Jumping off the barn into the snow drifts in the '80's
Posted by XrisXrossApplesauce@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 50 comments
I had an old farmer come in today and during the conversation he mentioned the couple of large snowfall years we had in the 80's. I told him about how my siblings and cousins and I would climb up into the top of the barn and jump into the snow drifts. Surprisingly none of us got hurt AT ALL. He said his kids did it too. Did any other Gen X rural kids do this or was it just our dim witted boring section of the earth?
classicsat@reddit
We had a hill against the side of the barn, excellent to ride toboggans down. I found a sheet of enamelled roofing steel to be a great toboggan.
Ok-Competition-4219@reddit
I jumped off the roof into the grass all the time. Didn’t need snow
KrofftSurvivor@reddit
Didn't have to be rural... We were jumping off of garage roofs after the blizzard of '78...
JimmyJohn_5150@reddit
SAme here, Blizzard of 1982 St Louis, MO.
ONROSREPUS@reddit
Only once until we go caught. Oh man was my mom pissed. Then she told dad and that was the last time.
PlantMystic@reddit
Yup. Did some tubing excursions like that too.
Prudent-Theme-3342@reddit
Oh, I've done that. We jumped off the lowest part of the roof of my mother's friend's schoolhouse-turned-home in rural Essex County, Ontario - about 12 feet. Nobody noticed, haha
Machinebuzz@reddit
We used to dig a tunnel from the top of our garage making a slide to the yard. We haven't seen that much snow in many years.
Frosty-Bat-5904@reddit
Oh yes!!! I’m so glad I survived my adolescence!
Traditional_Fan_2655@reddit
We didn't jump from the roof, but my older cousin stood on top of the roof throwing down candy from a bowl while singing 'The candy man'. My mom almost wrung his neck. Their summer visit shortened very quickly.
viewering@reddit
i love this
😁🩵💛
Traditional_Fan_2655@reddit
It was pretty fun, like a static parade. My mother was NOT amused.
SarahJaneB17@reddit
This sounds like a Lynda Barry comic.
Freightshaker000@reddit
I grew up in NoDak. We did that in town off the roof of our house. Great fun as a kid.
kcsews@reddit
New England here. SO much snow in the mid 90's, my 2 goofballs could climb up on first floor roof!
cityjax@reddit
There was an old quad plex on Minot afb we used to sled off of when I was a kid. No hills around so they would push all of the snow up against it for us. At least that's what we thought. 😆
Freightshaker000@reddit
There was a large parking lot across the street from my house and they would create 15' tall snowpiles we would sled down. They were also great for building snow tunnels and caves.
Odditeee@reddit
We didn’t have snow, or barns, but we had roofs and backyard pools. Same game.
viewering@reddit
Did you also skate in them ?
🏄
viewering@reddit
on holiday jumping IN the barn, off the loft railing, into the hay, LOTS AND LOTS OF H A Y !
then off to pet my favorite cow !
basketofselkies@reddit
We used to sled off a 7’ retaining wall when I was a kid in Vermont. That or go down the long driveway that would rocket you across the road into the woods.
viewering@reddit
lol ! nice !!
Expensive-Vanilla-16@reddit
I don't remember jumping into snow but my neighbor had a huge old barn with a hay loft with a rope and pulley in the peak. I remember we'd climb to the top, one of us would jump out to the rope and swing to the other side. Then we'd swing back and see who could swing out the farthest. I can still remember that prickly old rope feeling in my hands. Thinking about this dumb stunt now makes my toes tingle.
Canoearoo@reddit
Getting on the beams that were 15' above the ground and running from one side of the barn to the other like it was nothing.
Putrid-Tale-5114@reddit
I jumped into the snowdrifts from the top of the garage during the 78 blizzard, good thing my uncle saw my goofy tailed self & shoveled me a path out or I would have been buried alive
Bobby_Globule@reddit
78 was crazy
VanillaHuel@reddit
It was. I climbed a fence and flung myself backward off of it repeatedly, which would have resulted in injury at any other time.
Bobby_Globule@reddit
Jumping off stuff is hell yeah
DeereGirl99@reddit
Oh yeah did this all the time as a kid. Then later on when I got older I had to climb on the roof of the pole barn to help shovel it off. Then it wasn’t so much fun anymore.
Signal_Glittering@reddit
I jumped into a bale of hay but only once. It was much higher than I thought
XrisXrossApplesauce@reddit (OP)
Lol, we used to jump from bale to bale when.we we're kids, it's not easy with round bales. I'm loving all of these stories, realizing how amazing our childhoods were!!
root_fifth_octave@reddit
Grew up in a ski town. Jumping off of shit into snow was a way of life :)
ave427@reddit
No, but I remember sledding down a hill on an inner tube at neck breaking speed and having to stop before going into the creek. Good times!
Roadkiller611@reddit
I had to shovel my roof of several years ago (New Hampshire) and how did I get down? You guessed it. Brought back a lot of memories.
Hungry-King-1842@reddit
https://i.redd.it/gayc3ivs664h1.gif
SouthernOshawaMan@reddit
Had a snow drift make it to the bottom of my bedroom window on the 2nd floor of our house .
Healthy-Theme8261@reddit
During blizzard of 78 we jumped out of my friends 3rd story window into snow drift Boston triple decker
Clembert-Hamlamp@reddit
My 1st cat trudged her way thru feet of snow to show up on my porch that winter. I remember the snow on the walkup being high as my head. We named her Crystal after Frosty the snowmans wife. Seems like it was right around Christmas? Best present ever.
WinnerAwkward480@reddit
In the 80's was a dirt excavation site , was roughly 50' drop from top to bottom at and angle . If there was a heavy rain might be 6 foot of water at bottom . We used big chunks of cardboard as a sled . Of course waxed cardboard was the best , or an old car hood .
shakeyjake@reddit
I jumped off the parking garage at a ski resort into a snow drift of powder. This was before dawn and everything was fresh powder. IIRC I went down about 8 feel and had to crawl my way out through the snow.
automator3000@reddit
I would safely say that wherever there has been deep snow, there has been kids jumping into that snow.
And why would you have gotten hurt? It was your barn. If there was a massive boulder or an old tractor under the snow drift, you would have known not to jump there.
LayerNo3634@reddit
Never have seen much snow. We get a dusting once a decade or so. It's still a novelty to us.
SamHandwich0@reddit
Not a barn, but a golf course near where i was a kid had 'the hill' it felt about vertical and shot you down onto a cart path that was raised so it was basically a ramp- it'd shoot you about 3ft in the air (but it felt like 10) and you would land in a drft on the ther side- at least the day after the snow fall. 2 days after only 'big kids'- pre teens - and idiots went down it. Landing on ground after a 3ft drop was teeth rattling and sled destroying.
PhiloLibrarian@reddit
Yup, jumping into snow piles/drifts is a way of life.
Matt90977@reddit
Was a small hay pile, near a hole in the wall of the second story of the barn, that my brother and I would leap to, over a pile of bricks.
I feel like we may have jumped off the house to snow too, but I dont remember clearly.
Do_U_Scratch@reddit
There were no barns in the close vicinity but I lived on Lake Erie. We’d jump off house or shed roofs into the snow. Occasionally the lake would push ice and snow against the beach houses and we could sled off. In one area there was a big hill, 20’ high. When the snow drifted a lot we could carve tunnels and caverns in the drifts. Oh, those were the days!
Ok_Blueberry304@reddit
Does jumping from the loft into the hay count?
Miserable_Jacket_129@reddit
I absolutely did this. Rural Wyoming, massive drifts. We both jumped and sledded off.
We also made majestic snow forts.
Agitated_Fox_@reddit
Fellow Wyomingite here. Lived in Cheyenne so not too rural but we launched off our roof too!
Nissir@reddit
I sledded off the barn a few times due to massive snow drifts. Jumped off the single story house enough times to my ass whooped.