cerro negro volcano

The sand boarding was lots of fun. Before you start the hike they ask you whether you want to slide down like a slede or ride down like snowboarding. We chose to slide down even though we have snowboarding experience. Our guide who goes twice a day told us that he had never boarded down because it was "steep" so I took this a hint for what I should do. Once we got to the top I would say that the slope was the equivalent of a hard blue or easy black diamond slope when snowboarding. If you don't have great experience snowboarding than I recommend sledding down, it was still lots of fun! The hike up is a bit tough if you are not used to hiking but not bad enough that it should keep you from going. You do have to carry your own board which is tough enough just from the weight but the wind was blowing around 40-50 Mph so it makes it very difficult to control. You do have the option to pay someone $5 to carry it up for you. Tier Tours is the company that we used and they were excellent. We were able to leave a 8am when most leave at 9am so it was a little cooler and the guide, Moses, was excellent.

One of the best times I had in Nicaragua. Loved boarding down a volcano. Can be a little pricey but the views and experience are worth it. Make sure you tour company brings goggles.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a 58 year old guy, regular gym visitor, but with virtually no hiking or climbing experience. This was one of 5 hikes I did with toursnicaragua.com on a tour they call Volcanic Obsession. Like the volcano Telica, it was a relatively quick climb that was followed by a swim in a crater lake not far from the volcano. A lot of fun, not technical at all, and definitely worth the visit if you're in Leon.

The view is amazing but the difficult way up to the top is horrible, specially when the wind is blowing and you´re carrying your board. The whole boarding thing is not very exciting but I guess you can make it more exciting by choosing the speed yourself using (or not using) your feet. Too touristy for my taste, prefer the real and more genuine volcano experiences around.

Worth a climb up just for the views of the surroundings and the craters but the best part was boarding down the volcano. not hard to do and plenty of fun

We were with a small group of 5 people (all friends). After a 45 minutes hike in the sun we were on the top. After some sightseeing with some very nice views of the surroundings we put on our gear and boarded down. Down is a lot faster as going up... Must do if you are in Leon.Booked with lazy bones hostel! Bigfoot hostal were half an hour before us but with a very large group. Less appealing in our eyes due to higher waiting times...

This was fantastic! An absolute must do when in Leon! It cost $30- we booked with Tierra tours. The drive to the volcano took about an hour. It's a fine drive- nothing like the bumpy Telica one!! Once you get to the volcano it's about an hour of a hike up. I found the board quite heavy when holding it on my back at the start. The start of the walking I found the hardest as there were lots of little loose rocks and it was easy to lose footing. It's still fine though, you get plenty of time to rest before moving on. The views are amazing up there! Once you get past the loose rock part and on to the narrow path this bit is much easier. Not too steep and you can hold your board to the side which was more comfortable I thought anyway. Once at the top you get plenty of time for photos, to enjoy the view and to get your protective gear on. Once you get to the actual volcano boarding area I thought it looked very daunting. Much steeper and scarier than I thought it would be but once you sit on the board it's ok. You can actually control the speed very easily which is great and makes it much less scary! If you want to go slower you just lean forward and press your feet down harder. The guide explains all of this. I found myself going quite fast but I felt in control so it was fine. It was really brilliant and so worth it! We went at 8am- left our hotel then. It was a great time to go as it wasn't as extremely sunny! You would get burned fairly easily up on the volcano as it gets very windy which is deceiving! Wear a good pair of shoes- you'll be needing them as brakes and make sure to put on plenty of sun cream!

It's a very cool experience to climb this volcano if you're not scared of heights, high winds and volcanoes. It's easy to climb but with the board in your hands, it can be challenging because it's heavy and with the wind, it's hard to control. In the middle of the hike, we had high winds and we had trouble getting to the top. The view is amazing, you can see many other volcanoes. It's very cool to go down the volcano with the board and it's not scary, you can put your feet on each side and it stops a lot the speed. I didn't bring my camera on top and I was very happy I didn't because I had enough in my hands with the board.

My daughters really enjoyed this activity. It was very windy at the top and the hike is not extreme, but not for the faint of heart either.

So the hike up this volcano is challenging! Unstable, rocky or gravelly terrain whilst carrying a heavy wooden board and battling the strong winds and baking under the hot sun is no ones idea of fun but yes it is so worth it! The views are great at the top and the run down in boiler suits is enormous fun! We chose the Quetzal Trekkers tour because they use some of their profits to fund local activities with street kids. Their price $30 includes transport from and to Leon, lunch and a t-shirt. They also offer a second go for anyone willing to hike up again. We chose to stay behind and drink cold beers at the park ranger's office :)

4 well grown Norwegians should do better than refusing to board our way down. In a winter mountain resort we would surely ski down the hill even though it is steep enough. We took the trip as a hike in beautiful terrain and nature. Our guide took us down through the crater due to rather strong winds after climbing the first steep part. A lot of younger folks did the boarding and obvious had great fun. A bad thing is the parking of some of the pick up cars by slope end - this may be very dangerous if boarder is out of control.Even if you do not intend to board it is a nice trip and nerve thrilling enough to slide dowwn on your socks, samdals or preferrably higking boots.

Very happy we got to do the volcano boarding activity at Cerro Negro. We joined the group organised by the Big Foot hostel and we certainly were in good company.We were a bit scared about gaining too much momentum during the descent but actually you can easily control speed with your feet while you go down and it felt quite safe.Views going up the volcano are breathtaking!Highly reccoment to pay the $5 to have your Board carried up and focus of taking pics of the landscape instead!

Volcano boarding is definitely a thrilling and original activity that is worth trying. My only advice is not to try beating the speed records as we saw many people tumble down while tying to go fast, mostly at the bottom of the slope. On our tour some people reached over 40-45 mph (70+ km/h) (measured with laser) which is in my opinion far too fast and some people got injured but fortunately that was nothing too bad. Other thing is that the slope get progressively steeper as you go down and it is harder to control speed in the lowest part.I went there with my partner and our two boys (5 and 7 years old) and did the descent with double sledges. This is something I would not recommend as it was extremely hard for my girlfriend to control speed considering the weight of our 5 yo boy. She arrived at the bottom of the slope at 27 mph and she was clearly turned greenish white (though my son had much fun ). In my case I was OK to control the board even with my 7 years old boy, but I used a lot of force from my legs to maintain a speed which is safe for my son (10-15 mph).

We went with Tierra Tours to Cerro Negro for the volcano boarding. The hike up was an hour, which wasn't bad but you do have to carry up all your gear including the board which might be difficult depending on the strong winds at the top. You stop for a few minutes at the top for some photos before you go down one by one. Our guide didn't give very detailed instructions about boarding down (I guess there's only so much you can be told about a sled) so I didn't feel comfortable with it and had a lot of trouble steering which resulted in me falling off my sled a few times which is not a big deal.However, one girl in our group decided to do the stand-up option on a snowboard and ended up falling and hurting her back almost immediately on her way down. The guide said they planned on taking her to the hospital but we waited approximately an hour before the rest of the group was taken back to Leon, and didn't see any ambulances pass us on the way back. She must have been laying in the Nicaraguan heat waiting for medical attention for at least 2 hours or more. So be aware though most of us make it through this activity with no more than a few scrapes and bruises it CAN be very dangerous and having experienced the lackadaisical pace of Nicaragua I would not want to be in need of serious medical attention there. For all considering this activity, please be safe!

This was fun but the boards didn't actually slide very well. I thought I could have gone faster on a buggy board. The hike was lovely and the views spectacular. A once do but I wouldn't do it again.