Dudes flying 100 miles an hour just inches away from a cliff, dropping 186 feet down a waterfall, and ollieing over the Great Wall of China. . . all part of the progression.
Wingsuit Flying: Loic Jean-Albert, Andreas Barkhall, Espen Fadnes
Have you seen people flying yet? These guys are full on achieving mankind’s oldest dream. As they continue to push skills and develop new wingsuit technologies, it’s only a matter of time before somebody pulls off a controlled landing without a parachute.
Kayaking: Tyler Bradt, Rush Sturges, Ben Stookesberry, Jesse Coombs, Tao Berman, Pat Keller, Chris Gratmas
10 years ago, running any waterfall much over 30-40 feet was more of a stunt than anything else. Today, the latest boat and gear designs along with continually-evolving paddling technique have enabled paddlers to run enormous waterfalls totally under control. Up until this Spring, the 30-40 meter height seemed to be a plateau, but then Tyler Bradt made a completely game-changing run here in Washington, styling out the 186 foot Palouse Falls.
Check out the athlete reel of Rush Sturges below to get some idea of where paddling is at these days:
Snowboarding: Terje Haakonsen, Jeremy Jones, Bjorn Leines
There are posses of big mountain riders out there, but these guys have been pushing the biggest mountain lines for years.
Skiing: JT Holmes
Along with Shane McConkey (who died in a ski-base jumping accident earlier this year) JT Holmes has, for the last several years, pioneered big mountain lines that previously only existed in people’s imagination by incorporating base-jumping skills into skiing.
Skateboarding: Danny Way, Bob Burnquist
Although modern skateboarding still probably owes more to Rodney Mullen than anyone else, Danny Way and Bob Burnquist have (and still are) pushing limits as far as how big a feature can be skated.
Surfing: Laird Hamilton, Mike Parsons, Ken Bradshaw, Ross Clarke-Jones
These guys are among the most famous representatives of an entire crew of tow-in surfing pioneers.
Feature photo of Danny Way by ynoptic.
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12 Comments... join the discussion!
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Thanks Julie, and you’re totally right, as I put this roundup together I was thinking, ‘this is all dudes.’ No doubt there are women out there killing it in every terrain and sport.
The first two women that come to mind immediately are:
Layne Beachley–all time greatest female surfer who charges huge waves
Emily Jackson–only 18 and multiple world champion kayaker who also charges huge whitewaterThey’re also both total cultural ambassadors / folks who give back to local communities.
check out this vid:
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Whoa. This is a totally comprehensive list for somebody like me, who doesn’t know jack about sports. Good job
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Great Article David, I really enjoyed that you covered Wing Suit Base Jumping.
I myself am a Free Fly Skydiver and have about 20 more jumps before I get to strap on a wing suit. My current coach is Joao Tambor he is a world renown free flyer and I am luck to have been able to spend a few hours int he wind tunnels with him.
Loic Jean Albert is the man he practically invented wing suits, he was injured pretty badly last year in a skigliding accident but he is making a come back. It is one of my biggest dreams to trace canyon walls with these guys, that is the pinnacle of freedom to me soaring through the sky.
Here are a few videos of skigliding and Freeflying the first one was created by my coach Joao Tambor the second is an example of skigliding.
FreeFlying — The audio is bad on this but worth a watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEZzOa6O2nsSkiGliding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut1kGmOhzWQ↵ -
Here is the first video again this time with out the audio issues.
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sweet videos Joshua. I just embedded that second one you mentioned. It must feel incredible to start a progression in sky sports.
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I got shivers up my spine. Those are insane videos! Those flying suits…I can only imagine the rush they must get from that.
I love the snowboarding and skateboarding vids – those guys keep pushing and pushing the limits, evolving their sports. It’s funny to see the kinds of things they come up with, just plain ridiculous. I wonder how many twisted knees there were in trying/landing those tricks with a foot out of the binding. (and I wonder why there isn’t a binding where you can click out in the air? Or is there…).
And give Tony Hawk some credit! Not that I’m much in the skate scene anymore, I reckon he’s up there with Mullen in getting skateboarding where it is today.
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Good call Carlo, Tony Hawk has definitely pushed insane limits for years. His foundation has also helped get skateparks built across the country. Word.
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No rocket boot man? Up there with the wing suits for sure.
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Check out travis rices recent video parts if you want to see the limits of snowboarding really getting blown away.
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Insane. I had seen that windsuit video before. My husband jokes that he is going to do it one day. These guys are nuts!
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