1.Cave Diving
Though cave diving isn’t a popular and exciting sport in the world,it is definitely among the most deadly.Visualize this-you are 100 feet deep down in a cave under the ocean and you just can't swim to the surface,you have to exit the same way you went in.
When you are cave diving,you have to deal with running out of air,enclosed spaces,getting lost in darkness,or dealing with many other issues due to underwater currents.The margin of error is absolutely minimum,and the hazards may seem obvious all the time.For precautions,cave divers need almost twice the amount of equipment than standard open water divers,such as computers,lights,safety lines,two tanks and more.
Some cave divers don’t take the dangers as seriously as they should.Statistics show that 95% of all cave diving deaths were people who weren’t trained properly and went beyond their limits under the ocean.And on average,about 10 cave divers die per year.While this may not seem like a high number but there are only a few thousand cave divers in the world.
Cave diving world record:Deepest Cave Dive – 927 feet (282 m) in South Africa by Nuno Gomes in 1996.
2.Free Solo Climbing
The popularity of rock climbing has been on the rise.However,rock climbers use a rope and that’s where the craziness of free solo climbing comes in.Free solo climbing is rock climbing without any protective gear.It all comes down to pure skill and some luck.
Falling is the most common reason for injuries or death.But there are a lot of other factors into the reason for falling.Even if you’re the best free rock climber,you can’t account for changes of weather,loose holds,or falling rocks.So sometimes skill can’t even protect you from falling and ultimately dying.
Many climbers who participate in this risky sport say it’s the purest form of climbing – it’s just the climber and the rock.Even so, many free solo climbers admit the dangers of what they’re doing and warn others not to follow their footsteps.
Free Solo Climbing Record:Longest climb – 3,000 feet up El Capitan, Yosemite, done by Alex Honnold in 2017.
3.Street Luging
Street luging was originally developed when skateboarders realized that they could lie down on their boards to go faster.Since then it has evolved into its own sport,with more refined boards specific to this sport.
Because your body is flat when you are street luging,there is little to no wind resistance,that helps the rider to go faster down the road.However,because the rider’s body is so close to the road,it’s easy to hit body parts against the pavement.Think about it –your elbow graze against the ground while going 80 miles per hour could potentially damage your skin and bone,that in turn could make you crash.Though riders can get protective gears like suits and helmets,many riders feel like the extra weight only slows them down.
The most common injuries in street luging are broken bones,bruises,or dislocated joints.Although there are no dependable statistics yet about deaths if you’re not doing this insane sport on a closed road, you could have your life at risk.
Street Luging World Record:Fastest speed – 101 miles per hour in Quebec,Canada by Mike McIntyre in 2016.
4.Big Wave Surfing
credit:coolerlifestyle.com
To count big wave surfing as a sport,the wave should be at least 20 feet tall and there are so many hazards to this sport that you may not think of.
First of all,the waves this big are extremely powerful and surfers can be pushed 20 to 50 feet below the surface.On top of that, it’s easy to get disoriented under the water from a wave that powerful.The waves are the biggest risk to surfers due to its volume and surviving one wave is challenging enough,and surviving three is almost impossible.
Apart from just drowning, there’s also the factor of the ocean floor no matter what it is – sand, rocks, or coral, it can all be hazardous to the surfer. When it comes to big wave surfing, all waves are strong enough to make even a sandy ocean floor feel like concrete and getting into a rock surface will almost definitely injure you. Coral floor will cut you like razors and even leave broken pieces in your skin that could potentially become infected afterward.
Big Wave Surfing World Record:Tallest wave ever surfed – 78-foot tall wave in Portugal was surfed by Garrett McNamara in 2011.
5.Base Jumping
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If skydiving isn’t intense enough for some extreme sports lover,base jumping is about as extreme as you can get.Base jumping is arguably the most dangerous sport in the world.BASE is an acronym for Buildings, Antennas,Spans,and Earth.This insane sport consists of jumping from a fixed structure as described in the name of the sport and reaching the ground either by parachuting or wing suit flying.
BASE jumping has been growing in popularity since 1978 even with its high mortality rate of 1 in every 60 participants.Due to the dangerous nature of this sport,it is illegal in most places of the world.In the United States,Perrine Bridge located in Idaho is the only man-made place where BASE jumping is legal without a permit.Everywhere else,it is illegal.Due to the legality,many pro BASE jumpers keep their jumping events as secret so as not to be caught by the officials.
BASE Jumping World Record:Highest BASE Jump – 25,262 feet in the Himalayas by Valery Rozov in 2016.
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