Lake Tahoe, California - There is rarely any doubt that skateboarding is a sport with a capacity for coolness – especially if the skateboarder in question is a master of tricks and flicks.
The problem for less accomplished participants, of course, is that there is always the chance of a misplaced wheel or a loss of balance – and a painful collision with terra firma.
So how to remove the risk of crashing into the concrete while also ensuring that your skateboarding ramp still has that air of the thrillingly cutting edge?
Simple. Build it in the middle of a lake.
Such was the dream recently made a reality by Visit California, the Californian tourist board, when it constructed a giant wooden ramp in the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe.
It then asked Bob Burnquist – a Brazil-born professional skater based in San Diego – to try it for size.
The result was a virtuoso skateboarding performance – with the unusual difference that each run ended with Burnquist flying off the end of the ramp and into the lake.
Fortunately, a diver was on hand to ensure that Burnquist’s (none too cheap) skateboard did not vanish to the bottom of this famously deep lake with every trick performed.
And Lake Tahoe is deep. Specifically, it sinks down a full 501m – a measurement sufficient to make it the second deepest lake in the US (behind the volcanic Crater Lake in Oregon).
It is also high, as well as low. It sits in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, nestling at an elevation of 1 897m in the east of the state, close to the border line with next-door Nevada.
This lofty height makes the lake a popular destination in winter, as well as summer.
Winter skiers take to the slopes in the resorts – such as Heavenly and Squaw Valley – which fan out on the mountainsides around the lake.
Summer swimmers and boaters take to waters that, fed by seasonal melting snow, are notably clear and clean. As of now, that list should also include skateboarders. – Daily Mail