What Are the Most Extreme Winter Sports? – Extreme Winter Sports are Not for Everyone
Winter is coming… The overused quote from Game of Thrones is actually a very good thing for people who love winter sports. Many will cherish the first snowfall and rush to look at the forecast for their local ski and snowboard resorts. Some prepare in advance and purchase season passes in their local resorts, ready to take advantage of every snowflake out there.
Others know of skiing and snowboarding as winter sports, and maybe ice skating, but are unfamiliar with the rest. Winter allows for many extreme sports to be practiced and here are the most extreme of all of them.
Skiing and Snowboarding (on a mountain slope)
Skiing can by its nature be very extreme because you can go really, really fast. Sure, other sports allow you to go fast, but with skiing, you can do it with some safety and control. There are ski pistes which are marked black, in most countries, meaning very steep and dangerous, for experts only. These pistes can be exciting, but some skiers take it a step above, literally.
Mountains offer quite a lot for someone who likes the extreme, and for skiing, this means a slope covered with snow, oftentimes away from civilization. That kind of exposure to danger with almost no help nearby makes skiing and snowboarding a couple of very, very extreme sports.
Luge
For those who haven’t watched the Winter Olympics, they will have no clue what luge is. It is a very fast race where a person rides an ice toboggan on a sled. They can go really fast and require from the luger to steer left and right using only their body. At those speeds, exiting the toboggan in an uncontrolled way could mean serious injuries or even death. There is an even more extreme version of the luge where the luger goes downhill headfirst. It is called the Skeleton. In regular luge runs, lugers go in feet first. Luge can be done by a single person or by two people on sleds made for two.
Ice Climbing
This is a particularly dangerous sport if you are unfamiliar with ice. It can be tricky for climbing. Not all ice is equally firm or runs deep enough for you to climb safely. Some alpine climbers, particularly speed climbers, use only ice axes and crampons, without any safety equipment.
This sport is dangerous enough as it is and only the most extreme athletes perform it without safety equipment. It can only be done in really, really cold areas, or in winter, but not everywhere. Ice can be treacherous.
Ice Diving
This is a very strange sport, which involves people diving in icy lakes. You break a bit of ice and you go right in, trying to see what the wildlife does in such a cold environment. Some do it for the thrill of it. It is popular in the northern areas of the world, such as Canada, Finland and Norway.
Snow Mountain Biking
Mountain bikes are actually great in snow. Once the season of snow and Christmas songs comes, those with mountain bikes can try a new sport. Falling in the snow is not as bad as on a hard surface, unless the snow is frozen, in which case you’d have difficulting cycling, as well.
For some people, this is the best type of winter sports, for others, a very good introductory winter sports, especially if they already have the gear.
Winter sports are amazing, and some of them can be extreme. These are but a few of the world’s many extreme winter sports.