan works well in winter because it uses the pressure generated by its weight to convert snow to ice. The smooth bottom offers little resistance, but on grass or dirt the weight of the toboggan becomes its chief drawback, requiring the lightest load possible and eliminating our nostalgic image of the toboggan as a form of mass transit. Although the Krazy Karpet works on the same principle, its lighter weight makes it ideal for runs on fine or loose gravel. In places like Guatemala, inspired perhaps by young Canadian aid workers hungry for home, the Krazy Karpet has been replaced by strips of cardboard and even burlap sacks, as young children are shown how to navigate the dry, dusty runs.
In several clips, Tcup4 is shown using the "flying disc," a round piece of plastic, similar to the Krazy Karpet, but it proves quite unstable. He and friends fall off after a few metres. It is the plastic sled, often seen being pulled by parents through snow carrying one or two toddlers, that is turning out to be the workhorse of the dirt-sledding scene. The grooved base helps focus the pressure needed to generate ice, compensating for the lighter mass of children, while the moulded plastic offers enough firmness and stability to handle jumps or colliding with rocks. On grass, the narrow grooved runners offer decreased surface contact and the groove allows for enough air flow that lift is generated at sufficient speed.
Winter tobogganing on snow was never without its injuries. In fact,
recklessness and the potential for broken bones were always part of the allure of tobogganing, but powdery snow is more forgiving than gravel and dirt. Perhaps it is the "extreme" nature of dirt sledding, but crashes and accidents seem provide even more appeal. Few things may be more frightening to a parent than watching their son or daughter attempt to emulate the atkunkler rider who tries to use the plastic sled as a snowboard and quickly goes cartwheeling down the hill. Tcup4 and friends, with their tree-studded steep incline, are forever ending their runs separated from their sleds by a dozen metres distance.
While winter sledding may survive global warming, the days of the whole family sitting down together on a traditional toboggan for a leisurely ride down the slopes, may not. |
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