Getting ready for sledding, crashes and rolling in snow
“Hey, this big storm is going to dump some nice, new snow on the hills. Let’s make plans to go sledding. We’ll just go out of town until we hit snow and our ‘secret’ sledding hill.”
“Great idea. Should be fun. We haven’t had great sledding snow for a while. It might take me a while to dig up my winter clothes and boots, but
I’ll start looking so we will be ready to go after the storm stops.”
This shouldn’t be too bad, I told myself. It is cold and we’ll be at a pretty hefty altitude, but it’s not going to be middle-of-Montana-belowzero freezing. It will be wet, though, since we’ll likely have to slice through new snow to make a good sled track which can lead to some crashes. But that’s okay. If you don’t fall out of the sled a couple of times and roll in the snow, you haven’t really gone sledding. Right?
Anyway, I have warm stuff to wear.
That stuff should be somewhere in here. It’s been a while since I needed waterproof winter boots and more than a light winter coat. Drought, desert, lots of sunshine, the usual Owens Valley winter drill, meaning a pretty darn pleasant “winter.”
Let’s find the boots first. Oooo, look at these old beauties. Light rubber bottoms and toes and a camo upper that goes up about mid-calf. Inside, a nice warm liner. Stylish footwear. Not sure the last time I wore them. Anyway, here are a couple pairs of heavy socks. Try ‘em on. Hmm. Well, they seem a bit tight. A bad idea to have tight boots unless you want your feet to be cold. Would be okay in wet weather around town, but I don’t trust them in the hills. Next.
Oh, man look at these good-looking old friends. Big Sorel snow boots, complete with leather uppers, rubber lug soles, and felt liners. Big boots. Warm as your mother’s heart. Ah, but maybe a bit too warm. It’s not miserable cold. Plus, there will be plenty of walking uphill, and not much standing around. They could be clunky. Next.
Here we go. Solid, waterproof hiking boots running up over the ankles. Warm, easy to walk in. Add in nice, tall gaiters and we are good to go.
Onward to the top half.
A hard-earned lesson from Colorado and Montana winters: Don’t rely solely on your coat to keep warm. Layer up. So here’s a normal long-sleeved T-shirt to start, add in a long-sleeved, light sweatshirt, topped by a nice, wool Pendleton shirt. Since this isn’t a backpacking trip, take along a sweater and two coats, a heavy and a moderate, both mostly water-resistant.
Gloves and a wool, knit beanie and scarf are ready to go.
In my long-past youth, we called them “long underwear.” Now they are called “base layer.” Whatever. Grab a pair of heavy ones. Sheesh, when did I wear these the last time? Two years ago, maybe three? It was during a trip to Tahoe in the early winter. Plenty of snow, a long sled run through the pine trees on fluffy, unmolested powder. Crashed every time and tumbled through the snow. It was great.
Next up: snowpants, or waterproof pants or whatever they are called these days. I started to look, but gave up after a cursory glance in the closet. I grabbed a pair of jeans. They will do just fine during a bunch of sled runs and crashes and rolling around in wet snow. Yes, they will probably get wet and might even freeze.
But the truth is, if you don’t get a little cold and wet, did you even go sledding?
(Jon Klusmire of Bishop is ready for snow angels, too.)