Sledding contains in its multitudes the best and worst of winter outdoor activities. At its most glorious, you’re flying down a well-covered, perfectly sloped hill with no trees or traffic in sight, sun on your cheeks and snowflakes in your hair. At its most miserable, you’re trudging up an icy, hazardous embankment, soaked down to your underwear and wishing you’d stayed home. A sport (yes, sport) like this needs gear that can make even the dreariest day worth leaving the house.
To that end, the Yukon Hammerhead Pro HD ($230) stands far above the competition—it’s hard to even include it in the same category as plastic discs reminiscent of garbage-can lids. The Hammerhead is an Olympic-level snow-sliding machine. It’s everything you ever wanted from a classic toboggan, sans brain-jarring rattles and plus revolutionary control.
This is an intermediate-level one-person sled, best for younger teens and above. (We have yet to find its upper age limit.) Sledders lie face-down on the impact-absorbing nylon-mesh bed and grip the handlebars, which control durable polycarbonate front skis mounted to the aluminum frame. This steering mechanism allowed our testers to make nearly 90-degree turns. It’s a notable departure from most other sleds, which rely on users to lean or pull ropes to turn, often with lackluster results. After turning, a stainless-steel spring snaps the handlebars back into place to keep you on course. An adjustable padded shoulder strap makes the 15-pound rig easy to carry up the hill for one more run.
There were faster models in our test, but they were less comfortable to ride or harder to carry and steer. None stacked up to the Hammerhead when it came to overall fun. One tester summed up our sentiment in a single word: “Obsessed.”