A Different Kind of Downhill | Safety First

A Different Kind of Downhill

Anyone who grew up in a northern climate has fond memories of sledding, tobogganing, tubing, or otherwise sliding down a hill on some sort of contraption. It's as much an annual winter ritual as building snowmen or making snow angels. What's one of the first scenes to come to mind when you think of "It's a Wonderful Life"? George saving his brother in the sledding accident, of course. And what about Citizen Kane's final word: Rosebud? It was conjured by memories of his favorite childhood sled. Clearly, sledding appeals to the kid in all of us.

All across Montana, you'll find popular sledding hills in every town--just follow the kids with smiles on their faces. In addition, many resorts have sledding and tobogganing. The Big Mountain, for instance, has built a special run just for such purposes.

Safety First

Now for the not-so-fun part about sledding, tobogganing and tubing: they can be dangerous. Yes, every mother says that, but it also happens to be quite true. In fact, the two most common injuries caused by sledding are head injuries and broken bones--both of which can be serious.

Time after time, the cause of injury is loss of control--the person sledding simply cannot turn and runs into an object or falls off. This can be avoided by following a few safety precautions.