"It's a big high," says 18-year-old Weng Ch'ing-ming, who set the nation's downhill speed record this August and who has competed in the Winter Olympics.

"It's a real thrill, like flying on air," adds a young woman who is trying it for the first time.

What sport is causing all the excitement? Could skiing ever become popular on tropical Taiwan?

Skiing on grass could.

Grass skiing is said to have originated in Europe as a substitute form of exercise for snow skiers during the summer. Wheels were added to the bottom of the skis to reduce friction.

Three years ago, Weng Ming-yi, an avid snow skier, brought back some grass skis from West Germany and showed how they worked to the members of the ROC Ski Association at their annual meeting. He then got together some snow skiers to demonstrate grass skiing in public. It raised many eyebrows.

"What kind of weird sport is that?"

"Doesn't it wreck the grass?"

"Is it fun? How do you do it?"

Most people who saw the reports about the new sport asked similar questions. Three years later, "there are probably still quite a few doubters!" says Lin Ch'ing-yang, an instructor at the association.

Grass skiers respond to the questions this way. First, grass skiing isn't strange; it's been registered as a world-class sport and is practiced in 26 countries. The International Grass Skiing Association sponsors numerous international competitions: 22 were held from July to September last year, for instance.

Second, grass skiing does press down the grass, but it doesn't ruin it. Weng Ming-yi points to the skis' tank-like wheel-and-belt construction and explains, "The surface area of the skis in contact with the grass is larger than the soles of a person's shoes, so there's less damage done to the grass by skiing over it than by walking on it."

In fact, if you go to a grass ski slope you can see quite clearly that the grass at the top and the bottom--where most of the people congregate--is worn down the most.

Over the past three years, some 22 grass ski slopes have opened up on Taiwan. Most are located in hilly areas near a city, such as the five or six on the outskirts of Taipei. The rapid development of the sport is due to the island's warm climate and mountainous terrain as well as to the public's increasing emphasis on sports and leisure.

And it's not as costly or as difficult to learn as you might think. Just three pieces of equipment are required: skis, boots, and poles (knee and elbow pads are optional). "NT$10,000 is enough for everything--at the max," asserts a member of the Flying-on-Grass Club.

Lesson one involves learning how to put on the boots. They're big and heavy and hard to tie, but for safety at high speed learning to put them on correctly is essential.

After you've learned how to put on your boots and skis, the next step is learning to walk in them--back and forth, up and down, from side to side--until it feels natural.

Once you've learned how to walk, you can start skiing--on a gentler slope at first, it's recommended. Skiing straight down the hill is called a "vertical descent." "That gives the beginner a thrill," Lin Ch'ing-yang says. A novice can usually learn to make a "vertical descent" the first day, thereby gaining a "sense of accomplishment," as Lin puts it.

After that comes learning to turn. Turning involves a variety of maneuvers depending on the terrain and requires some practice and coordination. When you've mastered your turns you may even wish to compete in the slalom.

Walking, turning, and slalom racing--there're just these three steps. Lin says that grass skiing is suitable for any healthy person from ages three or four to sixty or seventy. But to really look good requires time and effort. "If you practice every day, three months is enough, but if you just mess around at it every once in a while, three years may not be," another skier says.

A model example is Wu Hsiu-chen, who took up the sport just this March but is already the island's top woman grass skier. She says that she was an employee at the grass ski area at Chingchuan Kang: "I got a lot of practice working at the slope every day."

What will the sport give you? Weng Ming-yi's feeling is this: "People who engage in this high-speed sport are surrounded by natural beauty and faced with an ever-changing terrain under their feet. The sport teaches you to make split-second decisions on how to adjust to the changes around you, and it speeds up your reactions."

Weng, who handles several million NT dollars' worth of business a month as a well-known local athletic equipment manufacturer, is also a fine snow skier. "I do things with the spirit of an athlete," he says.

Maybe that's the greatest benefit that any sport, not just grass skiing, can give someone.

[Picture Caption]

High-speed thrills are one of the chief attractions of skiing on grass.

A line of grass skiers climbing uphill looks a bit like a giant centipede.

All the major equipment for grass skiing is right here.

An instructor at the Chingchuan Kang slope in Taichung explains and demonstrates.

Once their boots and skis are on, skiers find squatting a comfortable position.

High-speed thrills are one of the chief attractions of skiing on grass.

All the major equipment for grass skiing is right here.

An instructor at the Chingchuan Kang slope in Taichung explains and demonstrates.

Once their boots and skis are on, skiers find squatting a comfortable position.