
Have You Seen the Sled Launcher Someone Built in Their West Michigan Backyard?
A family in Grand Rapids got real creative a few years ago and built an an amazing sled launcher for their kids. Looks like a lot of fun and its pretty effective too.
Sledding Has Come a Long Way Since I Was a Kid
When I was a kid you had two options for a sled, the iron rails and wood sled on the left and the wooden toboggan on the right. My sister and I used that rail sled to death but did find the steering wasn't that great. My family also had the toboggan and you really needed a great hill for this to work. The problem was, when you got to the bottom of a great hill you had to walk back up to ride again. That really cut into how many times the family would go down the hill.
👇BELOW: Grand Rapids Best Sledding Hills For A Snowy Day👇
The saucer style sled was the next version to come out. The one in the picture above must be a newer one with the plastic handles because the originals had little rope handles that would break. The problem with this sled design is it was almost impossible to keep the sled from turning you around backwards while going down the hill. That's not a problem unless there are jumps, trees, and other people.
When the plastic and tube sleds came along they were game changers for kids.
Now there are all kinds of options for sleds so kids can have a blast going down any of the hills in parks around Grand Rapids. On family got creative and took it upon themselves to build a way to launch their kids sleds in the backyard.
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Have You Seen Sled Launcher Someone Built in Backyard?
This may look like an eyesore to some, a fort, or a deer blind gone bad, but its a brilliant piece of work. A family south of Grand Rapids built this monstrosity to launch their kids down a sled hill in their backyard. Even though I am long from being a kid this looks like amazing fun.
Whoever built this launcher must have known a little about kinetic energy because you can see the speed kick in as the kid gets near the bottom of the launcher. For those of you who built pinewood derby cars for scouts know how important kinetic energy is.
As you can see this sled launcher has turned a modest hill into a much more fun experience for kids going down it. See the full experience in the video below.
A WINTER FUN FOLLOW UP: This is the video of my families absurd sledding structure in action. This was built a number of years ago and we still use it when it snow. The hill is south of town and was where the most recent fairy ball took place in the summer.
byu/szaagman ingrandrapids
There are two Reddit threads the sled launcher came from. In one thread posters point out that you may need to sign a waiver to go down it while another points out the ladder being a death trap. On the other thread, posters are commenting on what fun it is while others want to know if the kid hit the tree.

Other than how you climb up there to launch the sled, it looks like a ton of fun.
Grand Rapids Best Sledding Hills For A Snowy Day
Gallery Credit: Tommy McNeill
Dog Sledding in Michigan
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