toboggan

1. To coast, ride, or travel on a toboggan.
2. Slang. To decline or fall rapidly: His good fortune has tobogganed.

[Canadian French tobagan, from Micmac topaghan.]

For more information on tobogganing, visit Britannica.com.

Find yourself a straight, tall birch or hackmatack. Hack it with your axe to see if it's sturdy inside. If it is, chop it down. Cut two sections, trim them with your axe, and plane them smooth to make a matching pair of boards. Then put the boards in hot water long enough to soak them through and make them limber. Bend the front edge of each board tightly around a stick to make a decorative loop. Attach crossbars to hold the two boards side by side, bend the big front loop, and tie the decorative loop to a crossbar to hold it. Let it dry for a couple of days. Then make holes in it, sew it with string, and off you go.

That's how a Cree Indian of the Mistissini tribe of central Quebec describes the making of a toboggan. You can make it long or short, depending on whether you will use it to move a whole camp or just to go out for a few days.

Northeastern Canada has lots of snow to contend with. The Europeans who first visited the eastern shores of Canada were technologically advanced over the Indians in metallurgy and manufacturing, but they were not nearly as well prepared as the Indians to get around in the winter snow. Both snowshoes and toboggans were Indian inventions that had no European equivalents. The advantage of a toboggan over a sled is that it will carry a greater load over softer snow. A sled works well on hard snow or ice, but it will get stuck off the beaten trail.

Our word toboggan comes from the language of the Micmac Indians in the eastern Maritime Provinces of Canada. The French learned about it first. Eventually it came into English from French, in an 1829 book called Forest Scenes and Incidents in the Wilds of North America; Being a Diary of a Winter's Route from Halifax to the Canadas, and During Four Months' Residence in the Woods on the Borders of Lakes Huron and Simcoe: "A tobogin is a small sleigh, drawn by men, of very simple construction, and capable of conveying from 100 to 140 pounds of clothes or other baggage."

A descendant of the toboggan is in the Winter Olympics: the bobsled, a toboggan with a steering mechanism, invented by the Swiss late in the nineteenth century.

Today there are about 6,000 speakers of Micmac in eastern Canada. Because the Jay Treaty of 1794 permits Micmacs to move freely between Canada and the United States, substantial numbers have recently moved south. There are now said to be about 2,000 speakers of Micmac in and around Boston, Massachusetts. Micmac is a member of the eastern branch of the Algonquian-Ritwan language family. English is also indebted to Micmac for caribou (1665).

A toboggan is a simple sled, that is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites. A toboggan differs from most sleds or sleighs in that it has no runners or skis (or only low ones) on the underside. The bottom of a toboggan rides directly on the snow. Some parks include designated toboggan hills where ordinary sleds are not allowed and which may include toboggan runs similar to bobsleigh courses.

"The Toboggan Party," c 1872–1875

The traditional toboggan is made of bound, parallel wood slats, all bent forward at the front to form a sideways 'J' shape. A thin rope is run through the top of the loop to provide rudimentary steering. The frontmost rider places their feet in the loop and sits on the flat bed; any others sit behind them and grasp the waist of the person before them.

Modern recreational toboggans are typically manufactured from wood, aluminum or plastic. Larger, more rugged models are made for commercial or rescue use.

"The Mountaineer [Innu] method is the only one adapted for the interior parts of the country: their sleds are made of two thin boards of birch; each about six inches broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and six feet long: these are fastened parallel to each other by slight battens, sewed on with thongs of deer-skin; and the foremost end is curved up to rise over the inequalities of the snow. Each individual who is able to walk, is furnished with one of these; but those for the children are proportionately less. On them they stow all their goods, and also their infants; which they bundle up very warm in deer-skins. The two ends of a leather thong are tied to the corners of the sled; the bight or double part of which is placed against the breast, and in that manner it is drawn along. The men go first, relieving each other in the lead by turns; the women follow next, and the children, according to their strength, bring up the rear; and, as they all walk in rackets [snowshoes], the third or fourth person finds an excellent path to walk on, let the snow be ever so light" (Townsend 1911:357–358).

Ski Patrol Toboggans

Toboggans are used by most ski patrols to transport patients. Most are made of fiberglass and are designed to fit a standard backboard. Attached tubular steel handles extending from the front. In this case, a patroller skis while positioned between handles. Some ski patrol toboggans have a second set of handles at the rear for a second ski patroller. Most toboggans have a safety line attached to the rear for use by another patroller (to belay) or to secure the toboggans at accident sites.

Most ski patrol toboggan handles are hinged so that they can be folded backwards either for storage or uphill transport on ski lifts. The handles usually have a mechanism to lock the handles into position during skiing.

Most toboggans feature a detachable length of chain underneath the front of the hull as a braking mechanism.

Toboggan handles may incorporate a trailer hitch for towing behind a snowmobile.

To return toboggans to the top of a ski lift, a detachable hanger called a "hocksey" (origin: unknown) is used to carry the toboggan on the seat beside the patroller.

Some toboggans are manufactured in a double-width configuration so that CPR can be administered during transport by a patrollers riding alongside the patient.

References

• Townsend, Charles Wendell, ed. (1911). "Sixth Voyage, 1786," Captain Cartwright and his Labrador Journal, Boston: Dana Estes & Company.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Toboggans

Look up toboggan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Bobsled
• Luge
• Tuque
• Skeleton (sport)

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - kælk, kælketur
v. intr. - kælke

Nederlands (Dutch)
tobogan(slee), rodelen

Français (French)
n. - toboggan, luge
v. intr. - faire du toboggan, faire de la luge

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schlitten
v. - Schlitten fahren

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - είδος αγωνιστικού ελκήθρου, τόμπογκαν
v. - τρέχω με τόμπογκαν

Italiano (Italian)
scivolo, scivolare

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tobogã (m)
v. - andar de tobogã

Русский (Russian)
санный спорт, кататься на санях, (спорт.) спускаться на тобоггане

Español (Spanish)
n. - tobogán, descenso rápido, caída vertical
v. intr. - deslizarse por un tobogán, bajar verticalmente

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - toboggan, medlös kälke
v. - åka kälke, åka ner/rasa (bild.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
平底雪撬, 乘平底雪橇滑下, 暴跌

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 平底雪撬
v. intr. - 乘平底雪橇滑下, 暴跌

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 썰매
v. intr. - 썰매로 미끄러져 내리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - トボガン
v. - トボガンで滑る, 急落する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) انحدار, مزلقه (فعل) يهبط ( ألسعر فجأة) يتزلق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מזחלת-שלג, שלגית‬
v. intr. - ‮גלש, החליק, ירד‬

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