Posts Tagged ‘extreme sports’

“Everyone dies, don’t they – but not everyone lives” – Dan Witchalls

“It’s the closest to being a master criminal without committing a crime…” says Witchalls when asked what it is about the sport he loves so much. He has been bitten hard by the basejumping bug, but has no illusions about its dangers: “I think I might die every time…”

BASEjumping is not illegal in England, but trespassing is and it’s the combined thrill of the risk of being caught and the thrill of outwitting security systems to get onto a roof that is almost as big a buzz as the jump itself.

Throwing yourself off tall buildings is addictive to a basejumper, but since 1981 there have been 147 known deaths, including Witchalls’ best friend Neil Queminet.

The real risk with basejumping is not so much injury as death; most accidents are bad accidents, as one blogger on basejumping’s official website warns: “In my short time in this sport I’ve seen two life flight helicopters from the outside, two more from the inside, the back of a police car, several broken bones and a funeral. I’ve also spent three weeks in intensive care and 18 hours in neurosurgery.”

But is that enough of a deterrent? You would think so wouldn’t you, but “See that?” Witchalls says as he prepares to throw himself off a building but taking the time to scan the 360 degree view from his vantage point, “… The stock exchange. Done that,“ …  as he busies himself with some final preparations... “over there, The Shard. Done that. Wembley Stadium. We did that. Security got us when we landed on the pitch.”

Remember that the BASE in basejumping is an acronym for Buildings, Aerials, Spans and Earth. There is a much venerated numbering system for basejumpers: you can apply for an official “base number” when you’ve carried out all four types of jump successfully. Currently around 1,400 base numbers have been allocated.

Sam Wollaston of The Guardian describes BASEjumping as “Russian roulette disguised as extreme sport”. Basejumpers themselves might disagree, but to the idle spectator it certainly looks that way.

Base jumping started out as an underground hobby formalised for the first time in 1978 when a Californian called Carl Boenish made a documentary film of his wife and two friends leaping off a rock in Yosemite National Park. Before long Boenish and his friends were jumping off bridges and electricity masts. They coined the name using the word SPAN for Bridge otherwise it would have been a rather laughable Babe Jumping!

Word began to spread despite Boenish’s own death in 1984 when jumping off a bridge. Some headline moments followed: in 1985 the James bond film A View to a Kill brought base its first big screen appearance, a villainous chase-scene leap from the Eiffel Tower. Five years later the sport made waves in the UK when an Englishman called Russell Powell jumped from the Whispering Gallery inside St Paul’s, a terrifyingly short drop. Two years ago Hervé Le Gallou and an unnamed man from Darlington jumped off Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. Le Gallou was later caught trying to repeat the jump and was detained by police for three months.

It is still a fairly shadowy sport because of the illegality of breaking and entering large buildings with the intent of jumping off the roof, but Witchalls is one of its least shadowy figures and the sport’s most visible public face in England. Previous portraits have tended to emphasise the contrast between his vertiginous hobby and the amiable normality of his daily life as an Essex roofer.

Twenty years on from its initial public emergence in the 1990s base jumping still feels like an act of personal rebellion, aligned in spirit with other extreme activities such as ultra-marathons, kitesurfing, and extreme skiing.

The bond of friendship between basejumpers is legendary. “You share incredibly intense moments, things that you don’t experience in normal friendships,” says Ian Richardson. The same sort of friendships can be found in war zones. Shared danger puts a whole new meaning to a good friendship; trust, support and back-up are part of the package.

Ian, however, has been injured twice in a year: a broken leg and battered head in Benidorm and then, having spent a lot of time mending, another injury in Switzerland where he suffered 3 broken ribs, a punctured lung and stuffed elbow. 12 months later, still too injured to jump, he has officially retired.

But they both agree, as would all basejumpers, that it’s like the most powerful drug in the world… despite injuries, it’s a difficult habit to break…

So it’s worth remembering this: if you are going to become a basejumper, it’s best to become a very good one!

New Zealand here we come, because not only can we do every single crazy extreme sport under the sun, but check out the snow at Treble Cone? This photo was taken on 8th June and the resort doesn’t even open until the 24th!

and this one…

25cm fell in the Home Basin, it’s currently -8C and the snow guns are pumping!

It’s looking good to be a bumper season.

The season hasn’t even begun yet and have an eyeful of this pre-season snow…

Wow. Not bad. Leith Huffadine getting powder turns on Treble Cone’s famous summit slopes this morning.

With 35cm already on the upper mountain and sub zero temperatures providing perfect snowmaking conditions, opening day on 24 June is looking good! To keep up to date on the latest conditions check out the web cam at the new www.treblecone.com

You might be wondering whether it’s worth going all the way out to New Zealand to ski. Why bother? But, if you love ski-ing and you’re not into beach holidays, then why not? It’s a great place, great ski-ing, many world class events are now held there during the winter months, famous names and faces can be seen on the slopes getting ready for the northern hemisphere season and…. well read on and see for yourselves what’s on offer.

The New Zealand ski season generally runs from June through to late October. Conditions permitting, the major commercial ski areas usually begin opening in early June, with the smaller ski areas opening in late June or early July.

June and July are still comparatively mild months, but getting colder and can offer some good powder skiing. August is the peak month in which to ski, and September and October offer a variety of skiing, from spring ski-ing conditions to wintery powder – depending on the weather.

In a good season Whakapapa will open at Christmas (because of its higher altitude) for summer skiing, while some other areas open for mountain biking.

Commercial New Zealand ski areas, such as The Remarkables or Coronet Peak, all have their own distinct character. Most offer world class facilities including snowmaking, state-of-the-art snow grooming, and comprehensive base and dining facilities.

The smaller resorts  – like Temple Basin or Mt Cheeseman – are often run by a group of enthusiasts and have simple facilities such as rope tow or T-bar lifts, generally no snow grooming, but good day lodges and often a more social atmosphere.

Snowboarding in New Zealand is a popular winter activity. All New Zealand ski areas cater for snowboarding to some extent (in some cases better than skiers) and you’ll find good riding at them all.

Ohau in the central South Island, and Wanaka – near Queenstown – are both known as top snowboarding areas. In Wanaka, Cardrona is one of the most popular snowboarding fields, with a number of pipes and parks specifically for boarders of all levels. Across the valley, Snow Park has purpose-built facilities.

And being New Zealand, once there why not try your hand at any one of the extreme pastimes that they have to offer?

You’re spoilt for choice….

There are some sports where you just don’t get the chance to discuss every move, savour every glorious minute, dissect in detail the fabulous day you just spent – because there was no-one there to witness it!

Many of our extreme sports are individual sports – no team effort required. There might be other people out there on the same wave, but they are thinking only about themselves and the next move and will only be keeping an eye on you to avoid crashes etc, certainly not to enjoy your miraculous moments but endeavouring to create their own!

So what can you do about it? The best thing I’ve come across to date is, of course, a GoPro Headcam – the handiest little sports cam ever. It got the top selling Product award from Dealer News Top 100 Retailer Poll (Motorcycle Industry)in both 2008 and 2009.  “I can see GoPro completely dominating the POV market,” said Ben DeCamp, Staff Photographer of Surfer Magazine. But check it out for yourself in the following video from curlcurllocal.  It gives you a very clear idea of what this little ‘gadget’ is all about.

Alternatively, who says you only have to have one on your helmet… if you wear one.. a helmet I mean? You can put one of these great little things pretty well anywhere: on the sail, your board, your car, your bike, wherever you want. As Mark Anders from Surfline.com says  “…after testing it for the past six months I can honestly say it’s one of the coolest, handiest little cameras I’ve ever used.” Thanks to tomasleeman for this fun video:

GoPro are understandably proud of their product and consider it the world’s highest performance-wearable 1080p HD video and stills photo camera on the market. It gives professional quality picture and records at 30 and 60 frames per second. It’s battery time is pretty impressive too – it will record up to 2.5 hours on a single charge and up to 9 hours total on a 32GB SD card, although this card is not included in the price.

What is included, though, are mounts for attaching the camera to three helmets and two pieces of gear or vehicles, as well as a head strap allowing you to wear the camera like a headlamp. You can also pull this strap over helmets for easy camera sharing between friends. One of the above mentioned helmet mounts is a lace-through strap-mount designed for vented helmets.

GoPro are proud to say that they are also shockproof, bombproof and waterproof! As self-confessed sports geeks, and needless to say extreme sports are in there in spadefuls, they have made sure that this little number will impress even the most exacting customers.

Perhaps you should go check out the GoPro Helmet HERO WIDE Waterproof Digital Camera for Sport at Amazon.com yourself and make up your own mind…

We profile many of theAdventurists adventures – all of them actually, I think. We love their ethos on life. As they say, “If you don’t get lost, how can you ever find yourself?”

And on that cheerful note, enjoy this promotional video from them as a weekend treat!

A message from The Adventurists:

At high noon the doors of London’s oldest operating cinema in Notting Hill will open for six hours of filmic adventurism.

The best films made by teams taking part in adventures all over the planet. A masterclass on self-filming in the middle of nowhere from the pioneer himself Benedict Allen. The unveiling of the winning film itself…

Plus there’ll be an exclusive screening of our new National Geographic International TV show about the Mongol Rally and Rickshaw Run. Talks with film makers and a chance to hob-nob with fellow adven turists and all for eight of the queen’s sheckles (six for current teams).

Book your place on the Film Festival website.

I cannot believe I did this whole article, scheduled for release in May, only to find that on Friday, 12th March,  the Health and Safety Department in England have, in their wisdom, cancelled this hundreds-of-years old event – fearing for the safety of spectators as the event grows in popularity!!! Can you believe it?

I might as well broadcast the now-cancelled event anyway, and perhaps the Healthy and Safety department can see a way around their dilemma…

We’ve profiled this off-beat and wacky English competition once before, but this is the best photograph I’ve seen of it (courtesy of Will de Freitas)… Despite the many videos we’ve shown, it has been difficult to get through to you, our audience, exactly how steep this hill is. And NOW you know. The guy upside down here ended up in hospital…

I think he lived!

Hey, what’s life if you can’t take a risk or two?

Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling is proud of its more than 200 year old tradition. A 3.5 kg round cheese is chased down a vertiginous hill by hilariously mad, possibly drunk, idiots. A fun day out for all! Certainly a good spectator sport.

The festival was originally held at midsummer but was moved at some time to Whitsuntide, and now takes place annually on on Whit Monday. In 2010 this will be the 31st May.

Cooper’s Hill as viewed from the bottom and the top.

So what’s it all about then?

There are 5 downhill races, one is for ladies; and 4 uphill races for boys under 12’s, girls under 12 and men’s and women’s open with staggering prize money of £10 for the downhill race and £5 for the uphill one.

A master of ceremonies escorts an invited guest to the top of the hill and helps him/her to sit on the precipitous slope holding the cheese. At his command:

• one to be ready
• two to be steady
• three to prepare…

… at which stage the guest ‘roller’ releases the cheese. And at…

• four to be off

…the competitors, anywhere from 2 to 20, hurl themselves off the edge in hot pursuit. The first person to the bottom takes home the cheese. The second and third placed get £10 each… or so.

The slope has a gradient that is in places 1-in-2 and in others 1-in-1. Its surface is very rough and uneven and it is almost impossible to remain on foot for the descent. Injuries incurred are usually minor and competitors (particularly the successful ones) enter again year after year.

The 5 downhill races are held at twenty minute intervals.

The uphill race does obviously not include a cheese although the winner does receive a small one.

A Double Gloucester cheese, the real thing, is the prize and always has been, apart from a brief rationing period between 1941 and 1954 (not many people are aware of how long rationing continued in England after the Second World War). During this period the game was not forsaken, but a wooden substitute was used with a small niche cut into it which included an equally small piece of cheese!

This is a day out in true mad-dog-an-Englishman style… with much to recommend it and if you’re still doubtful, you might like to have a preview of the 2009 race (SoGlos):

As event organisers say: “You do not need any type of application form to enter. There are no qualifications and no entry fee. All you have to do is arrive at the top of the hill, make the decision (possibly check that your ‘Last will and testament ‘ is up-to-date!) make sure that you won’t need that pair of jeans ever again and ……… GO!!!!”

What are you waiting for?!!

… well, now you’re waiting for the Health and Safety Department to allow the event to continue!