In Edmonton We Go Tobogganing

In Canada we use a lot of First Nations and Inuit words for things, and they just sort of become part of the lexicon...and confuse folks from other countries. Which is why in Edmonton where I'm from we call sledding "tobogganing". I looked up the official Wikipedia entry for "toboggan" and found the following:

It goes on to read: "In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill or other slope for recreation." And that, my Friends, is the type of toboggan we're chatting about today.

Lucas & I "crashed" a reunion between the McGarveys and some school friends at a local hill after school one day. There were four Moms (Amy and her PTA buddies), one Dad (Sean), and 10-ish kids. These photos were taken from about 4:00 to 5:00 pm. It gives you an idea of when - and how fast - the sun goes down up here in December!

We've had some weather this December, let me tell you. Snow, wind, rain, warm, cold, colder. Which makes for some dang treacherous conditions on the hill. That is, it was sheer ice. The kids figured out within 0.7 seconds that it was more fun to slide down directly on their bums - or bellies - and forgo the sleds altogether. The adults got in on the action as well, but we prefer to stick to the sleds as we take longer to recover from injury now!

The highlight of the hill was the jump someone had created probably closer to the beginning of the season as it was super sturdy...and also icy as heck. The kids started out by sliding down one at a time on their sleds, then on their bodies, and then once the littlest kids left it was a free-for-all dog pile at the bottom. We only lost one kid to an injury, so that's pretty good!

Now, this is a pretty basic neighbourhood hill, and while there are loads of amazing hills in Edmonton (check our "Further Reading" below), sometimes sticking close to home is the best.

Photos taken at Daly Grove Elementary School, Edmonton
Monday, December 17, 2018

FURTHER READING
The wikipedia article for toboggan is amusing, but incomplete and suffering from the erasure of Indigenous culture and history.
If your're looking for some tobogganing opportunities in the Edmonton area, here is Raising Edmonton's list of best hills.
And here is the list of City-operated hills