Windsurfing is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a windsurf board usually two to four meters long, powered by the effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a mast, wishbone boom and sail.

In fact windsurfing can be said to straddle both the laid-back culture of surf sports and the more rules-based environment of sailing. Although it might be considered a minimalistic version of a sailboat, a windsurfer offers experiences that are outside the scope of any other sailing craft design.

Windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other “freestyle” moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat. (more on Wikipedia)

Pictures via 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

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Hang gliding can be pictured as a unique experience, maybe similar to the flight of an eagle in the skies. It is considered an air sport in which a pilot flies an unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft, very light, called a hang glider or Delta plane.

In the early days of hang gliding, pilots were restricted to gliding down small hills because of the low-performance hang gliders. The modern ones solved these issues, being made of an aluminum alloy or composite-framed fabric wing. The pilot is ensconced in a harness suspended from the airframe and controls the glider by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame.  It must be said that an important role in development of hang gliding plays the modern technology which gives pilots the ability to soar for hours through hundreds of kilometers, gaining thousands of feet altitude in thermal updrafts and allowing them to perform aerobatic moves. In order to fly with a hang glider, we recommend taking some lessons first or even taking some “trips” with a more experienced pilot, because this sport requires significant knowledge about the technology, wind conditions and other adjustable settings.

You can find more useful information and get in contact with the hang gliding world community here.

Photo by W.F.Bergman

Photo by Rush

Photo by Rush

Photo by David E. Klutho

Photo by rafaelcjr

Photo by David Corby

Photo by purplemattfish

Photo by Jason

Photo by Luigi

Pictures via 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14

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Eric Guth has found a photography niche that dazzles the mind. Traveling in some of the most remote places on Earth, like Alaska and the Arctic, gave him the chance to experience ice and glaciers up close. Here is the story behind these photos inside glaciers.

Eric Guth  took an interview for My Modern Met, explaining how he got so close to these fascinating landscapes. Six years ago, as he was walking round the  edge of Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, he noticed an opening: “I figured I’d explore for a bit and before I knew it I was 50 yards within a huge cave gazing at the most beautiful, otherworldly sight I had ever laid eyes on,” he explained. “It was like stepping into Superman’s lair and every changing shade of blue lured me deeper and deeper.”

“Having spent years photographing glaciers from every possible vantage point (on top of, around, and in), I have learned that while the process of glacial formation is the same worldwide, every glacier is different,” he says. “Entering a glacier in Switzerland can reveal formations, temperatures and colors completely different than ones in Patagonia for example. For that matter, the ice conditions can change from cave to cave even on the same glacier!” [be sure to also check out our post Photos Inside Waves by Clark Little]

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B.A.S.E. jumping, also sometimes written as BASE jumping, is a dangerous activity that involves an impressive amount of courage and an exaggerated will for adventure. The sport employs an initially packed parachute to jump from fixed objects. “B.A.S.E.” is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridge), and earth (cliff).

Base Jumping has been around for years, even though it started to be known throughout the world in 1980.  At the present time, there are between 8,000 and 15,000 BASE jumpers in the world, each of them doing up to 50 jumps a year. 133 deaths has been registered so far (source). Keep in mind that this sport is not just cool, but extremely dangerous.

In order to BASE jump, you will need :

- guts, nerve;
- equipment and information;
- advice from people with experience;
- at least 100 regular skydiving jumps before the actual BASE jump;
- good luck, because statistics are not very encouraging.

Where? As you probably imagined, jumping of a building is not exactly legal. However, if you ask for permission from the city council and whatnot, that makes it ok. However, there are some places in the world where this sport is legal. One of them is Kjerag, on Lysefjord in Norway.

Bridge Day. Every year, there is a one day festival in Fayetteville, West Virginia dedicated to BASE jumping, when the sport is considered legal. Here is some further information from wikipedia: “It is always held on the third Saturday in October. On this day, all four lanes of the bridge are closed to automobiles and opened to pedestrians. Bridge Day is the only day of the year people are allowed to BASE jump off the bridge into the New River Gorge 876 feet (267 meters) below. It is one of the few exceptions to a general ban on BASE jumping within the National Park System of the United States. Around four hundred BASE jumpers participate each year. People may also rappel from the span on Bridge Day. Estimates have 80,000 people attending the overall event.”

Enjoy the videos below and please leave a comment with your impressions of this extreme sport:

BASE Jumping on HowStuffWorks
BASE jumping photos, FAQ and anecdotes
About Bridge Day   Pictures via 1,2, 3

The post Base Jumping or How to Defy All Human Limits appeared first on Tourism On The Edge.

Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up or across natural rock formations, in order to reach a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route. It is important to say that this kind of sport is not for everyone, and those who are “meeting” a wall  for the first time should be extra careful.

Photo by Tim Kemple

Rock Climbing can be seen as traveling on the thin edge between body and spirit. It is a physically and mentally demanding sport, being considered a big test for a climber’s agility and strength, for his balance and mental control.

Photo by Tim Kemple

Rock climbing involves climbing with one’s own hands and feet, plus the climbing equipment which is considered fundamental for safety measures. There is a variety of specialized techniques and equipment (most of them configured on the style of climbing), and climbers usually work in pairs utilizing ropes and anchors to catch falls. For beginners, it is recommended to start with easy bouldering and top roping, in order to gather experience and move to the lead climbing. If you’re interested in this sport, here is a list of  great climbing areas around the world.

Photo by Tim Kemple

Photo by Lucas Marshall

Photo by Andda

Pictures via 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17

The post Rock Climbing, a Breaking-Limits Experience appeared first on Tourism On The Edge.

The glass skywalk in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in the Tianmen Mountain, China, seems especially built for the fearless. But walking on this incredible pathway, suspended 1,430 meters high up in the air (about 4 691.6 feet) is also 6,35 centimeters thick (2.5 inches), making it safe for the avalanche of tourists.

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The Skywalk in the Tianmen Mountain offers thrilling views of the surrounding mountains, not to mention the ones beneath your feet. This is one of the reasons why it is said the cleaners of the path make visitors wear cloth shoes over their footwear, in order to make their job easier and less scary. The bridge is about 61 meters long (200 feet) and its impressive height allows travelers to have a look at the mountain peaks below. This amazing spot is just one of the many attractions of the Hunan Province in China.

The Skywalk in the Tianmen Mountain is slightly higher than the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which we featured here. But the comparison can go no further; these two attractions are located in unique places, each of them triggering a different set of emotions. Enjoy the photos !

  Pictures via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The post China from a Vantage Point: Glass Skywalk in the Tianmen Mountain appeared first on Tourism On The Edge.

Alexander Mustard, from Southampton, USA, does not take photography lightly. Nor what his Geography teachers taught him at school. These incredible photos were taken by the artist and extreme diver in the plate gap between Europe and America.

Saying this place is not tourist-friendly would be an understatement. Photographing the gap between the North American and Eurasian plates near Iceland comes with its risks, as anyone diving 80 feet (24,3 meters) into this “Earth void” will encounter the hot springs and uneven rock formations, as a result of the plates constantly pulling apart from each other at a rate of one inch per year.

But Alexander Mustard does not fear the hazards: “‘The photos show diving in the unique underwater world of Iceland which, like on land, is formed by the volcanic landscape of the country. For a scuba diver these are spectacular places to visit – being able to fly through the clear water and explore the fault lines in three dimensions.I have dived all around the world and this is almost certainly the clearest water I have ever been in“. [more info on Mail Online]

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Sand boarding is the ultimate thrill when it comes to people with strange passions. Even though this uncommon sport derives from snowboarding, there are few similarities between the two. However, the adrenaline pumps here too, even though this sport is not as risky.

Sandboarding was “invented” or first heard of in a city from Brazil called Florianópolis. It was there that the intense surfing – Florianópolis has no less than 42 beaches- led to the developing of a different but not less exciting sport. Sandboarding involves an extreme ride down a sand dune, while using a board similar to those you see falling down from the mountain peaks. It is usually practiced in the deserts or within locations which offer a similar sand environment.

The main difference between a sandboard and a snowboard is that the latter is heavier and has a wax finish on a side in order to glide through the sand.

There are two ways one can practice sandboarding. The first involves strapping your feet to the board while the other means gliding without being tied to it in any way. The second method however should only be practiced by professionals.

In case you wonder what speed you can reach by practicing this crazy, on the edge sport, know that Erik Johnson currently has the Guinness World Record for at 51 mph (82 km/h). There have been unofficial news about higher speeds also.

This may not seem such a big deal when compared to the record held by Darren Powell (Australia), who reached 201,9 km/h (125.459mph) while descending a mountain on a snowboard.

There are many places in the US one can practice snowboarding-California, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, and the list can go on. In Europe , Monte Kaolino in Hirschau, Germany is the most famous sandboarding location and it is also where a world sandboarding championship is held.

Pictures via 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14

The post Sandboarding, a Rush of Adrenaline Filling Up Arid Spaces appeared first on Tourism On The Edge.

The Zion Narrows is a fascinating canyon section situated in Zion National Park (near Springdale, Utah, USA), on the North Fork of the Virgin River.With its soaring walls, sandstone grottoes, hanging gardens and natural springs, the Zion Narrows is one of the premier hikes on the Colorado Plateau. Having a 6 km long section between the end of the Riverside Walk Trail and Big Springs, about 60% of this hike is spent wading, walking and sometimes swimming in the stream (depends on the season).

Picture by Rob Pizem

Picture by Christian Schirm

It is a real adventure to cross the Narrows because it has no maintained trail and the only route is the river. During the rainy season, the Virgin River triples its volume creating powerful currents, the water is cold and the rocks are slippery. In these situations, the hike presents constant dangers such as flash flooding or hypothermia. For such an adventure in Zion Narrows, all hikers should take some extra safety measures starting with a good planning, choosing the proper equipment and sound judgment that are essential for a safe and successful trip. And just to make an impression about this destination, it is important to say that hiking the Narrows was rated # 5 in the National Geographic ranking of America’s Best 100 Adventures. More information about the Zion Narrows here.

Picture by Keith Survell; first Picture via

Pictures via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,  7, 8, 9, 10

The post Experience Hiking in a Fascinating Canyon: The Zion Narrows appeared first on Tourism On The Edge.

In october 2010, the volcanologist Geoff Mackley came up with the crazy idea of descending into the Marum volcano which was active at that time. He gathered a team and went to Ambryum Island, Vanuatu, in an extreme adventure to approach as much as they could of the boiling caldera. To document the furious lava lake up close, they had to descend into the giant pit, facing hazardous toxic gas vapors and foul weather.  See how they managed to confront the danger in the video below.

What do you think- challenging or plain crazy?

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