Being a kid again....then, falling off the Alpine Slide, lol

Well, my oldest son an I went camping last week for a little getaway, and had something funny happen (well, maybe not too funny)

Took a trip over to Bromley Mountain in Vermont, and took several rides on the alpine slide. (Think of a luge track with a wheeled sled)

So, my son goes down before me...I wait around 30 seconds or so and then head down....each time I am getting a little faster and faster, and start catching up to him a little earlier down the mountain.

So, on like the 7th run, I am probably going a little too fast (think 42 year old father/idiot fast, lol) and I get a little high on turn eight, and then Itip the sled up on its side and slide for about 10 meters on the track via my shoulder, arm and leg, until I rightside myself.....now, at this time people are going up the chairlifts, so my wipeout was witnessed by about 50 people or so.

Finally make it to the bottom, and look down and my shirt it ripped at the shoulder, I'm missing about a 2" x 7" inch swath of skin from my left arm, and a few more missing skin pieces on my calf, knee and shoulder.

I head over to the first aid tent feeling like an idiot, and I ask the med mad if I am the first idiot he had seen that day that fell off the slide....he looks down at his log and says I am on the third pages of incidents from the alpine slide....he mends me up, and about 15 minutes later I am riding again, lol.

Felt a little embarassed after the wipeout, but all in all had a good day with my son.

I have seen many VERY bad cases of road rash from said alpine slides. I have been on quite a few, so far so good. Some how, some close encounters.

We need pictures!!

KC

Went on one of those a few years ago in NH . . . my wife cried the whole way up in the chair lift as the height scared her . . . and then rode the alpine slide down going Mach III or so laughing manically and gleefully while I frantically braked the entire way so I wouldn't fly out of the chute . . . lots of fun . . . haven't been back on one since then.

I did one of those a few years back also. I know what you mean on the lift with no snow underneath you.

When the Cog Railway was being built up Mount Washington in NH, the workers built wooden sleds that would sit on the rail and then slide down the track at the end of the day. They were called "Devils shingle". They discontinued use when a worker died. They apparently hit speeds of 60 MPH on those things.

Here is a link with some neat history. Sorry for the hijack:


http://www.cog-railway.com/devils.htm