Sports That Thrill – May 2016

The top adrenaline pumping adventure sports this summer

Be it trekking, bunjee jumping or mountaineering, who doesn’t enjoy a break from the routine of walking or driving through a maze of concrete jungles. Adventure sports not only take us away from our busy city lives but they also get us in touch with the real world and in tune with nature. Some may resort to adventure sports as a getaway, while some others may thoroughly enjoy the adrenaline rush and thus go to the ends of the earth to be a part of this experience.

Adventure sports are of various types and are offered in cities across the globe, even in the most remote destinations. Some of the more death defying sports are Free Solo Climbing, where you can climb the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome, United States, without being harnessed to any safety gear. Then there is Running of the Bulls, where one is dressed in white clothes with a red waistband and neckerchief and the runners are chased by ferocious bulls. The race is one of the deadliest and the most popular sports in Spain and lasts for about a few minutes – that’s what it takes for the bull to decide whether you’re going to live or die. The ‘Cage of Death’ challenges you to plunge into the Darwin’s Crocosaurus Cove, famous for inhabiting the deadliest reptiles ever and survive the terror attack. Even though you are safely enclosed in a glass box, the rush is riveting and equally terrifying. You can try Wing Walking, where the walker is fastened on to the top of an airplane so that he is standing up in the air as the airplane hovers around doing all it can to scare the guts out of him. Highlining is another astounding experience you will have, if you muster the courage to get on to that rope. It is more a challenge to the mind than to your body. The Cerro Negro Mountain offers Volcano Boarding as a sport you can try. Although most people try to get as far away as possible from the site of a volcano, there are those who are more than willing to defy death. Volcano divers gear up in safety suits and descend a volcano’s 41 degree slope at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. This is as insane as it can get. But if you thought this was as wild as it can get, hear me out on this last one. Crocodile Bunjee Jumping on the Zambezi River in Australia. This one combines two of the deadliest adventure sports, jumping off a dizzying height and heading straight to the territory of man-eating crocodiles. This is sure to give you more than just a pure adrenaline rush.

Closer to home, there are adventure sports that families love to indulge in. And what better time than now, to beat the soon approaching summer heat. Dive into crystal clear waters on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands or zip line along ultra strong steel zips in Kerala.  There’s so much more than site seeing that the scenic beauty of our country offers. River Rafting in Himachal, Mountaineering in Uttarakhand, Trekking in Arunachal, Bunjee Jumping in Kerala, Water Sports in Goa, Paragliding in Maharashtra and Rock Climbing in Madhya Pradesh.

If you weren’t aware of this yet, come take a look at some of these sports that we are covering in this issue. We list out what it’s about, the origins, what you need to get going and the best places to try them out, so flip through the pages and make some plans!