Before he got on that snow saucer, an upturned disk built for speed, Mr. Larsen was best known for things big — indeed, he did everything big.

Theyd snuck out the back door of the school, found a snow saucer in the playground and huddled together on it, whooping and screaming all the way to the bottom of the hill.

Mary Arnold Toys, at 962 Lexington Avenue near 70th Street, was selling old-fashioned Flexible Flyers, snow saucers and "snowboggans" to throngs eager to pay up to $80 for a steel-runner sled.

Erin Connery and Ben Siek from Holderness, N.H., Mr. Siek's skis having broken the week before, repeatedly climbed up the center gully and careered down the hill on a pink plastic toboggan and a neon green snow saucer.