The snow kayak

When our friend Honza came over from Czech Republic to Colorado for a visit, I had no idea he was such a talented skier, and I had never heard of snow kayaking. We drove high into the mountains where there is always snow, even in mid-summer. It was a steep, rocky mountain face, and I had not intention of skiing. Honza slipped on his skis and slid off before I could even get out of the car. “Don’t you love the snow!” He called back. “Do you ever do this? I call it the ‘blind machete’.” He yelled as he slid off of a cliff ... backwards!

As he landed, he sliced his skis through the snow, spinning himself around to continue down the mountain out of sight. Dumbstruck, I gasped as he appeared again, skiing uphill to the top of the cliff, as if gravity did not apply to him. Was I watching some animated cartoon, was I dreaming? Up and down the mountain, over and around trees he flew like some video in fast forward and rewind. Every new move had some creative name, half of them were in Czech, and most of them I don’t remember.

When he was done, he came back, saying “Let me show you something else, have you ever used a snow kayak?” He pulled out a large board, like a small surfboard, but wider and shorter, and the edges curved up like a shallow boat. There was a small seat in the middle which he sat upon and straps that held his waist and feet. He used a paddle like he was kayaking to turn and weave his way down the snow. It looked like it would be very fun indeed, and much easier and safer than skiing off of cliffs backwards!