(Brief) History of Molson Runner Sleds

  Everyone likes sledding.  Kids, Adults, even college students.  Some friends and I lived and went to school near the mountains in Central Washington.  Winter was long, cold and snowy so we took up sledding on the logging roads near the house we rented.

  Day or night, full moon nights anyway, we took turns riding the two sleds we had.  Unfortunately they broke.  As the runs got faster and we attempted to make hard turns the runners would fold under.  Welding diamond plate onto the supports helped, but only for awhile.

  Then one day at Sarge Hubbard's surplus store in Yakima, Washington the first of what was to become the Molson Runner Sled appeared.  Designed and built by Otto Lagervall, inventor of the ubiquitous music stand seen in schools everywhere and of the Yakima car top carrier, the sled was called the Yakima Ski Sled.  It was love at first sight!  But we couldn't afford one at the time.

  Fortunately our college rec dept. had purchased a few and we were able to rent them.  Trudging up a long access road over and over, we flew back down with huge grins each time.  We were sold. Still couldn't buy one, but renting worked out just fine.

  Time move on and sledding was forgotten while startings careers and families.  And with families come children!  My wife, Zelia, and I moved to the mountainous area near the Canadian Border and just over the hill from the little town of Molson, Washington.  There our two boys, Kagen and Kellen, were born in 1979 & '81.  Once again being surrounded by snow covered hlls and having two little boys, our thoughts returned to sledding.

  Zelia looked up Otto's phone number and talked with his wife Jeanne who told us the company had been sold to an outfit in California and gave us their number.  After purchasing a few sleds from them, they informed us they were selling the business.  We bought the patent and manufacturing rights, along with a truckload of raw material, jigs, etc.

  We were in business!!!!  We built and sold sleds one by one as people heard about them and contacted us.  But more important, we had sleds for us and our friends to use...and use them we did!  Eventually the boys grew up, we moved away from the mountains and building Molson Runner Sleds was pushed to the back burner.

  Sledding wasn't, though :)  We still got family and friends together for sledding weekends every winter.

  And that brings us almost to where we are today.  One day I received a call from Kellen stating that he wanted to get the business going again and that we should do it together.  A few years, lots of fun and not a couple headaches later, the sleds are coming together better than ever!

  We hope our sleds bring as much joy and as many memories to you as they have for all of us.  And with that, we'll leave you with this:

May the winter be cold, the snow plentiful and deep, and your sled fast and forgiving. 

May your friends share in the fun and laughter, and your legs have the strength for one more run, but most of all, may the camera be rolling when you part ways from your trusty vessel.

-Mike Huebner, Owner Molson Runner Sleds