I’ve always wanted to invent my own sport. You know,
Slip-N-Slide drag racing down sheer rock faces; child hurdling; marathon balloon popping. OK, those are just off the
top of my head. But I would like to invent a sport like snow-boarding, especially if I could then manufacture and sell
snowboards and live in Vail for the rest of my life. Yes, that would be nice.
Well, new sports are being
invented all the time. Some suck (just watch an episode of Fear Factor…OK, those aren’t really sports, but you get
the idea), and some are cool (i.e. Zorbing). Not sure what to make of airboarding, the newest fad to hit the slopes. Some of the folks who
airboard say it is a big-time rush. That you can reach severely hair-tousling speeds. They call it an "endorphin
adrenaline cocktail". I’m not so sure. But I’m willing to give it a try.
The airboard, is rather heavy,
weighing in at six pounds. The board, it seems, was invented in Switzerland where Swiss engineer Joe Steiner spent 10
years perfecting their design. So far a handful of U.S. resorts — including California’s Sugar Bowl,
Idaho’s Schweitzer Mountain and Smugglers’ Notch in Vermont — allow airboarding at certain times.