Raise the Hammer

Instead of telling citizens what they can't do, maybe the city can facilitate what people want to do. A couple of open hills, free of trees, where the city encourages tobogganing. How about Toboggan Share for those who don't own toboggans?

Hey, the stadium debate is over. Go hug some pavement and leave us tree-hugging nerds to caring for our city and trying to do our part to make it the best placed to raise a child.

Perhaps moderators would help rid RTH of such hatred like other forums. Create a report button that sends an email to all moderators on a 'the first one to delete it' basis. Include the post in question in the email so all mods get to see it so they can all discuss later whether it actually should have been deleted or not to ensure no bias.

Great idea DRB. Or if people brought and extra one if they have them, that would perhaps make sure there were enough to go around.

Where is Jelly? We need some 'I am a tree-hugging nerd' t-shirts. I'll take a large and two for my kids.

My eldest once walked up to the tree next to our house which must be around 100 years old, and hugged it out of the blue.

It was awesome. No idea why she did it but all I could think was 'that's my girl'.

Back to your comment DRB, what if we just put some padding around the trees instead of looking for tree-less hills? I seen some kid whack into a tree the other day and he was okay, but some sort of padding would surely limit injuries.

I took my girls tobogganing for the first time at the reservoir off of Greenhill and was shocked to see the 'no tobboganning sign' right where I parked. The place was packed though and my girls had a riot! I couldn't get them to go home and their cheeks were rosy and their dad was feeling it too dragging them up that steep hill.

They can't wait to go back. I used to love winter when I was a kid because I was active including playing hockey. I am learning to love it again in my adult years because of my children. They are a reminder of what it was like to be a child. Albeit I hurt a lot more after such outings, but I know I slept well Saturday night.

I did see some pretty wicked wipeouts though, but there was tonnes of adult supervision so I for one think that location should be recognized as an official tobogganning spot that seems to be heavily supervised. Even the parents of older kids came to hang out and watch with their coffees in hand. All they needed was some street meat and a bomb-fire to warm up the hands for a few minutes before heading back up the slopes and it could have been an entire day event.

I'm imagining trees guarded by snowmen. ;)

That is an even better idea. POW! the snowman get's it and heads roll, but kids suffer no more than a face full of snow, coal and carrots.

the best spots for tobogganing are the reservoirs off of upper paradise, and the one on greenhill in stoney creek. the second one has bunny hills where you can get mad air . me thinks i want to go tobogganing now.

West Harbour Tobaggan slopes anyone?

Well West Harbor will continue to be a hot topic for a very long time so if you don't like those two words, perhaps you are on the wrong site.

Sorry, I know I am feeding them.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2011-02-07 09:55:07

Stonechurch resevoir is great, as is Chedoke Golf Course and the nice hill at Cootes Paradise.

Go tobogganing!!

Problem is most kids parents don't want to take them to the hills anymore when they're little because THEY are out of shape. Everything is a cycle and it starts with us parents. Show your kids positive healthy habits and they're more likely to imitate. So take your kids I-phone, x box, DVD players etc. away, and take them to a hill and go tobogganing. Hike up the hill a few times and have some healthy fun!! Fun and exercise for all.

Unfortunately our recreation opps decline with cuts in cit funding. Hamilton used to have official toboggan sliding areas. We used to have two downhill ski areas. But cut backs removed those opportunities. But now we take our FF to pay for a stadium for people to drink beer, eat fries and scream nasty words at people.

The city should be creating opportunities for recreation and that includes winter activities like tobogganing. bring back our official hills and if it requires a waiver so be it.

I don't think the message of that article was "Be afraid of tobogganing" so much as it was "Be safe when you toboggan, because if you hit a tree, it can f* you up!"

Most parks in the city have some playground structures, but forbidden to play sports in them, are another waste of space that creates dark voids in cities. Think of all the life and intrest that comes with large groups of private citizens getting together for big days of sledding. Tailgate BBQ and hotchocolate, it would be a great feeling for everyone.

Battlefield Park is packed full of families blatenly breaking the law whilst tobogganing...all in front of paid City Culture & Recreational staff. What a great by-law we have! Making tobogganing illegal in City parks reminds me of those communities who banned road hockey!

Loving all the ice rinks in city parks downtown! Thanks to all the volunteers who maintain these. Haven't made it out to the new city rink at Bayfront yet, but I plan to soon. This is one instance of taxpayer dollars encouraging a healthy, family-oriented lifestyle! IMO, money well spent!

It's a great rink down there, had a blast with the family.

To find more hills you can check out TobogganHills.com and also add the above local hills if they are not listed on the map, for others to locate and enjoy as well. :)

Be safe and have fun this winter!

Another ridiculous by-law from a thoroughly ridiculous municipal government. Attempting to enforce this would be a guaranteed face-full of snowballs.

Ban it. Forget about it. Blame anyone who gets hurt. It's a simple strategy for avoiding responsibility, but it doesn't make anyone safer.

When my mom was a little girl growing up, kids used to bring ice skates to school and take turns lying down on the ground side to side so that someone could take a skating start and then jump over them! Kids aren't even allowed to throw snow balls, or climb trees nowadays.

And now they can't go to the park and toboggan...

I think you're very right, Adrian, that we're receiving some mixed messages about what we're actually supposed to do with our free time.

We live in a world so obsessed with safety, liability and rules that we'd rather condemn kids to a long and painful death by obesity than let them play outside like we did. Then again, what does one expect in an era where parents are actually seeing kids with rickets thanks to SPF-50+ sunblock?

Life kills. Ban it.

Anything to avoid actually looking at the numbers, evidence or systems responsible for actually killing our kids (and peers, and parents).

FYI, we bought one of those Zipfy things for my kid for Christmas - his first sled. Awesome fun, and they're probably on clearance anywhere that still has any.

And more to the point, light as heck to carry back up the hill. When I was a kid I gave up on my GT Snowracer pretty fast when I realized how nasty those things are to drag up a slope.

So anybody know if that hill over by Coronation is still sleddable? I saw they let the one at Princess Point get to a terrible state.

Sadly, a sign of our times changin' - my son will be wearing a helmet for that stuff.

The coronation hill is still very sleddable. Complete with the 35 year old no tobogganing sign.

Took my son there yesterday. Was definitely a success - his first time down a big hill and he loved it. He's only three, but he wore a helmet. He was ecstatic the first time he made it to the bottom without a spill.

The fences for the renovated pool are ominously close, but there's a nice uphill grade that makes it seem impossible to actually hit them.

Anybody know a good site for tobogganing around the city? I found http://tobogganhills.com but it is pretty much a graveyard - I filled out the Coronation Park entry and then looked around and realized it was the only one this side of Burlington.

Comment edited by Pxtl on 2011-02-14 14:59:13

Seems to me you're the one with nothing better to do hammy, except hang around on RTH all day insulting everyone.

Dude, seriously, get a life.

I would give up sledding and consider bmx mountaqin bikes you will get all the thrills but none of the chills of winter.

So......potentially no more tobogganing, because people can not do anything responsibly any longer.
Even if it was practiced responsibly and someone gets hurt and it happens to be on city property, the all mighty dollar shall rear it's ugly head and create an irrational idea within that person that says its ok to sue. Even though a normal person whom is out doing an outdoor activity in which could be deemed dangerous (but not by legal standpoint but by common sense), would by all rights take into account a certain liability with one's self, and use the basic instinct of self preservation. I know this is said over and over again but we live in a society now where I have to lose out on the some of the things I love enjoying with my son because some people can not practice common sense and think they have a right to sue because they've injured themselves, when all they're doing is injuring the rest of us and laughing all the way to the bank. But who's laughing after they are paid and they can't even walk to the bathroom?? Not me. And certainly not them. But at least their pockets are lined.