Below, we’ve embedded the five craziest gravity sport videos we could find anywhere, representing BALLS in the worlds of surf, ride, ski, climb and fly.
The word “extreme” has become an overused cliche over the last couple decades, but the individuals featured below have pushed the limits of man to the absolute extreme and some have paid the ultimate price.
We salute them.
Eiger Speed-Riding
The newest extreme sport on the scene, combining BASE jumping, paragliding and skiing, these ballsy Swiss athletes are able to fly down lines that could never be survived with any other combination of equipment. The small canopy allows them to travel at high speeds over snow and maneuver over protruding rocks while occasionally airing off huge cliffs. Insane.
Snowboarding 7601
Terje Haakenson’s notorious first descent of “7601″, one of Alaska’s gnarliest peaks. Imagine the feeling in your stomach as the helicopter pulls off that peak and leaves you on that knife-edge ridge which is barely big enough to put on your board. Just you and the mountain; no turning back. Terje charges. Enough said.
Base Jumping
Espin Fadnes buzzing cliffs at well over 100 mph as he BASE jumps a run in Norway using a wingsuit to control precisely, his position in the air and the small space between his body and certain death. Make sure to watch at the end of the video where he literally comes within a couple feet of the mountain highway guardrail.
Taking this sport a step further Jeb Corliss plans to attempt a jump later this year in Las Vegas, where he’ll BASE jump out of a helicopter and land without a parachute.
Big Wave Surfing at Jaws.
This wave just keeps getting bigger until you can hardly believe it’s real.
Controlled Freefalling
Perhaps the most legendary adrenaline athlete of them all, Dan Osman, was a pioneer of free soloing (climbing 1000+ ft walls without ropes), and pendulum swings or “controled freefalls” as he called them.
Osman, who held the world record for controlled freefalls of more than 1200ft fell to his death after his rope failed while attempting to break his own record with a jump from the Leaning Tower rock formation in Yosemite National Park on November 23, 1998. He was 35.
To learn more about the remarkable life of Dan Osman, please visit Matador Travel and read Feeling Gravity’s Pull, parts 1 & 2 and parts 3 & 4. He died doing what he loved and he will never be forgotten.
What do you think of these videos? Any we missed?
Ross Borden
Ross Borden is one of the founding members of Matador. He has lived in Spain, Kenya, and Argentina and currently resides in his native San Francisco.
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