The outer limits

If your preferred recreational activity involves speed, height and a high degree of risk, then there’s a high probability that you’re an extreme sports enthusiast. There are about 100 recognized extreme sports throughout the world, each one as thrilling as the next. Here are FRANK’s top five choices to get the heart pumping and adrenaline rushing.

Words Julia Zaltzman

WINGSUIT FLYING

In a direct copy of flying squirrels, the risky sport of wingsuit flying involves wearing a webbed suit with “wings” to create drag and glide through the air. Unlike squirrels, wingsuits have air pockets that also provide lift. This means those brave enough to try it are able to fall slower with a surprising amount of precision. It typically takes place from mountainsides in a controlled free fall through ravines. The longest wingsuit flight ever recorded is nine minutes, six seconds by Colombian Jhonathan Florez in 2012 (who tragically died in a BASE jumping accident on Mount Titlis, Switzerland, in 2015). The first electric powered wingsuit flight was achieved by BMW Designworks and air sports expert Peter Salzmann in December 2020. Salzmann was dropped by helicopter at 10,000-feet over the Austrian mountains clocking speeds of up to 186 mph.

VOLCANO BOARDING

When skiing or sledding on snow isn’t extreme enough, it’s time to take a trip to an active volcano. The art of boarding down the side of a volcano that’s covered in cool cinders is a risky business. One of the most popular places for the activity is the Cerro Negro near Leon in western Nicaragua. It’s Central America’s youngest volcano, not to mention one of the region’s most active, last erupting in 1999. Typifying the extreme sports now sought after by those with a life-affirming wanderlust, and reasonably easy to access for those not afraid of hiking, the art of surfing Cerro Negro’s black ash is fast becoming a popular stop on a yacht charter itinerary.

HIGHLINING

What could make walking a tight rope harder? When that rope isn’t actually taut. It’s more commonly recognized as slacklining, when flat webbing (a woven fabric used in place of rope) is tied between two trees. The major difference is that slacklining removes the possibility of falling very far. In the extreme sport of highlining, the webbing is set up between high-rise buildings or cliffs and crossed without a safety net or pole for additional balance. The only thing preventing death is intense balance, a strong core and a small harness. The world’s longest recorded highline stretched 5,453-foot over the Navacelles valley in France. The world’s highest urban highline was set at 1,145-foothigh by German slackliner Friedrich Kühne in 2019, tied between two skyscrapers in Moscow, Russia.

FREEDIVING

Freediving is the art of diving underwater and ascending to the surface on a single breath of air. The extreme element comes into play when you introduce serious depth into the equation. The pressure changes of deep diving paired with the physical exertion and mental endurance make this sport far more than simply holding your breath. Herbert Nitsch is the current freediving world record champion and “the deepest man on earth” after he dived to a depth of 702 feet in 2007. To put that into context, most scuba divers only dive as deep as 130 feet, while technical divers certified to explore deep wrecks average a depth of 130-330 feet. In other words, don’t try this at home without qualified supervision and training!

MARCO ASSMANN, SEBASTIAN PENA LAMBARRI

PARASKIING

As if heli-skiing on powder snow wasn’t extreme enough, there are some thrill seekers who push it even further. Paraskiing is a combination of skiing (or snowboarding) and parasailing, where the skier picks up enough speed to lift off the ground and start soaring. Some parasailers fly for the entire run while others bounce back and forth between sailing and skiing. It essentially combines two top extreme sports into one ultimate hybrid. Of course, there’s always another level, which in this case is called speedriding. It’s paraskiing on steroids, giving those who try the highspeed, high-stakes sport access to a whole new world of terrain previously considered “unrideable”, such as the towering peaks and massive glaciers of the Alaska Range.

NRKBETA