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By Root 664 0

a baby, it would probably look like a mountainboard: a big flat board with foot straps, curved upward at each end, with solid truck-like suspension and four fat, all-terrain tires. It would get its breakneck attitude from its snowboard dad, and its mucky, dirty appeal from its mud-splattered mom. Mountainboarding is, in fact, the spawn of frustrated snowboarders; standing atop English hills, draped in greenery most of the year, they decided to stop waiting for the next Ice Age and took matters into their own hands. By the mid-1990s, the United Kingdom was home base for a new adrenaline sport that has since captured the hearts—and a few skinned elbows and knees—of millions worldwide.

Mountainboarding scratches the itch for snowboarders looking for an off-season adrenaline rush.

Throughout the U.S., Ireland, Australia, and the U.K., there are now dozens of mountainboarding centers that cater to fans of this fast, fun thrill ride. The best of them offer lessons and rental equipment, including boards, helmets, knee and elbow pads, and gloves. Though lessons can certainly help the newcomer, the spot you choose to learn this fast-growing adrenaline sport is perhaps more important. Some places offer several other outdoor sports as well as mountainboarding; at these, you’ll compete for slope space with other sports and often end up on gravelly tracks that are no fun to wipe out on. If only to save your skin, look instead for a mountainboarding center that has grassy, groomed hillsides dedicated to mountainboarding.

The All-Terrain Board Association, an organization based in Cardiff, Wales, U.K., gives instructor accreditation, but some aficionados claim that with a sport that most folks can pick up in an hour or two, one simple lesson should suffice. Within a single afternoon, even neophytes can be turning, carving, and—most importantly for a sport where speeds up to 64kmph (40 mph) are common—coming to a controlled stop. —ML

Ivyleaf Mountainboarding, Bude, Cornwall, U.K. ( 44/0-777-306-9716;www.ivyleafmountainboarding.co.uk). Surfin’ Dirt Mountain Boarding, Tullyree Rd., County Down, Northern Ireland ( 077/3-921-0119;www.surfindirt.co.uk). Another World Mountainboarding Centre, Keighley Rd., Ogden, Halifax, U.K. ( 01-422/245-196;www.mountainboarding.co.uk).

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Volcano Surfing in Nicaragua

The Crater Crashers

Cerro Negro, Léon, Nicaragua

The ominous black slope of Cerro Negro in Nicaragua drops dramatically below the feet of some brave backpackers. It appears like a giant coal mound with a frightening drop to the dusty fields of this volcanic wonderland in the north west of this Central American country. This steep incline has become the latest place for the latest craze in exotic adventure sports—volcano surfing. Brave volunteers don bright orange jump suits and goggles before mounting a plywood sled and shuffle toward the edge. Suddenly they are off, heltering down the charcoal slope in an aftermath of hot dust and stones. The scraping noise is deafening as the board rocks and bounces, reaching speeds of 81kmph (50 mph). Some riders get scared and try to break—a big mistake as the speedy flow is suddenly interrupted and the riders tumble and somersault in the dust, the board skittering on ahead of them. Savvy riders go with the flow and bound down the 720m (2,400-ft.) mountain, reaching the bottom in a matter of minutes. It is actually wise to be in a rush. This volcano is live.

Cerro Negro is the youngest and most active volcano in the Americas. It first sputtered to life in 1850, creating an ever growing mound that has erupted 20 times since, the last in 1999. It is part of a chain of volcanoes known as the Maribios that stretch all along Nicaragua’s northern coast like smouldering sentinels. This particular smoking mound is located 24km (15 miles) northeast of the university city of León, a rambling town of revolutionary murals, majestic churches, and charming colonial architecture. León was the center of operations for the Sandinista movement that toppled Nicaragua’s dictatorship in 1979. It’s now a flowering