Where Are The Best Sledding Spots in Belmont?

After the New Year's Nor'easter blows out of Belmont Friday at noon, town folks, especially the hardy and young, will forage through garages and basements for an array of inflatable, saucer shaped or just a trash lid and head off to their favorite sledding hill.

And Belmont residents have their choice of sledding opportunities in Belmont and surrounding towns, from gentle, short declines especially made for toddlers to the damn near suicidal hills that are fast and crazy.

Here are just a few of the places you should try close by.

For the young beginners:

• Grove Street Playground, where the youth baseball field defends onto the soccer field/basketball courts: A short drop and easy to see with no trees or barriers. Lots of Belmont residents begin sledding here.

• Town Field, on the Waverley Street side: for the very young; two seconds and its over. If you have to tumble out of a sled for the very first time in your life, this is the place.

The next step moderate slopes:

• Clay Pit Pond, along Concord Avenue and Underwood Road: Steeper and longer than Grove Street, you can pick up some speed here and you have to watch out for those big trees. There's of course the pond you need to be aware of but there's a good barrier of vegetation between you and the water. 

• Underwood Playground along School Street across from the Wellington School: Great place because there's parking across the street at the Wellington. Sneaky hill as it gets steeper the lower down the hill you go. Watch out for trees and that darn fence around the Underwood Pool. 

• Beaver Brook reservation at the corner of Mill Street and Trapelo Road. I've never gone but Waverley folks say there is some nice opportunities to get your sledding mojo on. 

For crazy teenagers:

• The Payson Park Reservoir especially at the intersection of Payson Road and Cushing Avenue. First, it's steep. Second, there's a major bump about a third of the way down launching you into the air. Third, you funnel either into a street or a line of trees. And after every snow storm, teens (and many parents) flock to this prominent landmark as a rite of passage. I've gone down it. Yikes!

If Belmont's opportunities just don't cut it, there are other sledding opportunities close at hand in neighboring towns.

Arlington 
Just about a minute from Belmont across Route 2 on Park Avenue, Robbins Farm Park at 61 Eastern Ave. has some great, rolling hills and even a slide for sledding, a playground and play structure and on clear crisp days one of the most elegant views of Boston you will ever see. There is also sledding on Spy Pond but that is crowded on most snow days.

Waltham
Head over to the Cedar Hill Girl Scout Camp at 265 Beaver St. near Bentley College and seek out the "Girl Scout Hill." 

Watertown
At one time, the backside of the Oakley Country Club off of Grenville Road was THE place to go sledding with long, fast trips into a bowl at the bottom. But the club fenced off the area after one too many kids and young adults needed to be taken away via Watertown ambulance. And since my son is 22 and hasn't been sledding for what seems ever, I don't know if the club will let you enter off of Belmont Street and sled down the long fairways facing Belmont. I do remember that you could see Boston from the parking lot.