Nerve wracking. Well done Spencer.
Extreme. Video. News.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Natural Waterslide / Waterfall Jump in British Columbia
Lynn Canyon Park in British Columbia, Canada has one of the world's best natural waterslides.
Spot on Devin!
Thanks to Devin Graham from TeamSuperTramp (worth a sub) and Torch Paddles for this video!
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Tete the Daredevil Tree Climber of the Congo
While many climbers obsess about the math behind our climbing gear, Tete goes way out on a limb, with at most a vine as security, and eventually leaves that behind to engage the bees guarding his honey. Long before the Russian Selfie's and GoPro, men like Tete were making their audience's palms sweat with amazing climbs.
Honey climber "Tete" climbs 120 foot branch-less span of a giant tree deep in a Congo forest while being attacked by bees and showing no pain.Sugar is scarce, and honey is nutritious - It's also the mark of a man to show this type of courage.
As Tete says, "To climb big trees, you must empty your heart of fear"...
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Monday, July 13, 2015
BMX Quadruple Backflip, Helmet Cam
BMX Stuntman Jed Mildon from New Zealand's set the record and is the first person to complete a quadruple backflip on a BMX bike.
Here is some helmet cam footage from Jed completing a triple backflip on his BMX in 2011:
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| BMX Quadruple Backflip |
Here is some helmet cam footage from Jed completing a triple backflip on his BMX in 2011:
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Snowkiter Crashing into Paraglider (Accident Video)
Ugh...
Many of our Canadian friends in the snowkite racing circuit are also world-class paragliders and even manufacturers of paragliding (parapente) wings.
When our favorite hobbies collide, literally, it's expected that the injuries will be severe...
In the video below, Gary, with our comrade and video producer Bob Pelletier , is soaring down towards the ice when a snowkiter appears to make a jump without assurance of the safety zone with at least 50 meters down and 30 meters up wind although in this case I would add that the distance should be measured in addition to the length of the lines and in 3 dimensions.
Per Bob, "Gary has been seriously injured, he has for several months without being able to work..."
Watch and learn, stay safe and remember our love of risk is only reasonable until it starts to injure others...
I will follow up within the post once I can regain info for donations.
Many of our Canadian friends in the snowkite racing circuit are also world-class paragliders and even manufacturers of paragliding (parapente) wings.
When our favorite hobbies collide, literally, it's expected that the injuries will be severe...
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| paraglider vs kite crash |
Per Bob, "Gary has been seriously injured, he has for several months without being able to work..."
Watch and learn, stay safe and remember our love of risk is only reasonable until it starts to injure others...
I will follow up within the post once I can regain info for donations.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
RedBull Ragnarok KiteRace of Norway is Back!
James Pavoldi
It is on in Haugastøl!
Last year was an amazing event and though light winds kept a few of us anchored nicely for most of the day, it officially made the Ozone Chrono one of the most famous kites on the ice this year after taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place on the Hardangarvidda.
While Ozone definitely had it's moment on the podium, Flysurfer's moment may be a bit more eternal as their team rider, Alex Robin (15th), managed to put together one of the best videos to really capture the vibe of the Ragnarok experience and poke some holes in my tales of lacking wind... As you can see, he managed to find the wind and really run with it:
It didn't take long for the weather to change... The photo below was during a full day solo after the races where a tiny storm blew in and was enough to get visibility down to Game of Thrones / WhiteWalker creepiness levels... In the video, you can see that it's pretty easy to get disoriented and I noted that soloing definitely requires not only GPS, but a good map (with contour lines) and compass as this is not a good place to get lost and a 'crows flight' egress may not be possible... I took one surprising slide down a pretty big slope, ass backwards, as I had no idea it was coming... Visibility was poor, but if I were focused I would have seen it coming... Instead, I was fixated on wind speed as it was dropping fast and I didn't want to tent inside the kite if I got stranded out there as I reckon I was about 6 miles in and definitely was not going to hike out in the dark in ski boots.
Update - The official 2015 teaser video and event description... Good luck out there today!
It is on in Haugastøl!
Last year was an amazing event and though light winds kept a few of us anchored nicely for most of the day, it officially made the Ozone Chrono one of the most famous kites on the ice this year after taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place on the Hardangarvidda.
While Ozone definitely had it's moment on the podium, Flysurfer's moment may be a bit more eternal as their team rider, Alex Robin (15th), managed to put together one of the best videos to really capture the vibe of the Ragnarok experience and poke some holes in my tales of lacking wind... As you can see, he managed to find the wind and really run with it:
Videographer "Zobless" did the best job of capturing the pain at the first checkpoint. After years of watching Hardangarvidda horror videos of storms and overpowering wind, I remember tearing out of the gate and thinking "my gosh this is going to be easier than I imagined" but man was I forced to swallow a bitter pill when I ended up covered in sweat and making snow angels after about 30 'reverse hot carl' (letting the kite tumble for a relaunch directly down-wind, to the zenith in one terrifying pull) center-line relaunches in light wind. My biggest concern was getting overpowered with a 12M Cabrinha Switchblade but Zobless summed it up nicely - "Cronos (sic) took the lead, most of the others crashed. The wind was light and died a bit more right after start.":
Hopefully the conditions this year are a bit more like 2012:
For those of you arriving at Touriscenter for the party tonight, go outside and take a look at the rocky beheomoth across the street - This was the site of Rueben's 'jump' a few years back... Insane:
The weather on the race day in 2014, was amazing, if your goal was chilling out and getting some sun or a few rojo-vodaks on board. We got a few selfies in and barely had enough wind to get the old Team Whisky Tango flag turgid enough for a moon landing shot.
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| Team Whiskey Tango, Red Bull Ragnarok (Jim Pavoldi and Jeff Bartkowski, USA) |
The weather on the Hardangarvidda can change pretty quickly. After the race was over, I went back alone to an area on the opposite side of the road past the yellow lodge I knicknamed the "Hardangarvidda Hideaway". Heaven by the way, comes with tracked vehicles and the owner of the rig below was en route to a reindeer hunt and took some time to tell us a few stories... The sunshine we enjoyed here over some bananas and yogurt would be nothing but a memory in pretty short order...
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| Hardangarvidda Hideout, complete with heated troop carrier... |
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| Jim Pavoldi, Solo Snowkiting in Norway |
Jeff is in Paris now, having just proposed to his (as of now) fiancee and en route to Oslo as we speak. The proposal didn't delay him, but Air France's decision to lose his brand new Chrono definitely had some serious curve-ball potential. I am shanghai'd in New York City right now, en route to Miami and chewing through my lips with regret at not being able to get on the snow with Red Bull for 2015!
Good luck competitors!
Good luck competitors!
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| Race vest, badge and 'proofing' transponder for the gates.. |
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| Bring me back some cod shingles! |
"The name "Ragnarok" stems from an incident in Norse mythology, describing the last battle between the good and evil Gods, where only the heroes of the battlefield survive. Red Bull Ragnarok imitates this myth in the respect that only a mere few snow-kite heroes will succeed. Endurance is paramount, and only the toughest riders will successfully complete the course.
Red Bull Ragnarok will take place on the plains of the Hardangervidda, a vast area with ideal conditions for kiting. The race format will be a mass start, where each participant must complete five full rounds of the chosen course (one lap = 15-20km) using only their kite, and either skis or snowboard."
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Team Whiskey Tango Elects Frankie MacDonald as Chief Weather Resource during 2015 Cup du Quebec Kite Race!
The Whisky Tango snow-kite crew, Americans Jim Pavoldi and Jeff Bartkowski, are extremely exited to have been invited to Quebec for the 2015 Cup du Quebec snowkite races in Pohénégamook, La Baie (Fjord-du-Saguenay), and Lac-Mégantic.
This is a great opportunity to catch back up with local heroes of the Fjord like Alexis Leblanc and host / kite designer and adventurer Benoit Tremblay of Concept Air and hopefully get some post-race revelry with the maniacs from Wax Team.
As the WT crew will consist of two Yanks we decided to get our weather warning in English and have selected Frankie MacDonald (AKA DogsAndWolves) as our honorary Chief Weather Resource for all our 'Fully Nord' kiting this winter.
Frankie's forecast and warning in the video below for this weekend (Feb 15, 2015) are a great example of his energy, and enthusiasm for weather prediction and weather-risk alerts. As most our activity is during heavy wind and often while while wearing hats or helmets, we have found that Frankie's volume is ideal. As these races will be on February 21/22nd, 28th, and March 14/15th, we will look forward to any forecast Frankie produces especially if they'll have an impact in the areas of QC that we'll be riding.
I have spent the better part of 10 years working with over 300 local news broadcasters and over 500 meteorologists at ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates all over the US and I can say that Frankie's updates are by far the most engaging and his heartfelt warnings should be heeded.
Keep up the good work Frankie!
This is a great opportunity to catch back up with local heroes of the Fjord like Alexis Leblanc and host / kite designer and adventurer Benoit Tremblay of Concept Air and hopefully get some post-race revelry with the maniacs from Wax Team.
As the WT crew will consist of two Yanks we decided to get our weather warning in English and have selected Frankie MacDonald (AKA DogsAndWolves) as our honorary Chief Weather Resource for all our 'Fully Nord' kiting this winter.
Frankie's forecast and warning in the video below for this weekend (Feb 15, 2015) are a great example of his energy, and enthusiasm for weather prediction and weather-risk alerts. As most our activity is during heavy wind and often while while wearing hats or helmets, we have found that Frankie's volume is ideal. As these races will be on February 21/22nd, 28th, and March 14/15th, we will look forward to any forecast Frankie produces especially if they'll have an impact in the areas of QC that we'll be riding.
I have spent the better part of 10 years working with over 300 local news broadcasters and over 500 meteorologists at ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates all over the US and I can say that Frankie's updates are by far the most engaging and his heartfelt warnings should be heeded.
Keep up the good work Frankie!
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