It’s impossible to tell who the first adrenaline seekers were. Maybe it was the first single cell organism that migrated from the ocean, and eventually sprouted legs. Maybe it was cavemen who discovered fire. Arguments could be made for a lot of different possibilities. The only thing that is certain, is that there is always a percentage of people who constantly push the limits, looking for new ways to get that natural high.
As technology creates new inventions, and each generation passes hobbies on to the next generation, new activities are constantly created. Some of these activities are improvements off of old similar activities, others are completely new. These are four of the most amazing adrenaline based extreme sports.
Creature Crafting
I am sure you have never heard of this activity, because that isn’t really its name. If anything, it is a new unique type of whitewater rafting, with a little bit of rabid honey badger and a lot of insanity mixed in. However, Creature Crafting, sounds better than psychotic river rafting. For many people using creature crafts is cheating the activity, and if you choose to float a class 2 rapid in a creature craft, I would agree. Creature crafts were created to do what regular rafts can’t, the unbelievable.
Creature Crafts are whitewater rafts with roll cages. Once you are strapped inside a creature craft, you are at the mercy of the water and the water will make you do crazy things. backflips, barrel rolls and floating upside down are all things you may experience inside a creature. Instead of getting knocked out and swimming, you hold on for dear life as you navigate rivers, which cannot be navigated by a regular raft. Rivers that were previously thought too dangerous to raft, are now navigated by experienced oarsmen in Creatures.
Wing Suits
Almost everyone has seen or been exposed to the wing suit. Short of man growing wings, this is the closest people can come to actual flying. The wing suit is a suit that triples the body surface area and turns falling into a high speed controlled descent. This is definitely a sport for people with no fear. It’s also one of the most dangerous. The organization that regulates wing suits flying requires 200 skydiving jumps in 18 months or 500 total jumps, before they will let you sniff a wing suit. Experts recommend that you take up BASE jumping and have at least 50 BASE jumps under your belt.
At speeds of 120 MPH, people in wing suits fly next to cliffs, through natural arches and sometimes feet from the ground. The slightest move in a wing suit, if erroneous, does not give one much time to correct their mistake. So if you want to jump into a wing suit and grab soda cans off walls, I recommend you have a great funeral plan or lots of experience BASE Jumping (an activity with an unbelievable mortality rate) or parachuting. Wing suits are the ultimate in adrenaline, but could always be a one time fix.
Canyoneering
Canyoneering is similar to Creature Crafting’ it’s easier to show you what it is, than it is to explain. Most of the time when explaining what canyoneering is people often sum it up to ‘Oh its rappelling’ or ‘its rock climbing’. These are very simple explanations of what canyoneering can be. If you are going rappelling, you usually aren’t going swimming. If you are going rock climbing you don’t need a wetsuit. It’s far more complicated than the sum of all of its parts. Some canyons may be as simple as rappelling, some may include a combination of 20 different activities.
Canyoneering is the process of descending narrow canyons that are cut into the earth by flowing water over millions of years. Most people only know of canyoneering because of Aron Rawlston, who became trapped and had to amputate his own arm. A simple canyoneering trip usually requires overland orientation skills, rappelling skills, down climbing and up climbing skills, swimming, backpacking, and extensive teamwork. It is also one of the few activities in which you will face falling, drowning, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, getting lost, and dehydration in the same hour. Unlike wing suits it can be geared for easy to comprehensive death plans. Even if you are a family you can often find a canyon that will get everyone’s adrenaline up.
Anything Zorbing
Even though the idea of Zorbs has been in some type of media or claims as far back as the 70s it is the New Zealanders who have been credited with making them mainstream. Zorbs are plastic spheres which usually have people inside. They have a sphere inside a sphere with a person in the very middle. A cushion of a couple feet of air between the two spheres protects the person from harm. What these spheres are then used for is really up to the imagination.
It first started off as ways for people to roll down hills inside the zorbs. As the idea has gained traction a lot of very interesting twists have taken place. Some involve the running of the bulls, where a snowboard like half pipe track is created. Someone is placed in the Zorb and pushed down the track. Other people run down the track hoping to outrun the Zorb. Bowling is another one. People are put in inflatable pins and another person is placed in a Zorb bowling ball. One of the best ones yet is Zorb Soccer which is a great team building activity if you want to take some frustrations out on your boss, or an event for a family reunion. Inside a Zorb you need no apologies for laying the smack down on your mother-in-law.
