More fun with volcanoes

For some people simply climbing a volcano isn´t exciting enough. There should be a reward waiting on the top, something better than a great view. Why not board down the slopes after you went through all the trouble of getting there?

That´s what Darryn Webb, the Australian owner of a popular hostel in Léon, Nicaragua, must have thought when he hiked the nearby Cerro Negro, an active volcano that usually erupts every seven years.

Using a regular sandboard proved to be too painful of an experience. The sharp volcanic gravel shreds your skin to pieces if you fall. After experimenting with mattrasses, coffee tables, fridge doors and other unconventional means of transport Webb decided a simple wooden plank with a strip of plastic would do the trick. Ever since, thousands of tourists sped or tumbled down the black mountain. This afternoon about 25 tourists from all over the world put their lifes at risk.

After a 40-minute hike the summit of the smoking volcano offers magnificent views over the Nicaraguan landscape, including several other volcanic cones. As we walk through clouds of sulfur, our Dutch guide Kim shares some nerve-wrecking news. The Cerro Negro, with 158 years the youngest volcano in Nicaragua, is a little bit over time. In line with its seven year cycle, it should have erupted about two years ago. But no worries, she says with a smile on her face, if it suddenly decides to burst, it still takes about 40 minutes before hell breaks loose.

Before descending, we all dress up in neat orange overalls and safety glasses, as if an American penitentiary facility decided to organise a hike for its prisoners. After all the tension building up, my run is a bit of an anticlimax. Whereas some of the other boarders seem to reach speeds up to 40 or 50 km an hour, my plank eats itself into the black gravel time after time. I´ll stick to snowboarding in the future.