Stilts and Pogo Sticks
(or Does my Insurance Cover This?)

You know as skiers when we try to explain our recreational pastime to non-skiers they give us that look as if we just said, "I like to drive for hours and then jump off a cliff". I can see the appeal of cliff jumping maybe they can't. The thrill of flying and gliding down the mountain, the nicely carved turn, and the wind on your face all out weigh the outside risk of injury. Most people put themselves at incredible risk unthinkingly every day. Driving without seatbelts, smoking, or eating a bit too much (my sin) are all far riskier then skiing but millions take these chances for the small rewards they offer. Outside risk is the topic for this new column about the exchange of risk for enjoyment.

I was born in 1963 the youngest in my family by seven years. My brothers had constant BB gun fights across the neighborhood and play with the great dangerous toys of their youth most were banned or had all the sharp points filed off (For the love of Pete, Slinkys are made of nontoxic plastic now.).    One day in the back of the garage I found a pair on wooden stilts and a rusted pogo stick. I tried out the pogo stick but all I got was a slow creaky ride of four inches to the ground. I had more luck with the stilts. Those stilts were about eight feet tall, chunks of redwood I guess. Figuring out how to walk with them I attempted to climb the stone front porch stairs. After my mom woke me up I tried the stunt again, the thrill of combining two activities made up for the concussion.    The idea of combining two inherently risky things was brilliantly carried out by a German sports equipment company with their excellent Powerskips. Powerskips are stilts combined with pogo stilts and aircraft parts. Can you imagine looping down the street on a pair of these? You can view Powerskips in action at these websites. http://www.powerskip.de The homepage of the German sports equipment company http://triggur.org/skip/ the personal page of a loon who bought a pair on his site Kevin's New Toys. He has a great video with sound.    I showed these pages to several eighth graders, who immediately announced that to own a pair of these was to be their lives goal. I guess they just don't see the outside risk.