Hurtling at breakneck speed, leaving only a wake of icy spray, a sledder flies down a luge track. Blue lips and white knuckle-speed may not sound like fun to you, but for one local snow-fort builder these are signs of pure winter success.

Ryan Rasmussen of Maeser began building his snow-fort in early December. He does this every year, but this winter there’s been an ample supply of frozen building material.

“I started with the snow in the back yard,” Rasmussen explains. “I cut blocks of snow, situate them in-place and then hose them down to freeze solid.”

With daytime temperatures hovering around 10 degrees Fahrenheit it doesn’t take long for the structure to freeze. This year’s creation is an igloo on top of a luge run with a 90-foot-long dual track.

Construction efforts took six to seven hours of work each Saturday, but Rasmussen says it was worth it.

“This is the tallest and longest structure I’ve built so far,” Rasmussen explains. He never ran out of resources with snow storms every other day and two every weekend. Maeser is still covered in winter white.

The igloo-shaped luge hut sits on top of a tower of solid snow blocks. Rasmussen dug the snow from the yard for as much of the construction as possible. When he ran out of that, he started cutting blocks from the snow on his roof and tossed them onto the tower.

“I carved the igloo out of the tower blocks,” says the snow-engineer. “The kids place candles inside the igloo. When its dark and lit up, the igloo looks like a giant white jack-o-lantern. It’s kinda cool.”

“The kids love the luge. They really fly,” he says. “Seriously, I’ve had kids practically fly off the track.” Rasmussen is a bona fide snow-engineer in constructing his luge tracks. “The drop from the luge hut to the base of the track is 20 feet.”

At the end of each run there’s a sharp turn and runout to slow the sledder. At first, Rasmussen engineered a low banked turn to the runout slope but had to re-build the curve.

“I had some kids just about fly over the fence,” he says, pointing to the orchard behind a chain link fence. “Underneath the banked curves there’s a hot tub in one and a picnic table in the other for support. I had to rebuild the curved wall of the turn to slow ‘em down and keep inside the track.”

The runout track at the end of each luge run passes a trampoline. Only the black surface of the top is visible. The frozen surface of the luge sets up quickly with the sledders. Rasmussen throws snow on it to slow the sleds down. If a sledder misses the runout track and hits the trampoline they could end up in the neighbor’s yard.

Brinli and Ryker Rasmussen take plastic sleds to the top of the luge for the first runs of the day. There’s a science to the process. The slower sleds are the well used ones, which have cracks and dings that put drag on their downhill flight. Usually the first run is slow so the sledder can get a feel for the surface.

After a moment’s trepidation, Brinli flies down the ramp spinning out at the base. Next, Ryker whose gathering speed takes him halfway up the tree on the curve wall before dropping in a dizzying spin. Rasmussen says he generally requires that the kids wear protective gear so as not scrape fingers and knees on the ice.

“It’s really hard this year,” says Brinli, smiling broadly. Her second run ends flipping her over below the tree. Faster runs bring higher curves. Even a tumble is no reason to stop. The laughter is contagious and within minutes a neighborhood friend, Jaden Gibbs enters the snow park. Rasmussen sends him down on a first run with a “slow sled.”

Ryker goes for a faster run, saying “this is better this year.” Rasmussen admits that the sharp drop and fast runout is “kinda intimidating.” But that doesn’t seem to drive any kids away.

Adults just stand by in envy of the kids on the tracks. Every run is higher and faster than the previous one. It’s breathtaking fun. At the same time, a cat walks idly on the fence behind the luge track, while another sits sunning itself in the door of a playhouse. Beside the luge a white dog sits on a black trampoline watching the children. It’s a surreal scene. You forget that this is just a backyard in a neighborhood, not a frozen amusement park.

Rasmussen says he still plans to complete building his 30-foot snowman in the front yard. The base of it is already 20 feet in diameter and rises over five feet in height.

“I’ll pile snow in sections, carving or sculpting the snowman as I go,” says Rasmussen. “I’m pretty sure I’ll have to use a ladder to finish his head. I’m not sure how that’ll work.” He had better hurry, the afternoon sun is getting warmer.

Rasmussen’s igloo and luge creation stands taller than the second story window of his house. With every successive run, the surface of the luge becomes icier, faster. Made of layers and layers of iced over snow it is hard to believe that it will ever melt completely.

“How long will last? Everyone always asks that question,” says Rasmussen. “I estimate that this will still be melting in April, maybe it’ll be gone by mid-April.”