Sledding

Utah has some of the best powder snow for skiing on the entire planet. Many people know that as well as many avid skiiers. The winter Olympics held here was the center of many world records for winter sports and events still continue to be held in the venues created for the olympics. However, skiing is also an expensive sport, one which many, dreaming to be involved in, only get a few token chances to participate in, but even rarer are the times they actually get on the slopes.
For the poorer of us there is the perennial favorite of sledding. Here in the Salt Lake Valley where I live, there are many places for sledding and many of them set up particularly for that purpose. One is not far from my house in the West Valley city park where a large burm about 30 feet in altitude give or take, gives some moderate hillside space for sledding. We have been there twice in the past week alone and I plan on returning while there is snow ont he ground to sled on.
Another popular venue is Sugarhouse park which is quite a bit more fantastic for sledding and tubing than our little hill. One can reach what would really be maximum speeds for sleds and tubes and actually be moving down the hill at that speed for more than a few seconds so one can really enjoy the ride. Not for the faint of heart or fragile of body, I have not yet sacrificed my kids to this sledding idol as I have not wished to bring broken bones into the history of playtime injury in my family.
I have in my youth gone sledding at flat iron mesa park in Sandy, just southeast of my home about ten miles. Long steep hillsides also adorn this park but whether they are still open for sledding or not I do not know. Quite steep, they would be candidates for speed trials at sledding. This park incidentally is also excellent for kite flying in the spring as it captures the canyon winds and the view from its western edge of the valley is quite breathtaking in the right circumstances.
Sledding, a perennial favorite, is one way in which parents who wish for thir children to ski or snowboard can get them accustomed to sliding downhill at decent speeds so when they try it upright on waxed boards, it is not a sensation that they are unfamiliar with. Wishing I could ski, I still find more joy in watching my kids take to our nearby hill -- making memories like mine.