The 5 Most Exciting Adventures in the World 2/5 – Big Mountain Skiing at Alaskan Moutains

Big mountain skiing

Cost: $6800 for 8 nights accommodation and 100,000 vertical feet of skiing.

Forget the hotels, forget the lift tickets, forget the well groomed snow that’s beneath your feet when you’re having a fun time skiing down the “black diamond” trails at the resort.  Forget everything you thought you knew about skiing. Big mountain skiing is BIG…and STEEP. It is so BIG that you need to hitch a ride in a helicopter to reach the mountain summit at 15,000 feet; it’s so STEEP that a slight pop of the skis when sliding down the mountain slopes can send you flying through the air for 20 feet. There are no closed trails, no boundaries, no maintenance crew, no paramedics. You can ski any lines you want; you can ski any time you want, the lift does not close at 4:00pm (actually, there aren’t any lifts at all). But at the same time, you can hit a rock buried under the snow and tumble down the mountain at 40 mph (64 km); you can set off avalanches that will bury you under 50 feet of snow. There’s no one but your friends to save you when shit goes down; you’re playing a dangerous game with the mountain. Most of the time, when she’s feeling good, she lets you have some of the most amazing time ever. But don’t get it twisted, when she’s in a bitchy mood, there’s no telling what she’ll do.

The 5 Most Exciting Adventures in the World 1/5 – Flying a Jet Fighter in Swiss Alps

If you’re an adrenaline junkie, like me, at one time or another, you probably have wondered in your head just what are the most exciting things a person can do in this world? I think nowadays, for most of us regular folks who work in the corporate world or well-regarded positions in the government, life has become a little too safe. With the recent recession, everyone is worried about losing their jobs, losing their fortune; for some reason, everyone has become risk adverse, to the point that they are scared to move out of their comfort zone. On that thought, I thought I would start a series of posts which compiles a list of some of the most exciting adventures in the world. Through the research process,  I was able to see  and learn about a few incredible people who are really pushing the envelope in their area of passion, and redefined what I once thought of as impossible.  For me, each of these endeavors was a real eye open. It allowed me to see that I’m not living my life to fullest, and inspired me to continue to challenge myself outside of my comfort zone. Hopefully, it can be the same for you.

So without further ado, for the first post of the series, the adventure is located within the Swiss Alps, but it’s not skiing. You get to…

Fly a jet fighter along the mountains and valleys of Swiss Alps

cost: $2950-$5950

BASE Jumping, how will it change you?

To most people, 6672 metre is a little too high for most of us to properly visualize in our brain. To help you put the height into perspective, 6672 metre equals to 23,889 feet; at that height, it’s equivalent to 17.5 Empire State Buildings or 10.5 Burj Dubais(the tallest tower in the world) stacked together. A car cruising on the highway at 100 km/hr will take 4 minutes to travel that distance, and if you ever get to that height, you’ll know that a Boeing 747 is cruising at a mere 8000 feet above your head; the plane will look awfully big from where you’ll be standing. To wife Heather Swan and husband Glen Singleman, BASE jumping from the cliff of Mt Meru at the height of 24,000 feet is just another part of their extraordinary life. However, things weren’t always like that for Heather…

Ski BASE jumping – Shane McConkey

A few days ago, I was looking over some more BASE jumping videos, and found the above video by chance. Within the first 30 seconds, I was left speechless with goose bumps across my body. While combining Backcountry Skiing with BASE jumping may seem like a natural step in progression, Shane McConkey was the one crazy enough to push forward. When I showed the video to my girlfriend, she said he must not value his life (she’s probably the polar opposite of a thrillseeker). I simply laughed.  Shane said it best in the video:

“I have had 6 season ending injuries in the past 10 years, and people always ask me: is it worth it, getting hurt that much. And the answer is yes. I would do it all over again, I would have 6 more season ending injuries in the next 10 years in order to do what we get to do. There’s nothing better than flying down the snow, flying through the air.”

Shane McConkey blitzing downhill

Shane never compromised in life, and skiing was his life.

“There’s something really cool about getting scared. I don’t know what it is.”

To most, that may sound like a person who has a slight suicidal tendency. But looking from another perspective, just like Jeb Corliss, he has already accepted the fact that he may one day die from skiing. To come to grip with the fear of death allowed him to embrace his life. To live your life on your own terms, isn’t that something we should all do?

Click Here to see Shane McConkey’s photo gallery, provided by Freeskier Magazine.

Wangan Racing

While Wangan literally means “Bayshore” in Japanese, it’s not a place where you admire the beautiful scenery of the waterfront during the night. From Dusk to Dawn, at the so called Shuto “Wangan” Expressway in Tokyo Japan, highly modified tuner vehicles often prowl the streets, looking out for worthy opponents to humiliate. Japanese supercars like the Nissan GTR, Mazda RX-7, and Honda NSX-R dominates the street during the night hours. If you want to run with the best of the best on the Wangan, make sure your skill and your ride is good enough to top 200 mph. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even be able to stay close enough to eat your opponent’s dust.

Night at Wangan Highway

Herman Maier – the “Herminator”

Herman Maier recently retired as one of the greatest apline skier in the history of his sport. In his 13 year career, he won 4 World Cup, 2 Olympic gold, 3 World Championship Titles, as well as a asounting total of 54 races in the World Cup series. Undoublty number one in his time and arguably one of the best of all time, not only because of his competitiveness and obsessive preparation, but more so because he made one of the most imporable sports comeback.

BASE Jumping

Often times the most exciting things are also the most dangerous. BASE jumping probably rank fairly high on that list. BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span, earth. Instead of jumping out of an airplane from 13,000 ft, BASE jumping entails leaping off of a fixed object like a cliff, bridge, tower, or building. Since the jump is typically made at much lower altitude. BASE jumpers rarely reach the terminal velocity of 200 km/hr, because there is simply not enough distance for acceleration. However, if your name is Heather Swan, then you need not apply. When she jumped off the cliff of Mt. Meru at 21,000 feet, she was able to reach 200 km/hr even with a wingsuit. While BASE jumping evolved from skydiving, make  no mistake; the former is far more dangerous than latter. Statistically, 1 in every 100,000 people dies from skydiving; 1 in every 60 dies from BASE jumping. Through 500 BASE jump, the chance of you spending time in the hospital from a serious injury is 99%. The odd of you getting injured at least once is 100%. Jeb Corliss, the most respected BASE jumper today, having jumped over 1000 times around the world, often compare BASE jumping to the military. Initially, it may sound ridiculous to compare the recreational thrill seekers to the people that lay their lives on the line to protect our country. However, once you put some thought into it, it’s not too far off. Just like every soldier, every BASE jumper understands and accepts that he or one of his friends may die today; every jump could be their last. There may be 5 people getting on that helicopter to the summit, and only 4 might see the light of another day. In the back of their mind, there’s always a lingering question: “who is it going to be this time?” It surely isn’t a sport for the faint hearted. Now just out of curiosity, would you ever want to attempt BASE jumping?