Every year, more and more sports appear in the world that allow people to cripple themselves. But injuries are only one side of the coin. On the other hand, adrenaline, an indescribable sensation of balancing on the brink of life and death, a way to escape from routine life.
Here it is important to take a responsible attitude to safety measures, not to start unprepared classes, not to train on your own, and then injuries can be avoided.
When compiling a rating of the most extreme sports, it is difficult to be objective - the degree of danger and severity of sensations are very individual, and deaths, as a rule, are hidden.
Your chances of dying while playing sports (infographic)
10. Rock climbing
A type of active pastime, which is a kind of mountaineering - climbing an artificial climbing wall or natural relief (rocks). By and large, this pastime is not associated with risk and is even beneficial to health. But there are subtypes (on-site, solo, rock climbing on unprepared slopes), when an athlete is in danger of falling and falling, then it is possible to earn a fracture, dislocation or concussion. It is important to be physically fit, to follow safety precautions and to carefully select and inspect equipment.
9. Rafting
Sports rafting on special inflatable boats (rafts) on rough mountain rivers or artificial canals appeared relatively recently in Russia. This is a rather dangerous hobby, especially on routes of 3-6 category of difficulty. The main difficulties for rafting can be: overcoming large stone rapids and waterfalls; hitting "barrels" (obstacles with blockage) and underwater pockets-cavities; remoteness from civilization and, as a rule, lack of communication with rescue services.
In this sport, extreme sportsmen are not insured against injury and hypothermia: during the rafting, athletes can be thrown out of the raft and go under the water or bump into rocky obstacles. Therefore, there is a risk of breaking something, knocking out a joint or getting bruised and scratched. For inexperienced adventure seekers, there is a so-called commercial rafting within the framework of boating.
8. Motor sports
There are a lot of disciplines in motorcycle sport now: speedway, motorcycle trials, etc. Many of them are united by high speed, complexity of the track, low protection of the athlete, despite the equipment, and injury risk. In addition to high-speed disciplines, there is, for example, freestyle motocross, which is the performance of acrobatic stunts in ski jumping on cross-country motorcycles.
Motorsport is considered by some to be the most dangerous sport, but little has been written about injuries in the sport. We managed to find out that according to statistics, about 90% of the riders had injuries under the age of 17 years. At the same time, 57% of athletes suffered from jumping injuries. Basically - these are spinal injuries, concussions, sprains of the joints, fractures of the wrists and clavicle. Yet there are other, much more extreme competitions.
7. Rodeo
A traditional sport for North Americans, historically originated among cowboys. There are several types of competitions: racing on a wild bull or on a horse (saddled or not), catching a bull on a lasso, collapsing, etc. Extreme here goes off scale: a wild and playful animal can easily trample a rider. At the same time, rodeo is considered the shortest-term sport - it takes only 8 seconds to hold out on an angry 800 kg bull.
To minimize the risks to the athlete, bullfighters participate in bullfighters to distract the animal if the cowboy falls. But even this does not save most riders from numerous injuries. It is noteworthy that the earnings of the most famous cowboys go to their treatment.
6. Streetlagging
Another extreme sport was invented in the USA in the 70s, but after a few years the official competition was discontinued. Its essence lies in downhill lying on planks along asphalt roads of public use, in close proximity to car traffic. It's like an obstacle bobsled, only the skateboard has no brakes and the riders have no normal vision. Therefore, when braking, they use their legs and arms, well, or simply bump into a suitable obstacle.
It is not difficult to imagine how dangerous and traumatic this entertainment is. Of course, "athletes" do not neglect protective ammunition: they use helmets, shields, gloves and knee pads, but there are very few guarantees of protection.
5. Speedriding (speedgliding)
Very young, combining paragliding, parachuting and alpine skiing, sports. Speedriders use a special kind of glider (wing or speedgliding) and alpine skis to get downhill swiftly. Part of the way extreme hovers through the air.
Sport is very dangerous and implies the development of high speeds (up to 100 km / h), which is prohibited on many ski slopes, and athletes are called crazy. The speedriders themselves use only unused slopes for descending. Of course, the level of training for speedriding must be at its best, and even more so, you cannot study on your own.
4. Cave diving (cave diving)
This extreme hobby is associated with technical diving in underwater caves. At first glance, this sport may seem simple, but in fact it has its own difficulties, such as the impossibility of an instant ascent, absolute darkness, low temperatures, difficult terrain, health problems, etc. Such dives require extremely serious preparation, reliable equipment, and well-oiled equipment. In terms of danger, such diving can be compared to feeding sharks: caves in central Florida alone have already buried more than 400 divers.
3. Slackline
In third place in the rating is Slacklining, or walking on a line stretched between objects. This requires strong nylon or polyester ropes, but not very tight. If the rope is not taut, it can stretch like an elastic band if necessary.
The degree of tension depends on the goals and objectives of the equilibrist. It is easier to move along a sling stretched like a string and perform various dangerous stunts. Also, the athlete chooses the presence or absence of insurance. By the way, the balancer cannot be used when walking on a sling. The world record for the highest slackline was recorded in 2016 by Stefan Sigrist on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.
2. Heli-skiing
Alpine skiing is one of the most extreme in the world. It is a jump from a helicopter and descent down an untouched and unprepared slope. The use of air transport allows you to find various options for snow trails, where there is no other way to quickly climb.
The main danger for skiers comes from possible avalanches and unexpected obstacles, such as holes hidden under the ice crust or sudden trees and snow-covered rocks.That is why, in order to ensure their own safety, a skier needs to have avalanche sensors, a shovel and other equipment to search for people in an avalanche.
1. BASE jumping
In some countries, base jumping is prohibited by law. Indeed, one of the most dangerous extreme sports is jumping with a special parachute from various objects at low altitude. B.A.S.E. Is an acronym from English words: building (building, house), antenna (antenna), span (bridge, overlap), earth (ground), which is a list of fixed objects for performing base jumping. The moment of flight takes very little time, and there is a chance not to have time to choose the correct position when opening the canopy or to collide with an obstacle from a gust of wind.
Attempts to jump independently, without skills and professional equipment, for example, from a high-rise building, as a rule, lead to severe injuries or death. From 1981 to 2011, more than 150 incidents were recorded: each year, up to 15 people die while jumping.