Jun

Hybrid extreme sports…what’s next?

Mark Pawlak Category

climb-diving, freefall paintball, korfball, snow-surfing, wave-skiing

One defining characteristic of the extreme sports, adventure sports community is its ingenuity; it is forever coming up with new sports.

So what’s next on the list, what’s next year’s adventure sports darling or future Olympic hopeful?

Here’s a few sports that are appearing on our radar – some are genuine, others less so – let’s see how many you can add to the list.

Wave-skiing?

Born after professional skiers Mike Douglas and Cody Townsend decided to ski on waves, instead of surfing them.

Snow-surfing?

Taking the board back to the slopes, and why not? Using a longboard without its fins provides the most stable platform, which is great for beginners. And freestyle fans can take to the half-pipes, cutting back off the lip, just as they do when at sea.

Freefall-Paintball?

A Bond-style battle between bat-suit wearing free fallers, the winner is established when both are on solid ground and splats are checked.

Climb-diving?

A coastal sport that combines the physical strength of the climber, with the suppleness and skill of the springboard diver. Points are awarded on technical difficulty, but multiplied by the height that each competitor free-climbed to.

So, wrack those brains. Which sports can we expect to see next?

About the author

Mark Pawlak wrote 232 articles on this blog.

Editor at Adventure Sports Holidays, Mark's love affair with travel and the challenges of adventure sports continues... "You could save all year for a two-week, all-inclusive, doss by the pool, booze and buffet binge. Or, with a little planning and some good equipment, get off your arse and plan an adventure!"

Tim B June 15, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Well that’s the thing with these hybrids – for every 1 good new sport that is born (kitesurfing for example) you get a whole collection of absolute crap! Take for example indoor skydiving. Excellent fun with a great deal of technical difficulty, it’s a fun recreational activity and is also a great tool for formation skydivers to practise their moves.

So then some (not so bright spark) decides to mix it with Sphereing – possibly one of the most over-rated extreme activities out there, good for nothing but whiplash, and create Air-Sphereing. An experience that combines the worst attributes of sphereing and takes away the best attributes of indoor skydiving.

If any new extreme sport is going to stand the test of time it has to combine two parts and make something greater of the whole. Otherwise you’re left with a gimic with a very short lifetime.
Luke June 15, 2010 at 2:25 pm
How about Scuba Sky Diving?

You are in a plane spotting where the activity is eg shoal of tuna, whales or sharks (for the really adventurous) and then jump out of the plane in full scuba kit to skydive down and into the middle of the activity so you are always in the right place at the right time….

OK so you will get through a lot of parachutes and we need to figure out how you get picked up after the dive…..
Lianne June 15, 2010 at 2:33 pm
We are forever hearing new “sports” and things are constantly evolving into the next extreme sports, pushing ourselves whether its physically impossible to do insane things (If I may say so!)

It could be a result of having no money to buy a proper snowboard and we look around what we could use instead, ah ha, a ‘surfboard will do’ pops in mind then becomes ‘snow-surfing’.

I came across this earlier, ‘Underwater Base jump’ I thought it was rubbish but that it is combining many sports together, Freediving + ‘Freefalling’ + Rock climbing back up.

http://www.worldhum.com/videos/video/video-you-must-see-underwater-free-fall-in-the-bahamas-20100608/

I guess there is no limit to Hybrid sports..
Holly June 16, 2010 at 10:57 am
Last summer we took wakeboarding/waterskiing inland. Imagine, a 60 ft waterslide made from black silage wrap, lots of fairy liquid, a tow rope, and a landrover going 25mph, plus a ramp!

If you haven’t got the equipment or the terrain you have to make your own adventure sports! It definitely didn’t get old but the weather wasn’t going to stay good forever.
Lucy June 18, 2010 at 9:22 am
How about windsurfing on the piste!

Wind Snoffing, Snowfering, snow windsurfing…what ever you want to call it, tis pretty cool. It’s been around for a while now but still never fails to amaze. I even saw a guy snow-windsurfing UP the slope once in Val d’Isere – beats paying for a lift pass!

Have a look for yourself:
http://is.gd/cTVhR
http://is.gd/cTVaE
http://is.gd/cTVeu
Lucy June 19, 2010 at 6:42 am
Holly,

I just re-read your post. That’s insane!! Have you got any pics/video links?

A big thumbs up from me
Holly June 22, 2010 at 9:08 am
yeh loads of pictures on facebook.

i’ll work out how to get a few on youtube or something and link them on here

Hybrid extreme sports…what’s next?

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