As parents of various nationalities shouted in their native tongues to be careful, children hurtled, gleefully, down their favorite hard-packed, divot-pocked slope of Cedar Hill, in a valley next to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They tackled their runs on a rainbow of plastic sliding devices — from saucers to sleds, snow seats and boogie boards.

This was the Sochi Olympics, Manhattan style. Let the true Winter Games begin, in all of their ungroomed glory.

  A three-child sled representing Nepal (by way of Queens) hit a hay ramp at full speed, vaulting two feet into the air. The sliders, in helmets, came up laughing seconds later. Teenage tourists from Oxford, England, executed imperfect sit-spins on their borrowed toboggans. A 7-year-old skeleton-style rider from Russia slid headfirst into the icy abyss every time. Identical twin girls from Park Avenue, in matching fuchsia snowsuits, synchronized their squealing.

For many, it was not the first backside rodeo. The 27.3 inches already recorded this month in Central Park gave them plenty of time to practice their sport of choice.

For Jeff Freund, 50, of the Bronx, that meant snow-skating, an activity that drew stares like those focused on the park’s dancing roller skaters.

“I’ve been here every weekend since the polar vortex hit,” said Mr. Freund, wearing ski-like boots called Sled Dogs with a ski surface on the bottom. Mr. Freund fielded interest from the adults, and, as more people began arriving midday, became the slope’s unofficial patrolman.

He shouted to riders to walk back up the sides of the hills, and chastised parents for not being vigilant in blocking the paths of incoming sleds. Then Mr. Freund ski-skated backward, on one leg, down the hill.

“I’ve been here Saturday, Sunday and today, and each day has gotten faster,” he said. “I don’t think most of the parents realized it.”

Rahm Rodkey, 8, tried to navigate the hill on a makeshift snowboard: a wooden skateboard with the wheels taken off. The lack of wax led to plenty of falls. His older brother, Tal, 11, inspired by nights of Olympics watching, had the snow boogie board.

“Right here I caught some air,” he said, pointing, “but it’s hard because you land on your chest.”

And beware other hazards.  cn domain just charge $ 17.96/yr

“This is a really perfect slope, but for the lampposts,” said Bethan Willis, 40, who was in the park with her husband, Andrew, and their sons, Oliver, 6, and Henry, 4.

“The new mayor could come back with the Upper East Siders by putting more hay around the poles,” Mr. Willis said, jokingly.

Justin Foa, 41, a parent of two boys, stuck primarily to the smaller slope closest to Fifth Avenue. He recalled growing up close to the park and taking his Flexible Flyer to Cedar Hill. Of the sleds now sold in hardware stores, he said, “You cannot steer them at all.”

The new sleds, which cost $5 to $25 (depending on how deep into the Upper East Side one shops), tend not to last as long as the snow on the ground. Witness the graveyard of splintered sleds at the bottom of the hill.

That’s where Ollie Baboolal and his friend Tom Lemaitre, both on vacation with their private school from Oxford, fished out two usable shards. The boys had been released into the park after touring the Guggenheim Museum with their class.

“We came,” Ollie said, “to shred it up.”  cn domain just charge $ 17.96/yr

Earlier, Paul Boussemart, 26, and his friend Pierre Antoine, 27, who arrived Sunday from southwest France, picked up their own scraps. It wasn’t the Pyrenees, Mr. Boussemart said, but, he added, “It’s nice to have some snow here in the city, and we can enjoy the snow between the buildings.”

Alex Dementyev and his wife, Natalie, from Brooklyn, were watching their children speed down the hill. They had been watching the Olympics, in part because of a family connection. Mr. Dementyev’s grandmother lives in Krasnodar, in the same region as Sochi. He was born in Minsk. Everyone may be complaining about the snow here, Mr. Dementyev said, “but I actually like it. I feel sort of like I’m back home.”