It's been a great winter for sledding.
So great, in fact, that the number of serious sledding injuries is way up at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC).
The hospital has seen more than twice as many serious injuries from sledding accidents this winter as it saw in all of 2007, officials said Tuesday. Thirteen patients have been admitted for sledding injuries, mostly spinal damage, compared to six in all of 2007. That doesn't include the head bumps, bruises and scrapes that are not serious enough for admittance.
Tynisha Webber, 23, of Hutchinson is a classic example of how fast things can go wrong on an icy hill.
Last week she went sliding with her two sons, aged 4 and 5, at Rocket Hill, the local sledding spot in Hutchinson.
"Come on, Mom," her younger son begged after she'd been standing on top of the hill for 20 minutes.
She got on a saucer. Her youngest son climbed on a double-wide sled with a friend's daughter, who is 13, and they headed down the hill with Webber trailing behind the sled.
She saw the jump coming when it was too late. Later, people who witnessed the crash told her she and the children caught at least three feet of air beneath them before they landed.
