THERE'S A REASON FOR IT

This is the bottom of Art Hill, the long slope that's the place to go sledding in this town. The body of water at the bottom is known as the Grand Lagoon. When we got heavy snows (it happened), the paved path would be covered and the reckless could - and did - fly straight into the water (and it's more than a meter drop). Eventually, the park put a line of hay bales at the bottom. Now it's spaced bales with that orange net stretch stuff.

Forest Park lies between our two major universities, St. Louis U. and Washington U. When I was an undergrad at SLU, we used to swipe plastic trays from the cafeteria to use as minimal sleds if there was a big dump. Kids would zoom out of control and occasionally someone would shoot off the end. I saw it happen.