In seven previous snow retreats I had never visited the tubing hill at the Double-K. For years I’ve heard stories, seen pictures, and watched video. But I never made the trek across the field and gone down for myself.

That changed last week.

Now there’s a story circulating that Phil’s sons gave him significant grief for wearing the helmet. Darlene took pictures with her iPhone and apparently the family sent emails back and forth amongst themselves all afternoon questioning the preacher’s manliness. For the record, I not only embraced the little girl bike helmet, I’m glad I did. Note especially the stage six and seven pictures below.

*So far so good.

*Starting to get a little bumpy.

*The beginning of trouble.

*The feet are not supposed to go over the head.

*You know what’s coming next.

*The face plant. (Click on the picture to see a larger image).

*Thankful for the little girl helmet now.

*All the way around.

*Going around again.

*More roll than flip this time.

*Almost done.

*The end.

You can watch the slideshow here. And thanks to Jesse Martin for the photography.