Crash watching

This weekend was the end of the season for our local ski resort. So today they held a pond skim — because what better way to transition into summer than by setting up some sort of snowboard-wakeboard hybrid? I got out to take a few runs in the morning, then headed down to the base to check it out. I didn't want to miss people in costumes from dinosaurs to 80s rockers to Hercules attempt to skate across 50 feet of water that had (strangely enough) frozen overnight. But much to everyone's relief, they were able to break up the ice, haul out the biggest ice bergs and put a second piece of plastic over the base of the pond (the first of which they had punctured while breaking up the ice).

To be honest, I think those of us who had the most fun were watching. The success rate was about 20 percent. Among those who didn't make it, there were some great crashes. The participants were kind enough to involve the audience in some cases by setting off a tsunami. When I first arrived, I was naive to this possibility and got a full body shot at one point. Lucky for me, snowpants are designed to be water proof.

As the event went on, a combination of the audience absorbing some of the water and people's skis and boards putting a couple holes in the plastic resulted in a steadily-dipping water level. That just made it all the more crazy, because the distance from the edge where people launched off to the water just got longer and longer, fueling more dramatic crashes. Fun for me, not for them.

I have some great videos, which I might post if I can figure out how to do it.

Lessons learned: There is a reason why there are two separate sports — one for water and one for snow.