SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Some skateboarders are taking their sport far beyond skate parks and sidewalks and into the mountains. Downhill skating is getting more popular. You need a short board, a steep road and a pair of high-tech gloves to help you navigate sharp turns. Blue Ridge Public Radio's Laura Hackett reports from western North Carolina.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Can everyone just drop from where Tyler (ph) is?
LAURA HACKETT, BYLINE: Pinners Cove Road is one of many winding hills around Asheville. It's dotted with a few homes, a ton of trees and panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But what brings a group of about 20 skaters here on this day are the many twists and turns in the road. The skaters are about to drop in for a mile-and-a-half downhill stretch. Right before, they all clap pucks - round plastic discs attached to gloves that they use as brakes.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Woo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Vocalizing).
(SOUNDBITE OF PUCKS BEING CLAPPED TOGETHER)
HACKETT: Shortly after this good-luck ritual, it's go time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SKATEBOARDERS SKATING)
HACKETT: Skaters tuck down and zoom down straightaways until they hit a switchback. Then they lean and use their hands, pucks and all the strength they have to make the turn.
(SOUNDBITE OF SKATEBOARDERS SKATING)
HACKETT: Griffen Adams says these tight curves bring more than a cheap thrill.
GRIFFEN ADAMS: When you get to that level and you're skating roads like this, it's complete bliss and freedom. I think it might look like daredevil, adrenaline stuff. Like, there is some meditative aspect to it.
HACKETT: Though downhill skating is still a pretty niche sport, people like Adams are raising its profile on social media by having a video crew document downhill runs. The sport formally made its debut at the World Skate Games in 2019. Now there are annual races in places like Hawaii and Puerto Rico. One day, Adams hopes top athletes can get paid to compete.
ADAMS: Chasing hills, it takes a lot of dedication in it. You're not in it for the glory or the money because there is none of it. So you end up spending all your money, time and effort.
HACKETT: For some, the sport was the reason to make Asheville their home. Marcella Delgado came all the way from Southern California.
MARCELLA DELGADO: We all moved here to skate because of the roads and the people.
HACKETT: Including yourself?
DELGADO: Yeah. Yeah. No, Asheville was always the goal. As soon as I found out what it was like, the roads that they were skating here, I moved here as soon as I could.
HACKETT: One reason Asheville is attractive for hill chasers is that it's still legal for skaters to share the roads with cars as long as they go no more than 30 miles an hour. Other places across the country have banned downhill skating altogether. Adams says hill chasers follow the rules of the road and make sure to stay in their lane.
ADAMS: I know that on the surface it looks - it could look reckless. It could look like folks are out of control, but, I mean, there's a lot of accountability in our community.
HACKETT: Keeping everyone safe is a group sport, he says. There are people who look out for cars and communicate with walkie-talkies. This approach helps the skaters develop more positive relationships with other road users. On Pinners Cove Road, they also help 71-year-old resident Ken Leetz with litter cleanups.
KEN LEETZ: With their service and my communicating with my community, my neighborhood, everyone's gotten on board, and they're really positive about the skateboarders.
HACKETT: So at least on Pinners Cove Road, skateboarders have found a welcome place for their extreme sport. For NPR News, I'm Laura Hackett in Asheville, North Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF NICK SHOULDERS' "SURF DE MARDI GRAS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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