How to Build a Toboggan Run
Tobogganing is a generations-old pastime. Most people think of a toboggan run as a straight, downhill ride, but with enough space, some careful planning, a shovel, a pair of snowshoes and a bit of elbow grease, you should be able to fashion a run with thrilling twists and turns. Safety is paramount when building a toboggan run, so take your time and build something you can enjoy over and over again.
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Instructions
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Wearing snowshoes, start at the bottom of your run and work your way uphill, compacting and shoveling snow as you go. You want to create a channel about two to two and one-half feet wide.
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Sculpt turns in your toboggan run, building them as wide as possible, with gently curving and smooth sides. Avoid creating sharp turns that could potentially throw riders or toboggans from the track. When you build a turn, shovel some snow from the inside of the turn to the outside of the turn to create a banked wall through the turn.
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When you reach the top of your toboggan run, work your way back down again, packing down the track, smoothing corners and checking that the run does not flatten out anywhere along its length.
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Carry a toboggan to the top of your track and make an initial run downhill. The first run may require some fine-tuning along the way, but subsequent runs will become faster.
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Tips & Warnings
If the track is too fast, consider adding more turns to help slow the toboggan. If the track is too slow, you may be able to increase speed by taking out some of your turns.
Be sure to leave enough room at the bottom of the hill for a run-out. Gentle toboggan runs need a run-out at least as long as the run itself. Steeper runs should have a run-out three times as long as the run, and may benefit from a gentle rise to shed extra speed quickly.
