Sleds like this are very common in Norway.Back in the day, I was probably 11 or so, we had some ice followed by a little snow. A couple buddies and I grabbed our steel runner sleds and headed to a spot in town that had a long run down a sidewalk for about 300 yards. I led off and flew down the sidewalk, but when I got to the bottom my buddies were way back. I walked back up the hill and the guy behind me, either couldn't see due to snow flying up or just lost control a bit, can't remember which, but he ran head on into a telephone pole between the sidewalk and the curb. Bloody face, out-of-it, etc. We helped him home and dropped him off at the door, no use of us getting chewed on...lol. He told his mom he thought he broke his nose. She told him to go to bed and sleep it off, he was fine. When he got up in the morning he was black and blue, swollen and couldn't breathe through his nose. Nose and sinus surgery put him back in commission. "Just walk it off, you're fine..."
And they don't salt the backroads in the mountains. When visiting family in winter we'd get towed up the road at night by rope, then race back down in the dark, with the tow car behind everyone. They run huge races on frozen roads (closed to traffic) too, or at least used to. We didn't have that luxury, so had to watch for headlights of oncoming vehicles. There was never that much traffic though. Unfortunately one of my adult cousins was going way to fast (nearly 20 years ago now) and didn't make it around a corner one time, and died from his chest hitting the steering wheel. Pretty messed up sometimes what might take you out. That put a huge damper on our new years eve back home in Canada when we heard about it, and I think they cancelled the big local race that year.
Kristian
