extreme sports

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Skiing Plus Rodeo = Wild Sport of 'Skijoring'

Saddle up!

(Newser) - Nick Burri clicks into his ski bindings, squats to stretch his knees, and scans the snowy racecourse. Moments later, he's zipping past a series of gates at high speed and hurtling off jumps. But it's not gravity pulling him toward the finish line: It's the brute force...

Motocross Star Dies Practicing His Famous Stunt

Jayden 'Jayo' Archer was the first to perform a triple backflip in competition

(Newser) - A motocross star who was the first to pull off a triple backflip in competition has died while practicing the move, reports ESPN . Jordan "Jayo" Archer, 27, crashed in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Only three people are known to have executed a triple backflip on a dirt bike,...

He May Be the Most Famous 'Freerider' in the World

'Guardian' profiles death-defying skier Jeremie Heitz of Switzerland

(Newser) - "To spend much time in [Jeremie] Heitz's world is to encounter something like the normalization, even the banalization, of premature death," writes Simon Akam in the Guardian . Hyperbole, you might think. But watch some video of Heitz's passion, and you'll think again. The 34-year-old from...

Daredevil Who Pioneered Bungee Jumping Has Peaceful Death

David Kirke dies in bed aged 78

(Newser) - The Independent uses the word "maverick" to describe him, and a friend says he was an "anarchic buccaneer" who pioneered the extreme sport of bungee jumping and co-founded the Dangerous Sports Club. But David Kirke's death, as the newspaper puts it, was a "peaceful" one in...

Champ Knocked Unconscious During Cheese Roll

'I still don't really believe it, but it feels great,' she says after bizarre event in England

(Newser) - As the US marked Memorial Day, people in Gloucestershire, England, celebrated a much sillier occasion: the annual cheese-rolling competition, in which participants with a nonchalant attitude toward personal safety chase a cheese wheel down a near-vertical 200-yard hill. The women's race at Coopers Hill this year was won by...

Critics on Weird Sport: 'One of the Stupidest Things You Can Do'

UFC President Dana White says slap fighting is just good fun, but concussion experts disagree

(Newser) - The competitors stand rigidly upright with their hands behind their backs, waiting to absorb a brutal slap to the face. When the open-handed blow is delivered, there's a sharp report and the reaction can be dramatic. Some fighters barely move, while others stumble backward or fall to the floor....

'Ice Mermaid' Marks World First With Antarctic Swim

Barbara Hernandez swam nearly 1.6 miles in 35-degree water—longest swim yet in Southern Ocean

(Newser) - The longest swim in the frigid Antarctic Ocean, aka the Southern Ocean, has been achieved, by a world-champion extreme swimmer from Chile known as the "Ice Mermaid." On Monday, Barbara Hernandez, 37, covered 2.5 kilometers (just under 1.6 miles) in Chile Bay, off of the Antarctic...

Star Stunt-Driver Dies in Snowmobile Crash

Rally champ Ken Block killed at the age of 55 in Wasatch County, Utah

(Newser) - Ken Block, a motor sports champ and sportswear company co-founder who became an internet sensation for his nail-biting stunts , has died in a snowmobiling accident in Utah, per his Hoonigan Racing team. He was 55. The Wasatch County Sheriff's Office says Block was riding on a steep slope around...

Hilaree Nelson Given a Sherpa Cremation

The ski mountaineer died in a Sept. 26 fall

(Newser) - Hilaree Nelson died on Sept. 26 after falling thousands of feet when a small avalanche struck as she skied down the 26,781-foot Manaslu in Nepal. On Sunday, she received a traditional funeral at a Sherpa cremation ground in that country. The AP reports family, friends, mountaineers, and government officials...

Nation Halts All Extreme Sports After 'Man-Made Disaster'

Ultramarathon in China's Gansu province, which led to 21 deaths, isn't the only event that's seen problems

(Newser) - Last month, 21 competitors in a 62-mile ultramarathon in China's Gansu province perished during severe weather that included freezing rain, hail, and frigid strong winds. On Wednesday, in response to that deadly event, the country's sports oversight agency announced it's indefinitely suspending all extreme sports—including ultra-long...

BASE Jump Off a Tourist High-Rise Ends in Tragedy

31-year-old Timothy Ackerman dies after leaping off condo complex in Panama City Beach

(Newser) - A Florida man who tried to BASE jump from a high-rise condo complex died over the weekend after his parachute apparently didn't open, and local authorities have now identified him. Per a release from the Panama City Beach Police Department cited by the Panama City News Herald , deputies found...

'Sketchy Andy': I Tore Down the Monolith

Slackliner Andy Lewis claims he, companions removed Utah structure to save land

(Newser) - Another apparent piece of the puzzle of the vanishing Utah monolith has been solved. First, photographer Ross Bernards told the New York Times that he and his companions saw four men dismantle the shiny structure on Friday night. Now, at least two men have come forward claiming they were part...

He Conquered Peaks Worldwide, Met an 'Unreal' Fate

Davo Karnicar, first to fully ski down Mount Everest nonstop, is killed in tree-cutting mishap

(Newser) - In 1995, Davo Karnicar became the first person to successfully ski down Nepal's Annapurna from the top, the lead-in to a more high-profile descent he'd complete five years later: He became the first person to ski nonstop from the summit of Mount Everest to base camp. He went...

He Created the Death Race. Now, a New Extreme Offering

Meet Andy Weinberg, founder of the Endurance Society

(Newser) - More than 1 million people clamor their way through a Spartan obstacle race each year. Andy Weinberg has moved on to a more extreme kind of challenge. He's the co-founder of Spartan but no longer a part of it following a legal battle between him and co-founder Joe De...

Swimmer Begins Record Japan-California Attempt
Swimmer Begins Record
Japan-California Attempt
in case you missed it
Jun 9, 2018 11:30 AM CDT

Swimmer Begins Record Japan-California Attempt

Frenchman plans to swim 8 hours a day

(Newser) - Ben Lecomte has set off from Japan in an effort to swim to California, undaunted by sharks, low temperatures, fierce weather, a gigantic garbage patch—and the fact that nobody has even swum across the Pacific before. But the 51-year-old Frenchman has the right experience to attempt the record-breaking open-water...

Most Climbers Need 3 Days to Conquer This. These Guys, 2 Hours

Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell say they're never taking on record for El Capitan's 'Nose' again

(Newser) - Most climbers take three days to scale the 3,000-foot Nose route of Yosemite's El Capitan, perhaps the most intimidating big-wall climbing route on the planet, so it was nothing short of incredible when a pair did it with a time of 2:19:44 last October. Sadly for...

Runner Could Lose Feet After Attempting Punishing Race

Roberto Zanda was attempting the Yukon Arctic Ultra

(Newser) - The chances of emerging from a 300-mile race through Canada's Yukon Territory amid temps as low as minus 40 unscathed? Not good for Roberto Zanda. On Feb. 7, what was day six of the nine-day race—which can be completed on foot, skis, or mountain bike—guides working the...

Rescuers Help BASE Jumper Stuck on Canyon Wall
BASE Jumper
Gets Stuck on
Canyon Wall
Aug 23, 2017 11:45 AM CDT

BASE Jumper Gets Stuck on Canyon Wall

Rescuers saved the day

(Newser) - A BASE jumper apparently trying to make it to the floor of an Idaho canyon instead ended up stuck on the canyon wall Tuesday night, KMVT reports. Emergency responders were called to the scene in Twin Falls, where one descended the cliff face to perform a rope rescue, CBS News...

Guy Practicing Parkour Tumbles 40 Feet Down Chimney

And he's been charged with trespassing for his trouble

(Newser) - A 26-year-old man says he was making a parkour video with friends when he fell 40 feet down the chimney of a downtown Denver apartment building, reports the AP . Dustin Hinkle tells KCNC-TV that he and a couple of friends were making a parkour video on the roof of the...

An Extreme Sport Few Are Brave Enough to Try
An Extreme Sport
Few Are Brave
Enough to Try
LONGFORM
Jan 13, 2017 3:30 PM CST

An Extreme Sport Few Are Brave Enough to Try

Spencer Seabrooke tells how he got into slacklining and yes, our hearts are racing

(Newser) - When Spencer Seabrooke first witnessed the sport of slacklining, or highlining—traversing a not-taut rope stretched high above the ground, calling for greater balance than a traditional tightrope—at a 2012 film fest, he "walked out of there a different person," he says. Writing for Victory Journal , Laura...

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