Hi, Miles. Yes, I am! Do you have everything you need?

I haven’t packed yet. What are you bringing along?

Hi, Sally. How are you? Are you excited about our trip to Mount Snowdon?

Haha, very funny Sally. I don’t believe you. What else have you packed?

Good idea. I’ll bring some snacks as well. See you this weekend!

I’m bringing my hiking boots this weekend. They give way more support than my regular trainers. And there are a lot of snakes. You don’t want to step on them without proper shoes!

Just something to drink and some sandwiches and sweets. My mum has made my favourite: peanut butter and jelly :-P

Sensible shoes

Volcano boardingVolcano boarding may be one of the most awesome sports around. I did it in Nicaragua, and although I came out of it with my head covered in scratches, I loved it.

A live volcanoI went down a live volcano – one that regularly throws up volcanic rock and ash. You slide down on a thick layer of fi ne volcanic ash, just like you would on sand or snow. But actually volcanic ash is not soft like sand or snow. It’s sharp like fi ne pieces of glass! If you fall, you’ll probably end up with a bad wound – like I did. This ash

will eat right through normal clothes, too, so don’t forget to wear all the protective gear. Despite the special clothes it’s still a dangerous sport, so it’s also important to stay together at all times.

The volcano boardI couldn’t go down a volcano with a normal sled or snowboard – the volcanic ash would have literally destroyed it before I got halfway down. That’s why I needed a stronger – and cheaper – alternative. My volcano board was made of thick wood, with a thin metal sheet covering the

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underside. Without this metal sheet, the wood would be gone pretty fast. I had to tie my boots to the board, the same as with a snowboard.

Speed or safety?You can go down the volcano standing up on the board, just like snowboarding. I’ll tell you this: it looks cool in photos, but you can’t make turns like you can on a snowboard. Also, you can’t go fast because you have to watch out for the rocks that are in your way.

I chose to sit down and use the board as a sled. This is the fastest way to go down a volcano. You also have a better grip; it’s got a rope fi xed to the front, so you can keep yourself steady when sitting on it. One advantage of the speed was that I only had to watch out for bigger rocks; I just whizzed over the smaller ones. However, the faster

you go, the harder you fall – I fell over, and now I have some nice scars to show my friends.

Volcano boarding is dangerous, but I loved it!

Adapted from: dailymail.co.uk

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ash assled slee

Remarkable factRemarkable factThe Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua is one of the youngest active volcanoes around, at an age of only 161 years. Mount Etna in Italy is one of the oldest, at 3500 years.

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