wingnut ollie catch the sled

Temps were in the high 30s. That means you put ALL your gear on. Then open every vent, zipper and opening you have to try and stay sort of cool. Even when we stop for breaks we seek out the shade.

There’s an area we like to play in called California Park. It's in Clark, Colo., and is a wide open area with little valleys running through it. This leads to a lot of cornices to drop off of and play on.

So we spent the day playing on the hills, Wingnut and Paul running up to the top of the hills, catching nice air at the top, then dropping off the cornice and coming back down … turn around and do it all over again. Well, not being a big cornice dropper I decided to do a little sidehilling. I needed the practice. After doing this awhile we needed to take a break and cool off. Three feet of snow will make you sweat like crazy.

The group stopped at the opening to a little valley for a break and I decided to hit this valley and see how far I could pull a sidehill. Man it started out great, perfect form and nice and slow for control. Left leg dragging in the snow, man I looked good, I looked like a pro. I was a sidehilling stud! I ran all the way down this valley and even made a nice corner toward the end of it.

After I made this corner I dropped out of sight of the group. I figured I could turn around (still sidehilling) and head back out the exact way I came in. Not only would this look cool, but it would give me great bragging rights.

This is where Mother Nature decided to remind me that the only difference between a stud and a dud is a couple letters and the blink of an eye.

As I shifted position to make the 180-degree turn on the hill’s side, I hit a soft spot. Not a big deal under normal circumstances, it wouldn't faze me; however, I was out of position and off balance. The soft spot slowed the sled and launched me like a rocket. I ended up coming off the sled hilariously, head aimed downhill.

A number of things ran through my mind all at once. First, good thing I am out of the group’s sight. Second, I have to get stopped so I can get my sled unstuck. I didn't want to have to walk back up the hill. Just then I looked up to see that my sled was not stuck, it was nice enough to come down after me - RIGHT AFTER ME. As in headed straight at me! I thought great, I am about to be run over by my own sled.

Then I did what any sane, normal person would do, panic.
I began to roll as fast as I could off to one side to let my sled go by. Yet rolling out of the way had a couple nasty side effects. First, I was still going downhill head first. Second, I now had to figure out how to get turned around so I could chase down my sled. Third, remember I mentioned that all the vents and zippers were open on my gear because I was overheating? Well, I wasn't overheating anymore as I just packed 100 lbs. of slushy snow and ice down my pants - instant temperature drop.

I got stopped and turned around. The snow had really softened up in this area and I was sinking up to my knees in slushy wet snow. Now I didn’t want to admit I simply fell off my sled so I figured the best solution was to catch my sled before anyone realized what had happened.

Now I’m on a mission.

CATCH THE SLED!

Leap through the snow, catch the sled and don’t let them see you. Catch the sled. WOW is that slush in my pants cold. Catch the sled. Finally catch the sled, leap onto the still running sled and hit the gas. As I am leaving I see two riders headed toward me and moving fast. RATS, they saw!

Quick, come up with a manly, yet convincing lie. I went with a MASSIVE soft spot that flipped me and the sled over. You see that way it’s the snow's fault and not me being an idiot. Don't know if they bought it or not, but they were nice enough to not question the excuse.

During this whole thing I also realized something else. Boot/bib gators work great as they keep the snow out of your boots as you walk through it; however, if the snow (or in this case, slush) is INSIDE the gators, they act as a funnel and dump all that nice COLD water straight into your boots. It’s hard to act all cool and collected with ice water running down your legs and into your boots.

Wingnut told me they watched as I went around the corner and lost sight of me. Then they see the sled come rolling down the hill without a rider, followed rapidly by me leaping through the snow chasing my sled. They figured I had wrecked and headed over to make sure I was OK.

With the exception of my ego, I was hunky dory. I have to keep reminding myself that my ego is a MUCH better rider than my ability is.

Wingnut & Ollie are Todd Klimkowsky (Wingnut) and Ed Oliver (Ollie) and they are western riders, who love to explore in the mountains.They met while sledding in 2004 and have been riding buddies ever since. Their credo? “Riding to us is all about the fun. We like to laugh and our favorite subject is making fun of ourselves.”