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You don’t need to ski or snowboard to enjoy fresh powder
BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI
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If you’re not a skier or snowboarder, chances are the recent snow squalls threw you into a funk over winter’s arrival. However, you can still lay the groundwork for making the season more bearable without investing lots of time and money learning how to hold yourself upright in the white stuff. Enjoying the snow can be as easy as child’s play — if you opt for sledding, a pastime that actually encourages you to stay horizontal. Better yet, it’s easy and cheap: just take public transportation to Jamaica Pond and Franklin Park — two of Boston’s classic sledding destinations — or the George Wright Golf Course in Roslindale, the VFW Parkway in West Roxbury, or Marine Park in South Boston. For a vast selection of cutting-edge sleds, head to Ski Market. Employee David Connelly says ski bobs ($25) are like a square take on a snow disc, only with a comfy indentation for your butt. Daring types may prefer to sled headfirst on a snow boogie board ($65), which has a slick bottom and two handles and comes in fluorescent colors. And the trike sled ($90) rides on three skis and has a handle for steering and braking. Connelly says this sled "flies," especially if you spray Teflon ($15) on its skis. Eastern Mountain Sports, which has long embraced outdoor pursuits, is also good hunting ground for downhill diversions. The MPH Swiss bobsled ($24) is an easy-to-carry, easy-to-control plastic sled with a molded seat and luge-like handles. The Earth and Ocean Sports Sledz ($35) has a slick, hard-plastic bottom, a shock-absorbent foam top, and two sets of reinforced handles. Meanwhile, you can have twice as much fun on the figure-eight-shaped Aqua Leisure double snow tube ($24), which has a separate seat for each rider, and four handles. To find the kind of classic rides you grew up with, shop Ski Market for large snow discs ($39), snow tubes ($50), and traditional wooden toboggans ($130). The toboggans comfortably seat four, but Connelly says they can also carry five if one person pushes it and jumps onto the back, bobsled-style. Meanwhile, City Sports carries a Sevylor snow tube ($25), a large Snow Boogie plastic sled ($45), and a Snow Boogie Styrofoam sled ($29). Of course, should it be snowing so hard that you’re reluctant even to leave your apartment, there are still old-school ways to enjoy the outdoors without finding a hill. Restoration Hardware’s six-foot-long, bright-red Sno-Baller ($9.50) averts the discomfort of water-logged mittens and painful ice balls — for which your roommates will thank you, should they challenge you to a snowball fight. The store also carries a snowman kit ($14), which contains carved-wood "coal" for the eyes and mouth, a "carrot" nose, three buttons, a pipe, and a knit hat that doubles as a storage bag. Where to find it: • City Sports, 168 Mass Ave, Boston, (617) 236-2222; 480 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 267-3900; 16 Dunster Street, Cambridge, (617) 868-9232. • Eastern Mountain Sports, 1041 Comm Ave, Boston, (617) 254-4250; 855 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 236-1518; 1 Brattle Square, Cambridge, (617) 864-1540; www.ems.com. • Restoration Hardware, 711 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 578-0088; the Atrium, 300 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, (617) 641-6770; www.restorationhardware.com. • Ski Market, 860 Comm Ave, Boston, (617) 731-6100.
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