Tai How said he thought he broke his thumb — not his ankles, feet or legs — after gapping the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal in a viral video that has stirred up a condemning statement from Parks Canada.
The slow-motion video of How taking off and just barely making it to the other side of the 33-foot gap garnered tens of thousands of views and reshares across social media platforms.
It was the intro clip to a skiing montage movie posted to YouTube in late December 2025 by the group Jetskis. The initial stunt happened in February of the same year.
Shortly after the video of the stunt went viral online, Parks Canada, which operates the Rideau Canal, put out a statement condemning it.
“The Rideau Canal National Historic Site — including the Ottawa Locks — is not a place for unauthorized activities like ski jumping,” a social-media post said. “For everyone’s safety, enforcement has been increased, and violations may result in fines.”
How, a 21-year-old from Nelson, B.C., said he hadn’t known that Ottawa had canals. But, when driving around the city to scope out other spots, How said he kept thinking about the Rideau Canal as a likely candidate for a ski jump.
“Just thinking in a skier’s mindset, you know, just looking at everything as a possibility,” he said.
How said he’d skied since he was three years old and had done similar tricks in his hometown in the Rocky Mountains. So, he added, successfully stunting over the Rideau Canal was a trick he could pull off with high confidence.
“I was thinking, ‘We got this easy. Maybe we could even try it a couple of times and try to trick over it.’”
But, during the run-up to the actual attempt, How said, he lost speed after not properly pumping his legs over a small bump.
“So, I take off and I’m in the air,” he said. “I see the edge of the concrete, and I’m like, ‘Am I going to clip it right now?’”
He said that a little mistake had cost him both a successful jump and a set of skis.
While How tumbled over the edge to safety, his skis fell into one of the canal lock’s chambers. A friend recovered the broken skis.
“I was super glad that nothing hurt really,” he said. “The airtime was pretty wicked.”
Though the trick happened more than a year ago, How said he understood the risk he had taken. He added that he hoped his stunt doesn’t ruin the Rideau Canal for others, skiers or not.
