Papa Holua: Hawaii's Ancient and Insane Downhill Sport Poised for Comeback
by SixWise.com

To
begin your papa holua ride, grip the papa
("sled") with your right hand. Run a few yards
to the launching point, grasp the sled with your left
hand, throw yourself forward with all your might,
fall flat on the sled face-forward, and enjoy your
ride that can reach velocities up to
50 mph down the hill!
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Papa
Holua is not the father of the hula hoop. It's the name of an ancient
Hawaiian sport that literally means "to slide into the pit"
in Hawaiian.
A
favorite pastime and cultural icon of native Hawaiians for over
1,000 years, everyone in Hawaii did papa holua until about 200 years
ago when missionaries came to the island and forced them to stop,
calling it a "dangerous and barbaric" tradition.
What
is so dangerous about papa holua?
Well
first a warning: those of you with kids (either the young or grown-up
variety) who are into skateboarding, snowboarding and other "extreme
sports," do not let them get their hands on this article! Papa
holua holds the same appeal as these extreme sports, though we'd
stick it in the "insane sports" category.
In
papa holua, participants rode a 12-foot long, 50-pound "sled"
the width of a ski down a rocky slope. But that's not all -- riders
would run a few steps with sled in hand, then dive chest-first onto
the papa holua for their face-first ride down the mountain. Some
would even ride standing up!
Professor
Tom Stone of the University of Hawaii, who also happens to be an
established surfer, is the current expert on this long-lost sport
and is almost single-handedly trying to revive it. Said Stone, "It's
like sledding on your stomach ... You're doing 40 miles per hour,
just four inches off the ground."
Stone
has already taught 250 students the unique art of how to build and
ride papa holua, and has built more than 100 sleds himself. He believes
the sleds were first used as tools to move tree logs, and then were
adapted to be used in "a ritual by which Hawaiians put their
lives in the hands of the gods."
That
sounds like a rather accurate description.
Stone's
ultimate goal? To encourage local Hawaiians to hold their own papa
holua competitions once again, and then add in a touch of his own
flare: a competition between a sled rider and a surfer in which,
after a flag is dropped, a rider races down a mountain and a surfer
rides a wave, both to a designated spot on the beach. The winner
is the first one to make it to the spot first ... or at least in
one piece.
If
you're thinking of taking up this sport, perhaps you'd like to start
with one slide at Kahikinui on Maui. It's 5,000 feet, or nearly
a mile, long. In all honesty, though, SixWise.com highly recommends
you do NOT try this at home -- or at work, or on your next vacation
to Hawaii.
If
you're itching for your own version of papa holua, you're better
off grabbing your old trusty snow sled and heading off to that hill
down the street. Then, if you're really daring, you may want to
try it stomach-first, but you didn't hear that from us!
Sources
Surfer
Magazine
The
Honolulu Advertiser