Got plenty of snow here in western NY, followed by freezing rain, light drizzle, then cold freeze again...
This created a field of ice at the bottom of a hill of ice. For anyone with an inclination for speed, I have a sport for you to try.
My coworker and I got out of the pizza shop at midnight and headed to one of the local hills....
Steep hill, flat area, generally plenty of room to slow down.. followed by an 8 foot drop to waist deep ice cold water; narrow bridge going over the water (aim for the bridge if you can't stop... but in the past, no one ever made it over the bridge... never going fast enough. But tonight, the ice crusted snow seemed ideal for high speed sledding... My friend discovered, somewhat to his dismay, that this analysis was incorrect... given the smaller surface area of his sled, he constantly broke through the crust and only occasionally gained enough speed to contribute to an adrenaline raising experience.
But for me, things would prove to be different.
First time.... barely went up the hill.... got up to about 20 - 25 mph, just to see how things were.... no problems.... had to straddle the kayak and dig my feet into the ground to slow down. Not a problem. Gotta make sure to aim for the bridge though... this thing is really going to fly.
2nd time.... Holy Sh!t! Hit the flat area flying... kayak left virtually no trace on the ground, it was so smooth and icy... and my weight was distributed over a large area, so I didn't break through the crust on top of the snow. It was like downhill iceskating. Stuck my feet out of the kayak to dig into the ground to slow me down... uh oh.... couldn't get my feet to break through the crust into the softer snow below and gain some traction to slow down... Sh!t Sh!t Sh!t I'm off course.... gonna miss the bridge... can't stop... too late... pull my feet back into the kayak, tuck, and suddenly I'm airborn, sailing over the edge of what seemed to be a 8 foot drop off minutes before, but now it seemed like it was much higher, because it afforded me the luxury of time to contemplate how cold that water was going to be, as my kayak followed a parabolic arc, finally striking the water at such an angle that the front half of my kayak completely dove under water, forcing the 30 or 40 gallons of icewater it displaced to fly up into my face and chest, while another 20 gallons or so rolled over the front edge of the cockpit, completely soaking me from the waist down, before my kayak popped back to the surface.
Needless to say, while some may say "what a brave man for going on such a daring adventure," the true evidence of my manhood remains pitifully shrunken, victim of the ice water that I plunged into.
But, Whoooohoooo! That was AWESOME!
Downhill kayaking :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
However, I highly recommend avoiding areas with steep dropoffs to icewater. My friend regrets leaving the video camera on the kitchen table... we didn't think we'd have anything worth taping... especially since it was after midnight and quite dark. How wrong we were.
This created a field of ice at the bottom of a hill of ice. For anyone with an inclination for speed, I have a sport for you to try.
My coworker and I got out of the pizza shop at midnight and headed to one of the local hills....
Steep hill, flat area, generally plenty of room to slow down.. followed by an 8 foot drop to waist deep ice cold water; narrow bridge going over the water (aim for the bridge if you can't stop... but in the past, no one ever made it over the bridge... never going fast enough. But tonight, the ice crusted snow seemed ideal for high speed sledding... My friend discovered, somewhat to his dismay, that this analysis was incorrect... given the smaller surface area of his sled, he constantly broke through the crust and only occasionally gained enough speed to contribute to an adrenaline raising experience.
But for me, things would prove to be different.
First time.... barely went up the hill.... got up to about 20 - 25 mph, just to see how things were.... no problems.... had to straddle the kayak and dig my feet into the ground to slow down. Not a problem. Gotta make sure to aim for the bridge though... this thing is really going to fly.
2nd time.... Holy Sh!t! Hit the flat area flying... kayak left virtually no trace on the ground, it was so smooth and icy... and my weight was distributed over a large area, so I didn't break through the crust on top of the snow. It was like downhill iceskating. Stuck my feet out of the kayak to dig into the ground to slow me down... uh oh.... couldn't get my feet to break through the crust into the softer snow below and gain some traction to slow down... Sh!t Sh!t Sh!t I'm off course.... gonna miss the bridge... can't stop... too late... pull my feet back into the kayak, tuck, and suddenly I'm airborn, sailing over the edge of what seemed to be a 8 foot drop off minutes before, but now it seemed like it was much higher, because it afforded me the luxury of time to contemplate how cold that water was going to be, as my kayak followed a parabolic arc, finally striking the water at such an angle that the front half of my kayak completely dove under water, forcing the 30 or 40 gallons of icewater it displaced to fly up into my face and chest, while another 20 gallons or so rolled over the front edge of the cockpit, completely soaking me from the waist down, before my kayak popped back to the surface.
Needless to say, while some may say "what a brave man for going on such a daring adventure," the true evidence of my manhood remains pitifully shrunken, victim of the ice water that I plunged into.
But, Whoooohoooo! That was AWESOME!
Downhill kayaking :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
However, I highly recommend avoiding areas with steep dropoffs to icewater. My friend regrets leaving the video camera on the kitchen table... we didn't think we'd have anything worth taping... especially since it was after midnight and quite dark. How wrong we were.
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