HawaiiWow!
Hawaii mountain surfing coming back
Tom "Pohaku" Stone with a holua sled in the Kohala Mountains on the Big Island of Hawaii. The runners are kept apart by crosspieces, with a platform for the rider to stand, kneel or lie down. -photo by Ki'iGirl,(license)
You can surf a mountain of a wave . . . or you can actually surf on a mountain in Hawaii.
We're not talking about sitting on a piece of cardboard and going wheee!* We're talking about holua - riding a sled downhill from 30 miles per hour up to 70 miles per hour.
You've never heard of holua? That's not surprising. Here's the deal. The ancient Hawaiians spent 2,000 years surfing down mountains and lava fields. They did it for sport and to honor their gods.
They built courses all over Hawaii, using rock covered with dirt and then grass and leaves. Some courses ended in the ocean.
But the brakes got put on in 1825, the year of the last recorded race (hello, it's the missionaries again . . . "What? Having fun? Stop that.")
We're not talking about sitting on a piece of cardboard and going wheee!* We're talking about holua - riding a sled downhill from 30 miles per hour up to 70 miles per hour.
You've never heard of holua? That's not surprising. Here's the deal. The ancient Hawaiians spent 2,000 years surfing down mountains and lava fields. They did it for sport and to honor their gods.
They built courses all over Hawaii, using rock covered with dirt and then grass and leaves. Some courses ended in the ocean.
But the brakes got put on in 1825, the year of the last recorded race (hello, it's the missionaries again . . . "What? Having fun? Stop that.")
But holua is back, thanks to Tom "Pohaku" Stone, an expert in ancient Hawaiian sports. He became the first person to ride a holua sled in more than 100 years.
Stone builds and sells sleds made out of wood lashed together with coconut fiber. He also teaches how to ride them . . . a good idea because they are about 12 feet long and a narrow six inches wide (hmm, both narrow and wide at the same time . . . can you say oxymoron?).
Like regular surfing, holua takes practice. But if you get good at it, a run can last about a mile. Just don't go too fast or it might scare the pineapple juice out of you.
*That's what a snail says riding on the back of a turtle.
Stone builds and sells sleds made out of wood lashed together with coconut fiber. He also teaches how to ride them . . . a good idea because they are about 12 feet long and a narrow six inches wide (hmm, both narrow and wide at the same time . . . can you say oxymoron?).
Like regular surfing, holua takes practice. But if you get good at it, a run can last about a mile. Just don't go too fast or it might scare the pineapple juice out of you.
*That's what a snail says riding on the back of a turtle.