Tobogganing Safety Tips

Before you even step out the front door, (if the snow isn’t in your backyard), once you get to the Alpine Resort it’s important to bundle up. Waterproof gear will ensure you have a much better time out on the snow. Knit gloves or thin jumpers will result in misery once you land in the snow and realise all your clothes are damp and you’re left feeling freezing cold!

Pro tip: Neck warmers are a great substitute for scarves and provide more safety, as you won’t have the added risk of the neck potentially getting caught underneath your toboggan.

While we assure you that our toboggan runs are closely monitored and safe, we urge you to check your surroundings before sending your kids or yourself down the hill.

Be sure to check for hazardous objects sticking out of the snow, as continuous tracks on the same path often wears out the snow coverage, meaning dangerous objects like rocks and tree stumps are more likely to protrude through.

If you feel as though you’re too close to the person in front of you, lean on the back of your toboggan to slow down, or put your feet out either side and dig your heels into the snow.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, the safety of others and yourself is of utmost importance. Don’t get too close to someone else’s toboggan and risk colliding with them. It could cause serious injury and at the very least ruin someone else’s experience on the slopes, so be mindful and alert when tobogganing in crowded areas.

If you’re lucky, you could arrive at the mountain with a fresh dumping of snow. This means you will have better control on the slopes and that it won’t be as painful when you slide off. However, if the weather conditions have left the slopes quite icy, then it’s important to consider that you will travel at higher speeds in these conditions. It will make it harder to stop in time and give you less control over your toboggan, so it’s important to carry out these safety tips and to always check your surroundings.

Please, for everyone’s safety, use an actual toboggan when going tobogganing. It seems simple but there are a lot of people that like to test the limits and use foreign objects, such as a bin lid to fly down the hill. It’s dangerous and unnecessary and offers little to no control when it comes to stopping or steering, so do the right thing and buy yourself a toboggan or hire the equipment from our rentals department.

Whilst it’s tempting to send yourself down the hill head first, it puts you at greater risk of causing a serious injury. Same with sitting backwards on your toboggan! Sure it’s great fun, but it’s not worth the risk and any little incident could leave you scared to go tobogganing again and we definitely don’t want that!

If you feel as though you’re about to crash, rolling off to the side of your toboggan is your best shield of defence from colliding into another person or object. The safety of you and the people around you is of the utmost importance, always!

If you’re not riding down the hill with your child, (which we always suggest you do unless you feel they are 100% confident on their own or are riding with an older sibling), you should always supervise your children when tobogganing. If you find yourself in a high traffic area, it’s vital that you pay attention to your children.

For those tobogganing at Lake Mountain Alpine Resort, we’ve put the following guidelines together:

• Toboggan only on designated Toboggan runs
• Use only moulded plastic Toboggans
• Only sit or kneel according to Toboggan design
• Standing on Toboggans is not permitted
• Snowboards, Skis, Snowbikes, Tubes, Plastic Bags, and Sleds are not permitted
• One person per Toboggan
• Do not form trains
• Walk uphill on the side of the run only
• For everybody’s safety, do not walk up the middle of the Toboggan run

If you’re excited by the idea of taking your family to slopes, our mountain is the perfect place to take your kid’s tobogganing for the first time. Safety is our number one priority, and we strive for those wide smiles and exclaims of excitement of “wanting to go down the hill again” and not wanting to go home.

By following these tips, you can maximise your fun on the slopes while minimising the risks.

Stay safe, have fun, and embrace the thrill of tobogganing on our mountain!