"Speedflying"

November 17, 2006 3:00 PM

They call it "Speed Flying" but it may be better described as Paraskiing. Take a rugged and rocky mountain in the alps, say Mount Eiger or Mont Blanc, hike to the top or have your chopper take you there, then strap on your skis, your parachute, and half-ski, half-fly down [.mov] that [.mov] mofo [.wmv].
posted by jckll (18 comments total)

So this is not skiing to a cliff's edge and then BASE jumping? As seen in tons of Warren Miller and TGR movies?
posted by mistermoore at 4:03 PM on November 17, 2006

looks like [expensive] fun.
posted by Busithoth at 4:04 PM on November 17, 2006

Not really familiar with Warren Miller/TGR, mistermoore, but no it's not really skiing to the cliff's edge then basejumping. It's definitely more along the lines of a combination of the two, the whole way down (or at least as far as they go).
posted by jckll at 4:14 PM on November 17, 2006

god that looks like some fun.
posted by docpops at 4:16 PM on November 17, 2006

This is how I dream about skiing and snowboarding. Seriously, whenever I dream about it, I'm always floating and floating over stuff. I saw the video of a guy doing this on the Eiger, and it was exactly how I see stuff in dreams. It was spooky.
posted by mathowie at 4:16 PM on November 17, 2006

Aww, it's pretty cool. I guess....
posted by Smedleyman at 4:41 PM on November 17, 2006

I've got to try that.
posted by homunculus at 5:09 PM on November 17, 2006

I wish the rich wouldn't flaunt their total circumvention of estate-tax laws and resulting carefree adoption of life-threatening pasttimes in such fun ways.

"Speed Fliers" should be the new national bird!
posted by hermitosis at 5:12 PM on November 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

A few years ago the Swiss skysurfer Viviane Wegrath dropped onto an Andean volcano and on touchdown released her parachute and carried on riding down the mountain. Not the same thing, but impressive in its own way. (I wish I could find video. Wegrath's own site is being revamped).
posted by liam at 5:57 PM on November 17, 2006

I want to see this done with a mountain bike in the Summer.
posted by redteam at 7:51 PM on November 17, 2006

I wasn't going to watch that because, yah, more extreme blah blah consumer adventure blah but then I got over myself and HOLY crap. That's rad.
posted by freebird at 9:16 PM on November 17, 2006

redteam -- the mountain bike thing has been done . for further interest, I'd recommend that folks check out the Banff Mountain Film Festival when/if it circulates past your town in the near future. Both the World Tour programme and their "all-adrenaline" Radical Reels side track are pretty excellent collections of extreme sports documentaries covering a range from BASE jumping to mountain biking to freeride skiing. TGR's films are a pretty consistent feature in the festival and I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a submission by some Swiss mountain biking collective who were big on the whole "bike to the edge of a cliff and jump off the precipice" business.

also, the World Tour tends to showcase more than a few features about Tibetan microfinance development programs and/or historic recreations of classic Alpine expeditions to give you some variety on the jock fare; so it's not just all-wealthy-heliskiers, all-the-time.
posted by bl1nk at 11:02 PM on November 17, 2006

Just don't smack any of those big-ass rocks on the way down...
posted by wsg at 12:30 AM on November 18, 2006

The skiis seem kind of optional since they probably only spend about 5% of the time in contact with the snow. I guess it helps you slide over the rocks though.
posted by public at 2:26 AM on November 18, 2006

Holy crap. That gave me butterflies just watching it.
posted by dreamsign at 9:01 AM on November 18, 2006

I am always fascinated by how extreme sport pioneers serve as ambassadors of their adventures...they can either do a great job - for example, demonstrating how they'll share the mountains with skiers and boarders, being safe and responsible neighbors, demonstrating that they are mindful of the potential they have to provoke avalanche, carrying and using appropriate gear (helmets, shovels, avalanche tranceivers, etc.) - or not. This is the first I've heard of speed flying. Does anyone know how they, as a community, are faring so far? (And yes, this looks fun!)
posted by crunchee at 9:16 AM on November 18, 2006

I love it. but why are so many skiing films have regae music? ack. ah ha! FINALLY, I have figured out why I hate ragae - I've watched many many ski films growing up.
posted by tomplus2 at 9:03 PM on November 18, 2006

tomplus2 -- my sweeping and wholly inaccurate theory has always been that it's all related to the particular pharmaceutical indulgence of the athlete in question. downtempo / euro hip-hop / reggae= pot; psytrance = acid; breaks = amphetamines; metal = alcohol or hormones
posted by bl1nk at 8:54 PM on November 19, 2006