Hurling Myself Down a Volcano: Volcano Boarding (Leon, Nicaragua)

By Jed

The Volcano Boarding group

Some of the most popular tourist attractions in Central America are its plentiful volcanoes. Many of them are truly spectacular, from their beautiful crater lakes to their still-smoking craters. A hike up a volcano is a truly awesome experience. But sledding down a volcano at 40KPH is a wholly different kind of experience.

There are only a few volcanoes in the world that have ideal conditions for the so-called “sport” of Volcano Boarding. Cerro Negro outside of Leon, Nicaragua, is one such volcano. It is a Cinder Cone Volcano, which means it erupts from the bottom and the debris causes it to build up into a cone shape. Most Cinder Cone Volcanoes only erupt once and then are permanently dormant. Cerro Negro, however, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, having erupted more than 20 times. It's frequent eruptions has caused it to be higher than most Cinder Cone Volcanoes and has resulted in layers of relatively fresh, fine ash covering its slopes. These conditions prompted several mountain bikers to try (and succeed) to break the downhill speed record a number of years ago (although one ended in a disintegrated bike and many broken bones). Some crazy Australians then decided to try and ride other things down the volcano. They eventually ended up with this sort of wooden sled as the best/most fun tool and people have been riding down Cerro Negro with this board ever since.

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Me hiking up

Getting our suits on

Cerro Negro

The hour long hike up the volcano is extremely difficult, not so much due to the steepness of the terrain, but because you are carrying a long wooden board (which is quite far from aerodynamic) and the wind is out of control. Although someone lost a hat, amazingly everyone held onto their boards the whole way up, despite some close calls. Once at the top, you suit up in a giant orange jumpsuit and protection goggles. Then you get your first look of the slope down and it is terrifying. You can only see a few feet of the slope down and then it is a steep drop off with no ability to see the "path." So it is a bit of trial by fire. There is an option to try to board down the volcano like a snowboard, but it is impossible to carve and so you end up just falling the whole way down. So almost everyone rides it like a sled and lays back on the board as you fly down the volcano. 

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After a few braver people went first, it was my turn to go. With no option to back down, I leaned back and pushed off. I picked up speed pretty fast and was a bit nervous as I was drifting left and right. I soon got the hang of it though and was having a blast. I continued to pick up speed and rocks started blowing by my face. The goggles didn't seem to stop pieces of gravel from flying into my eyes, but I kept pressing through. It was amazing how smooth it was, like sledding down a giant snow covered hill. After about 30 seconds, I reached the bottom and hit a giant divot that flung me into the air. Somehow I managed to stay on the board and come to a relatively peaceful stop. I picked up my board from the top as it is too hot on the bottom from the friction to touch. It was then that I saw one of the guys who had gone before me, his head completely covered in fresh blood and dirt. 

The way down

That's me! (that's a shirt on my face to try and protect it from flying rocks)

Me again

Turns out trying to break the speed record may not be the best idea. This guy had flipped off his board, and went tumbling down the hill, head first. And he wasn't the only one; about half the riders fell at least once, but none as bad or painful as him. Injuries while volcano boarding are not uncommon. Volcano Boarding at Cerro Negro was ranked by CNN as the #2 activity for a thrill-seeker (number one being flying a Russian Fighter Jet), so it attracts many daredevils who are trying to go as fast as possible. Many fail and get some gruesome injuries in the process. A trip to the ER post-volcano boarding is a pretty regular experience. But if you don't try to be a hero and just go at a “regular” pace, you should be fine.

I ended up clocking in at 40KPH (25 MPH), which was a respectable average pace for the guys of the day. The good news for the guy with the bloody head is he had the speed record of the day at a blazing 70KPH (44MPH)! His prize for the pain: a free shot (probably very much needed).

A pic from before he bloodied up that head

Someone zooming down

Someone about to wipe out hard

If volcano boarding doesn't sound like your thing, there are plenty of great volcano hikes in Central America. Our favorites were to the active, smoking ones, such as Masaya and Telica. At Telica, you can get ride up to the edge of the smoking crater, and if you look into it at night, you can even see some of the burning embers. The view of the sunset from up there is also spectacular. Definitely put a volcano visit on the top of your itinerary if you go to Nicaragua.


(Click any of the pictures below to see an enlarged gallery)