As you stand atop the hill ready to rock, you're staring down a veritable choose your own adventure of possibilities. And it can be hard to decipher anything resembling a clear thought in that muddied brain of yours (especially if you've been drinking all day). Should I go traditional sled, or saucer? Should I go on my stomach, or back? Should I luge, or surf? These are the questions that bombard the sledder before a potentially triumphant (or life-ending) run.

And the fact of the matter is that things change and continue to change during your run. It's like, gee, I wasn't really expecting to be facing backward at this point, and these mini-moguls can't be great for my vertebrae.

So collect yourself. The name of the game is sledding. And sledding is fun! So by the transitive property, the name of the game is fun. So have some! And follow these well-seasoned tips for maxed out rad fun. Sledding style!

Respect the sled. The sled is your friend, and you should treat him as such. He can turn his back on you like a runaway orphan, or he can be your pal for life. Treat him like you want to be treated.
Embrace the traditional rectangular sled. They're more what sledding is all about. I distinctly remember laughing at kids with saucers back when I was young the same way I now laugh at neighborhood kids who wear helmets when they ride bikes (what's up with that?). All the cool designs and the latest in aerodynamics come from these rectangular sleds; saucers are, well, round. Like they were in the 1950s and will again be in the 2050s.

Plus you have to sit indian style on the saucer, and that's just not that comfortable anymore. The only truly respectable saucer sleds are the Snow Monster and Clark W. Griswold's crazy souped up metal saucer sled that had him going Mach 3 in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."
Surf whenever possible. Keep a low center of gravity for maximum balance and the longest possible run. Stick one out and play it cool and you'll surely impress that special sledder in your life.
Luge rather than lying on your stomach. The stomach stuff was all good back in the day, when your cares were, well, sledding and not much else. But nowadays you gotta worry about things like your 6 year hiatus from visiting the orthodontist and how you want to keep it that way. Which goes hand in hand with ...
Leave the running starts to the kiddies. If you get a running start, unless you can defy the laws of physics and turn it into a backslide, you're going to end up on your stomach and with those pesky moguls coming at you even faster than before. Remember, your motivation is avoiding the orthodontist at all costs.
Try to hit your friends. They'll forgive you, because it's hard to get mad at anyone while sledding. A good collision can be a beautiful thing, full of mangled body parts and legs that were never meant to bend that far that way.

And they'll appreciate it as such. The best thing to do is to time it so that just as they're getting up you're coming dead at them, and their only option is jump straight into the air. Either way, it's all good.
Avoid off-path runs. If they were meant to be sledded and shredded, they'd be the main runs. I've seen bad things come from off-path runs. Very bad things. Don't be another statistic.
Dress for the occasion. Winter jackets, gloves or mittens and skullcaps are all necessities of a long afternoon (or late night) of sledding. Don't be the one shivering in the corner with the frostbite on his nose. Wear a scarf!
Swear as much as possible. If doom is impending, make sure everyone else around you knows just as much, if not more, as you do.
Just do it! If you haven't been sledding in a while, you may have forgotten how fun it is. So blow off your afternoon classes and head to old man Leonard's hill. It can even be justified as exercise if you consider all the climbing back up of the hill you'll be doing. Winter comes but once a year!