When Joel Paredes saw snow blanketing Montreal on Tuesday morning, he decided to bring his snowboard to work — with the thought that he might use it to get home.

Paredes, who works as an IT specialist at an investment company in the city's downtown core, decided to give it a try when he saw how much snow had fallen by the time he was set to leave for the day.

"Everyone at work was telling me to be careful," he said in an interview.

"Originally I wanted to do it on the street and thought, 'OK, let's be smart,' so I went on the sidewalk."

Paredes ended up snowboarding down Peel Street from De la Gauchetière Street to St-Jacques Street.

He captured the whole thing on camera with a GoPro and a selfie stick.

The video, posted to YouTube and sped up slightly for effect, shows him weaving along the sidewalk and, at one point, squeezing past two pedestrians heading in the other direction.

Paredes said it's his 19th season snowboarding and he knows his limits, but he is concerned the video might encourage younger, less experienced snowboarders to try something similar.

"Now that the video is viral, I don't want kids to go ahead and do it," he said.

Paredes said he's not concerned about any legal ramifications and compared it to skateboarding, which he also does downtown.

