By Bruce Karnick

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When people ask, “Where’s the best place to take the kids sledding in Hastings?”, there are three main answers. The Middle School hill by Hwy. 55, the courthouse, and Lions Park. The ponding basin off Louis Lane used to be on the list, but the changes made by the city years ago made it no longer an option for sledding. There is one place that few of us know about. One place, that kids from Kennedy Elementary, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and other youth groups experienced, a handmade luge style run on the east side of town.

This icy track started back in 1970, when Paul Swanstrom decided to build something cool for his son. Literally.

“My son was probably about three years old at the time. It wasn’t as elaborate. It wasn’t iced down,” Swanstrom explained.

Over the years, he learned a lot by trial and error, some builds he would have air gaps that break open and he’d have to fill them in with a slushy mix, other years, there just wasn’t enough snow. Swanstrom explained, because of the weather, he’s “probably done it 25 or so years out of the last 50.”

When talking about his creation, it is clear that he has a lot of pride and great memories from the various builds and techniques he has learned. From using plywood to create the backing for the wall, only using snow that has gone through a snowblower, to using watering cans with water so cold there is a thin layer of ice formed on top, he has 50+ years’ experience building his luge track.

His track building experience has taught Swanstrom that testing is key. Depending on the time of year and how the weather has been, the track can be extremely fast.

“So fast, you’ll shoot right over the bank if you’re not careful,” he joked.

If the track is a little fast for the day, he just tosses some snow down the launch ramp or moves the starting point of the riders. If it is a little on the slow side, he has room to back the sliders up at the start too. The most important piece of this is safety. In the 50+ years of doing this, he has only had one person get injured. Over 20 years ago, an adult went down the track and didn’t listen to the instructions he was given, causing him to be injured.

“If you do it right, it’s safe, even if you don’t do it exactly right, you’re not going to get hurt. You might get a bump or a bruise or something like that, but not hurt,” Swanstrom was quick to point out, Even so, he does require a parent to sign a waiver saying they understand the rules and that he is not responsible for their use of the track. That is the saddest part because it is no more dangerous than going to a hill full of people and sledding down it. One weird fall and you could break something anywhere, but it is certainly understandable to require the waiver.

How long does it take him to build this track?

“It takes about 40 hours over a period of maybe two weeks to get it all done. And you have to use the snow that’s gone through a blower. If you put the snow through a blower, you can stack it up pretty easy just with a shovel,” Swanstrom stated.

The hard part is, there is a sweet spot for making it and using it.

“The conditions are only good for about four to six weeks. If it can be used past the middle of February, then it’s been a good year,” Swanstrom said.

What does Swanstrom get out of this?

“I get the joy of making it for one, and with the pandemic, what the heck else am I gonna do? Also, I enjoy people having fun and being out, shouting and laughter and the ‘weeeee’ and the screeching. It’s great,” he said with a smile.

It is clear he misses the neighborhood kids coming over, enjoying the time outdoors with their friends and simply being kids. By the time this paper comes out, he will have turned 80.

Here’s where growing up in Hastings and now being a writer for the town paper has it’s little perks. I was part of one of those cub scout troops that used his track back in the 1980’s, and ever since then, I always wondered if he kept doing it and kept sharing that track with kids around town. Of course, when you are 10, you don’t remember exactly where it was you went, you just remember how cool it was, so I never got to go back there, until now. I always wanted to build my own luge track for my kids, but never got to. I never had the right setup to do it, and now they are grown, so when Swanstrom called me, I did the next best thing. Shared it with my sister, brother-in-law, sevenyear- old niece and her two cousins. We met at his house on Saturday morning to let the kids ride the track. Swanstrom was very clear that he had all the needed sleds to ride, we just needed to show up, sign the waiver, follow the directions and have fun.

For the purpose of the photos and because it was my family group, he did allow us to not have masks on, but he does want users to come prepared with proper face coverings for everyone’s protection. He gave everyone instructions and a demonstration of how to properly lay in the sled then off he went! Only to reappear from the other side of the house about a minute later.

Our first rider was the daredevil Madden. His screeches and giggles were likely heard a block away. “That was AWESOME!” he proclaimed as he popped out of the sled.

Up next, Brooklynn. For her, it was the same thing, giggling and laughing the whole way down. Mom asked “How was it?”

“FUN!” Brooklynn replied as she took off to go again.

Madden is the most cautious of the bunch, so he tried very hard to slow himself down the first run, which did not work at all. It took him a few times and adjusting his start point to be lower on the drop in for him to get the hang of it, but once he did, he was all smiles.

After each kid went down half a dozen or so times, Swanstrom offered to let them sit up, but he said “You stay here, I’m going to show you how to do it,” as he made his way to the top.

That’s when he talked daddy in to going down the run to surprise the kids and momma. We were at the bottom of the run where you cannot see the starting point. We hear the sled start coming and the kids are expecting to see Swanstrom instead they all start laughing and yelling “IT’S AARON!”

How did he like it? “It’s actually pretty fun,” he said.

Shortly after, Swanstrom did come down in the seated position to show the kids how it was done. “I’m not even the oldest person to ride this,” he explained. “The oldest person was 84 years old.”

Proving, you are never too old to have fun like a kid. While the track is made for most people to use, do not think for one second it is not an anti- climatic ride. The kids really do get moving coming down the hill.

After everyone else left, Swanson gave me the rundown on the how’s and the why’s. Then reality set in. “This is probably the last year I’m gonna do this,” he said.

“It’s a lot of work and doesn’t get much use anymore,” a sadness entering his words.

That is where you come in. Swanstrom would love to share his passion for his luge track with the community, but again, he wants to do so safely. He does require a parent or guardian to sign a waiver for kids and adults need to sign their own too. He asks everyone wear masks and you must follow the simple instructions. Leave your sleds at home, he has ones that work best on this track.

If you want to pay him a visit and use the sledding track, it looks like there are about 2-3 weeks left of prime weather to do so. His address is not going to be included in the article so people cannot just show up at his house. He asks that you give him a call at 651-437-2566 to arrange a time to come over. He’ll give you the address and go over his expectations. He does not ask for anything in return other than seeing and hearing the kids having fun and being respectful.

Do this while you still can folks, it is a simple memory that I carried with me for nearly 40 years from my childhood, hopefully your kids will carry it with them too, and maybe, just maybe, we can convince him to do it again if he

The look on the kids’ faces tells the story of how much fun the track is to ride on. Being a safe rider and following the rules gives riders the opportunity to ride sitting up. Initially, riders must ride on their back with knees up and feet first to get used to the track. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Paul Swanstrom goes over the waiver with adults and kids and instructs them on safely using the luge track he has created on his property in Hastings. His preference is to have people wearing masks even if part of the same family. Photo by Bruce Karnick