Have You Come Across the Sled Launcher That Someone Constructed in Their Backyard?

A few years back, a family in Grand Rapids put their creativity to the test and constructed an incredible sled launcher for their children. It appears to be a blast and works remarkably well!

Sledding Has Evolved Significantly Since My Childhood

As a child, I remember having two choices for sledding: the iron rail sled on the left and the wooden toboggan on the right. My sister and I wore out the rail sled, although we discovered that steering it wasn't very effective. Our family also owned the toboggan, but it required a steep hill to be fun. The downside was that after sliding down a big hill, we had to trudge back up to take another turn, which really limited how many times we could enjoy the ride down.

👇HERE: Top Sledding Hills in Grand Rapids for a Fun Snowy Day👇

The next iteration of the sled was the saucer style. The sled depicted in the image above appears to be a more recent model, featuring plastic handles, whereas the original versions had simple rope handles that were prone to breaking. One major drawback of this sled design was its tendency to spin you around backwards while descending a hill. This issue becomes particularly problematic when navigating jumps, trees, and other people on the slope.

The introduction of plastic and tube sleds revolutionized the winter fun for children.

Nowadays, there are numerous sledding options available, ensuring that children can enjoy sliding down the hills in parks throughout Grand Rapids. One inventive family decided to take matters into their own hands and constructed a launch system for their kids' sleds right in their backyard.

Have You Spotted the Sled Launcher That Someone Constructed in Their 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.

The person who designed this launcher clearly had some understanding of kinetic energy, as the acceleration becomes apparent when the child approaches the bottom of the launcher. Anyone who has crafted pinewood derby cars for scouting knows just how crucial kinetic energy is in that context.

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.

There are two Reddit threads the sled launcher came from. In one thread posters point out you may need to sign a waiver to go down it while another point out the ladder being a death trap. On the other thread posters are commenting on what fun it is while other want to know if the kid hit the tree.

https://www.reddit.com/r/grandrapids/comments/1i0lp3q/a_winter_fun_follow_up_this_is_the_video_of_my/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Aside from the challenge of getting up there to start the sled, it seems like an absolute blast!