Heʻe hōlua is the death-defying ancient Hawaiian sport of riding a narrow, wooden sled up to 50 miles an hour down a mountain track.
“Lying down with your face 6 inches off the stones, flying down a hill,” said Oʻahu-based cultural practitioner and educator Mahi La Pierre. “And the goal was distance, right? Whoever goes the farthest.”
“Some people say, the Hawaiian extreme sport — so people die,” La Pierre continued. “It’s a sport. But it’s also like, I’m just gonna say what Pōhaku Stone says, it’s like the front of the hōlua are like your hands, the two piʻipiʻi, the upright areas, are like you’re offering yourself as you’re riding.”…