People tend to stick to tradition when winter weather hits. Maybe it’s a venture into the yard to build a snowman. Perhaps it’s a surf of the web to see if anyone has answered the timeless question, “How are the roads?”
For many who live in and around Carroll, a fresh snowfall means making a trip to McDaniel College’s campus for what many have dubbed the best sledding hill in the county.
That’s what brought Toney Massenburg and his children outdoors despite a mix of sleet and freezing rain that fell around noon Monday. There had been enough snow overnight to cover McDaniel’s hillside along Md. 31, the west side of campus, where people turn the shoulder into a line of parked cars at the bottom of the sledding tracks.
Massenburg said he recently moved his family from the Catonsville area to Westminster, and plans were made to give McDaniel a go when the first winter weather of the year came to fruition. The trip was a surprise to son Torre, 11, and daughter Demi, 8, who dressed accordingly and carried a snow tube and sled with them as they made runs down the steep incline.
“I went down from all the way up there,” Demi said, pointing to the middle section of the hill — part of the college’s golf course — along West Main Street as it descends toward Md. 31. “It was so high up and I was so scared. I just kept going down.”
Demi used her feet as brakes so as not to let her momentum carry her too close to the roadside. Or any trees, as her dad instructed. Meanwhile, Torre used his sled as a snowboard to gain some steam, then flopped to his belly for the final downhill shush.
The kids, who attend William Winchester Elementary School, said they didn’t have hills like this nearby before they moved to Westminster. In being there Monday for the first time, they joined a club that stretches back decades from when local college students first started using their campus as a thrilling attraction.
The college’s hill-sledding history is more than a century old. Students and faculty were known in years past to use large dining room trays and take to different hills around campus. Construction and a new road in the 1960s resulted in a change of scenery, according to college historian and former teacher James Lightner in a 2013 Baltimore Sun article.
When McDaniel, then known as Western Maryland College, bought the hilly farmland adjacent to the campus, and expanded its golf course, sledders found another home. The new spot became the new hill.
Its slope made for ideal sledding no matter how much snow blanketed the campus. And the open space allowed for larger groups of people to flock to the spot.
“I grew up on Old Taneytown Road ... just 5 minutes from here,” said Randy Bassler of Westminster, who brought his wife Yoko and their children, 5-year-old Aurora and 1-year-old James to the hill Monday. “I came here when I was a little kid, about his age.”
Aurora and James sported rosy cheeks, and James had a bit of a bloody nose, but they weren’t about to let that keep them from enjoying the sledding experience. Aurora even snagged a few fresh clumps of snow to make a snack, perhaps stay hydrated, before they scaled the hill for another run with mom and dad.
James sat with his dad and Aurora doubled up with mom, but later made a few solo runs of her own with parental guidance.
“It’s so fun,” said Yoko Bassler, who was celebrating her 36th birthday. “It takes me back to my childhood. I’m glad she’s getting to experience it now. Hopefully when he gets older he’ll enjoy it a little more.”