Sledge

A sledge is a vehicle that slides across a surface, usually snow or ice, on a smooth underside or on separate runners that reduce friction with the ground, sometimes further eased by greasing or wetting the runners; it can be pulled by hand, by draft animals such as dogs and reindeer, or by machines including snowmobiles and tractors, and it is used to move both passengers and cargo. Evidence of sledge use reaches back before 10,000 BC in North America and to roughly 3,200 BC in Sumer, and sledges were also used in ancient Egypt; in old Muscovy the closed winter sledge known as a vozok served as a fast means of travel across the snow-covered plains, and nineteenth and early twentieth century Arctic and Antarctic explorers relied on both man-hauled and dog-drawn sledges to cross polar terrain. The type ranges today from simple recreational sledges for downhill sliding to purpose-built utility sledges adapted to particular climates and cargo, and to specialized competition vehicles such as the bobsled and the luge.