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WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HIT YOUR FAVORITE SLEDDING OR TUBING HILL?
LOOKING BACK, when we were kids..we took our sleds to the top of Horsfal in Gold Hill and then headed down the hill and as far up Main Street as possible. What an exhiliarating adventure it was!
Sleds have a long history. From the ancient Egyptians (they were sledding on Sand) to the Native American tribes of Canada, sleds have been used to transport goods and people for millennia. Sleds spent most of their history as a tool for labor, only emerging as a toy in the past few hundred years.
Sledding gained popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages.
And in the 19th century, the introduction of dedicated sled runs and the use of more sophisticated sleds became common.
Today, few activities are as synonymous with the winter as sledding. In colder regions around the world, children excitedly wait for the next snow day so they can go out sledding with their friends.
Sledding, nowadays has also evolved into a formalized sport and there is a variety of “types”: sled racing, bobsledding, luging, dogsledding, just to name a few. Each of these sports has a unique history. Bobsledding, for example, originated in the late 1800s in the Swiss Alps. It spread in popularity and became an internationally-recognized sport in 1923.
Today, more people participate in sledding as a leisurely activity than as a competitive sport. Plenty of sled designs exist today; Samuel Leeds Allen's steerable "Flexible Flyer" was the first to reach mainstream success.
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