Shannon arrived early so we started the tractor and drove onto the swamp ice to see if it was safe. Today's high of 18 degrees guaranteed at least some of the ice should be safe. We soon discovered that the visible ice was safe but the ice insulated by brush and snow was not. We ended up with a stuck tractor and not enough people to pull it out, so we went inside. Reinforcements arrived and we tried to pull it out but had to resort to the come along. After the tractor was free, we went to the barn and hooked up the fest-boose. The 'boose provided about an hour of action on the frozen swamp and at times it towed an additional sledder via a car sledding rope. Those in the 'boose enjoyed wheelies and fish tails while the rest of us spectated from the tractor. The tractor made several holes in the ice and had to be pulled out twice. These holes caught the 'boose's skis a couple times which resulted in abrupt halts. During the action the handle from the car sledding rope got caught in some brush and forward motion created tension on the rope. Then the handle broke free releasing the tension on the rope and sent the handle airborne where it hit Iwak in the head. Chris, Shannon, Vin, and Dave departed early and we ventured into the woods towing Brian in the fest-boose. We ascended the steep hill, went baja, and immediately rolled the 'boose. Brian got dumped onto the ground but made a quick recovery. A bit of descending in fourth gear over bumpy terrain broke the left ski off the 'boose. At this point Jeff arrived and we tossed the broken ski into the 'boose. Then we gave Brian a rough ride by towing the 'boose over the stonewall. Immediately after the wall the 'boose got caught on a large tree while we were still moving fast. It brought the tractor to a very abrupt halt and sent Iwak to the ground from his shotgun position. We were all quite amused as we recovered from the mishap. The bull was followed by a neutral drop on a rocky section which caused the top of the 'boose to break off. Then we returned to the main trail and towed the 'boose to the turnaround. The fest-boose now resembled a tub of broken parts rather than a ski-boose. Brian entertained the rest of us by riding the 'boose the entire length of the high speed bone jarring descent. At the bottom I surprised Brian with an excessively bumpy neutral drop to conclude winterfest '99.