The landing caught my arm underneath the GT and I slid the rest of the hill with ice digging into my wrist where my mitten had come untucked from my snowsuit. Inevitably, suicide hill had defeated me; my sledding had come to an end with a bang.

I went with my older brother and sister on the weekends. She would always get the superfast plastic saucer and he would have his favorite GT. I always took the wooden toboggan with the yellow rope for handlebars andsupreme steering capability. We always went to suicide hill in our bulky snowsuits, mine an army style hand-me-down and the fun would begin. Suicide hill was known through town for being the greatest hill to ride on a sled. It was a hugely popular place on the weekends as families would all join in on the fun with the children.It was also known for being quite unforgivable, a sled graveyard, I think that comment made the hill that much more exciting, we knew it would never defeat us. I would ride down as fast as I could and walk in super slow motion, because of the movement restricting snow-gear, back up to do it again despite my nose being frozen after the first ride. We spent all day at suicide hill; everyone from town was out with their sleds. The fun intensified when the jump technician side of mybrother showed up to make the GT fly. I waited for my chance at the small jump near the bottom of the hill and when my brother got back up from a go he lent me his prized GT. The excitement was unbearable and I took off like a bullet. I had been riding the wooden toboggan all day and wasunprepared for the GT's awesome power. As I gained speed going downthe hill I got caught in tracks made earlier in the day from when the hill was busy and began veering to the right. In an attempt to compensate I hit the brakes. The snow had been packed down so much it was all ice and the GT caught the jump half on and half off. It was an astonishing crash of epic proportions, the GT flew over my head as I barrel rolled.

I spent most of my childhood outdoors. Wintertime was much loved for the workability of the snow in my hands for snowballs and snowman making. Tobogganing was a main winter activity that was always an adventure packed full of excitement.