North Coast Journal January 18, 2007 : IN THE NEWS : SHORT STORIES

January 18, 2007

SNOW DAY: This last cold snap has held on longer than is reasonable. Some of us aren't used to it -- we don't own a windshield scraper, because the thing doesn't justify the space it takes up when you only need to use it once or twice a year. So this last week caught us unprepared. We've had to drench our automobiles with teapot a photo of sledders coming down a snowy hill fter teapot of hot tap water every morning until the ice finally admits defeat.

Saturday, it turns out, was a record low for Eureka: 24 degrees, edging out the previous record, established in 1997, by three full degrees. When it gets so cold, the only thing to do is embrace it and get yourself colder still -- to pretend for a moment that you're a Coloradan or a New Englander. That's why 40 people or so made the long drive up Titlow Hill Road, past the spot where only 4-wheel drives can negotiate the frozen asphalt, and parked to hike in to that one prime sledding spot. (If the spot has a name, we don't know it. But it's just one ridge south of the communications tower, inside Six Rivers National Forest.)

It had been a couple of days since any new powder had fallen up there, though the snow was thick enough for sledding. It was hard and slick, though, which made for some wild rides. Around noon, a two-woman crew on a cheap plastic sled failed to bail out soon enough, sending one of the photo of snowboarder riders hard up against a big rock. She groaned and limped away, holding the small of her back. The rest of the sledders, tobogganists and snowboarders on site took little notice. A couple of cross-country types passed by along the trail, one on skis and the other on snowshoes. They had a couple of happy dogs with them. The whole crew looked like they were enjoying themselves, even though they hadn't pulled off any boss tricks.

One group of revelers passed around their provender. There was hot chocolate (spiked and non-spiked), salami sandwiches, Jagermeister, macadamia nuts and the absolutely horrible "delicacy" known as "salmon candy" -- dense, smoked fish drenched in sugary syrup. It was the first this reporter had heard of the treat, and absolutely the last time he will eat of it. Still, it was kind of appropriate to the occasion. You could imagine Scandinavians downing pounds of it up there above the Arctic Circle, chasing it back with lingonberry liqueur.

When the accident came, it came in horrible slow motion. Here was a fast sled coming down crossways from the very top of the hill, headed straight at this poor fellow -- kid? -- trudging his way up along the path. The unlucky victim had turned his back to the slope and appeared to be shouting back and forth with friends at the bottom. The sled picked up speed. The rider tried to lean this way and that, but he was going too fast to steer. When they collided, the pedestrian flew up into the air and started to go end over end before landing back down, hard. There were some laughs until people saw the blood. His friends rushed up, circled around him and tried to assess the situation. Later some of them went back to the spot where he had been hit and tried to search the snow for his teeth.

The sun disappeared over the back of the ridge a few minutes later -- the sledding hill faces north -- and everyone else packed it in, trudging up along the path, following the trail of blood. There were a couple of sort of sketchy turns to negotiate on the way back down the hill. After that, it was back to daily life.

-- Hank Sims

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