CLEVELAND — While many are excited to see Lake Erie thaw, temperatures rise, and other signs of springs, those bitter cold and windy days were what made Butch Risma smile.
Risma, a 58-year-old from Mentor, spent much of the winter on frozen lakes kite skiing, also known as snow kiting.
Depending on the weather, the wind can pull a kite skier across a lake at speeds up to 30 mph.
"You’re in control 90% of the time," he explained. "10% of the time, it’s 'oh crap, hold on and let's see how this goes.' You are at the mercy of the wind and it’s pretty helpless at times but it's a fantastic feeling."
News 5 first encountered Risma on a windy day last summer, practicing on land at Edgewater Park.
"I don’t care if it's over water, grass or sand," he said. "I just love it. It decides where it wants to take you and you have to deal with it. Which is like life."
The dark reality that led Risma to the brightly-colored kites
It was 2014 when Risma was driving for work through the hills of rural West Virginia when a bear jumped in front of his car.
"Instinctively, I swerved to miss the bear and hit a tree instead with my company car," Risma recalled. "It shattered both of my legs."
Sitting in that hospital gave Risma all sorts of time to think.
"I feel like it was God or the universe giving me a wakeup call saying, 'Butch, all the things you’re living for aren’t all the right things. You’re making great money, you have a prestigious job, a company car and they pay for everything. But you’re overweight and you’re not as active as you should be, and I'm going to have to break your legs to get your attention.'"
Risma then spent six months living in a nursing home.
"[I] lived with people whose best days were clearly behind them and I thought that’s not going to be me," he said. "I’m going to do whatever it takes to enjoy my life regardless of what my legs look like."
65 pounds lighter and 28 operations later, Risma found love after seeing someone else fly so far and so fast at the mercy of mother nature.
"I stumbled on a guy in the middle of the winter at Headlands Beach State Park and I thought 'what is he doing out there?'" recalled Risma. "We were the only two having adventures in this miserable weather and it looked like a blast and I wanted to try it."
A man whose smile today shines brighter than the ice he skis on or the summer day sun he soaks up.
"I think it’s just the joy of being able to do what I want with my life now," he said. "I think I get the satisfaction of I’m living life. I’m not sitting at home watching someone do this. The actual life I live is so much different than it was before."
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard, on Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or email him at Clay.LePard@WEWS.com.
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