ExTREME SPORTS AND THEIR GREATEST COMPETITORS have become enormously popular Some of the sports featured in the early X Games have been added to the Summer and Winter Olympic Games But neither the X Games nor the Olympics encompass all of the sports that are considered extreme Most everyone would agree that skydiving from a height of 24 miles 39 kilometers is also extreme So is spending a week exploring a pitch black cave 5 000 feet 1 500 meters beneath the surface of the earth The definition of extreme sports is changing and expanding year by year Adventurous athletes constantly push the envelope They look for riskier challenges to conquer and more clever ways to conquer them Once they conquer them and their rivals copy and then exceed what the origi nators have done those feats become less extraordinary In time what once was push ing the envelope produces only yawns Waterskiing for example was viewed as a daredevil phenomenon when it was invented in 1922 Today the greatest hazard posed by waterskiing may be the fact that so many people are doing it congesting lakes Along with profiles of notable competi tors this book breaks down extreme sports
INTRODUCTION according to where they take place from the sky and cliffs to snowy slopes on streets ramps racetracks and in arenas and in caves cragged canyons and the deep blue Sea Many of the extreme sports described here share a unique subculture that sepa rates them from traditional team sports It is a youth oriented culture that has embraced new music and fashion and emphasizes indi vidual creativity Energetic young people are drawn to these sports because they offer individual freedom At their own pace aspir ing athletes can learn practice progress and ultimately excel They can practice and per form alone or when they want with friends Discipline and training are demanded but they are self imposed and self paced However readers who are interested in taking up these sports must not under estimate the danger Loss of balance on a skateboard or skis can result in a life changing injury for a novice Failure to heed the weather can leave a caver or canyon explorer trapped at the mercy of swiftly flooding waters Read on and learn more about the excitement and the perils of extreme sports 9
SNOWY SLOPES CLIFFS AND THE SKY ABOVE ome risk takers love the challenge of clawing upward at a snail's pace Others find their thrills plunging downward at incredible speeds Hugging a rock face skiing or snow boarding down a mountain slope and hurtling from heights are all means of exhilaration Many of these sports can be enjoyed by beginners They also can be taken to extremes SnowBOARDING CON EF SPAHEHER Snowboarders Sometimes call it riding the mountains Snowboarding combines techniques of skiing skate boarding and surfing Chinese snowboarder Shuang Li started snowboarding competitively in 2008 at age 16 Here she is in the Women's Half Pipe Qualification at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia lurii Osadchi Shutterstock com IO
Snowy SLOPEs CLIFFS AND THE SKY ABOVE Experimenters during the 1960s came up with the idea of surfing on snow The crude boards they originally used have been perfected Basically a snowboard is like an extra large skateboard without wheels Bindings secure the rider's boots to the board and an ankle leash keeps the board attached when the rider falls On average a snowboard is about 5 feet 150 centimeters long and 10 inches 25 cm wide Some boards are narrower in the middle which makes them easier to turn Unlike snow skiers Snowboarders use no poles Dedicated snowboarders train for differ ent styles of competition including Alpine freestyle and boardercross also called snowboard cross Each style requires dif ferent skills and calls for specialized boards and boots Alpine snowboarding involves little jump ing Rather athletes maneuver around gates in a succession of turns competing against the clock Slalom and giant slalom events have tight turns and require exceptional technical expertise The supergiant slalom is on a longer course with looser turns Taking the turns as fast as possible with their bodies leaning close to the snow is second nature to Alpine snowboarders II
