CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 Snowy SLOPES CLIFFS AND THE SKY ABOVE 10 CHAPTER 2 STREETS RAPs RACE TRACKS AND BEYOND 29 CHAPTER 3 CAVES CANYONS AND THE DEEP BuE SEA 42 CHAPTER 4 NOTABLE EXTREME SPORTS COMPETITORS CONCLUSION GoSSARY 68 69 12 For MORE INFORMATION BIBLIOGRAPHY 76 78 INDEX
IRODUCTION hat makes a sport extreme It's a tricky question Most sports even those that call for simple running and swimming skills entail certain risks At the same time not all dangerous forms of recreation qualify as sports Bungee jumping for instance requires lots of nerves a but no particular skill Most extreme sports involve practiced skills and competitions with compara tively high risks of injury In many of these alternative sports as they're sometimes called high speed accounts for the risks Examples include freestyle skiing street luge skateboarding snowboarding in line roller skating BMX and motocross Racing and acrobatic competitions for motorcy cles and snowmobiles usually are classified as extreme The definition can also include such pursuits as rock climbing and skydiving Many of today s extreme sports were on the fringe of serious athletic competition
INTRODUCTION Christi Brown seen here smiling at about 10 000 feet 3 000 m above Gardiner N on July 26 2014 has been skydiving since 2012 Her arms are positioned in a way she says helps stabilise her sitfly After leaving the aircraft she free falls for about sixty seconds then parachutes We until the 1990s Surfers skateboarders par achutists and rock climbers were admired and respected for their skills However their activities were considered recreation not sport To many people the term extreme sports is associated with the X Games This festival of high risk alternative com petitions was introduced in 1995 by the cable network ESPN Televised X Games
