If you’re an adrenaline junkie finding that skiing and snowboarding just don’t do it for you anymore, and are on the lookout for a new activity to satisfy your fix, why not give speed riding a go? This sport for thrill-seekers combines both skiing and paragliding to create a new experience unlike any other and judging from a recently published video, it provides quite the adrenaline-fueled ride.
Speed riding involves skiing down a mountain with a small cloth wing or parasail attached to the skier’s body. The wing provides lift which allows the speed rider to occasionally take flight, soaring over rocks, trees, or other obstacles, before gently returning to the ground to continue the descent on skis. In this way, the skier makes their way down the face of a mountain with a mix of skiing and flying, even taking flight from high cliffs along the way.
The above two-minute clip, via Red Bull, was filmed on the Bossons Glacier near Chamonix, France. Chamonix, which sits in the shadow of Mont Blanc and is considered one of the top ski destinations in the entire world, has long been a hot spot for new adventure sports. Not only do skiers and snowboarders descend on the area but it’s also a destination for mountaineers, climbers, BASE jumpers, as well as wingsuit pilots. And you can now add speed riding to this list, as the sport also traces its origins to the region.
The video is the culmination of seven months of training and the entire run was filmed in a just one take as the rider covered 4,921 vertical feet (1,500 vertical meters) in 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
