20 Hardcore Sports For The Super Active

Posted on August 3, 2011 - By Michael

Climb Mount Everest

First climbed in 1924 by an English team of two climbers, Mallory and Irvine, roughly 1500 climbers have followed them since to the sum of about 2000 climbs in total. Advancements in technology has made it a lot easier and safer to climb over the past 20 years, but Everest still remains the tallest mountain in the world and one of the most dangerous challenges you can set yourself, with roughly 1/15 climbers dying for every successful attempt. If you still thinking about climbing, then you should bear in mind that it can cost anywhere up to $100,000 to attempt, after all, you need a lot of special equipment, transport and guides, just to get started. We rate this as one of the most hardcore pursuits you can set yourself, and takes a hell of a lot of courage.

Photo credit: Michael Foley

Coasteering

This sport is about working your way around a cliff or rock edge between the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide (known as the intertidal zone), using a variety of techniques. You can abseil and climb, scramble and swim, walk and run along a rock face in the water. You’re basically encouraged to do all the things that your parents told you not to do when playing in the sea, jump of rocks, and dive from a height, all in the name of fun.

Photo Credit: Scott Hamilton

Cross A Country By Bike

Depending on your fitness, you may want to pick another country to your own, or change the length that you’re going to be traveling. If you’re planning on biking across America, you need to allow yourself 2-3 months of cycling almost everyday to complete it; it can be done in half that time, but allow the extra time, just incase. Once you’ve found the time to take it on and train, you’re going to need anywhere up to $5000 for expenses and another $1000-$2000 for a proper bike for the trip. An important thing to remember is that you don’t have to be the fittest person in the world to cycle across a country because your fitness will dramatically improve during the trip.

Photo Credit: Chris J

Go Canyoneering

This sport is much like Coasteering, only instead of traveling along rock faces, you travel through canyons. There are basic beginner trails that you can follow, but more technical ones are a lot more fun and challenging and require more ropework and technical climbing and jumping. Make your way through narrow gorges and down multiple drops to explore your survival skills and natural rock canyons. The gear you’ll need is a combination of swimming, climbing, hiking and running gear, which just goes to show how intense this activity can be.

Photo Credit: Daniel Peckham

Go Heli-Biking

If you’re an adrenaline junkie who’s not interested in boring uphill cycling, and just wants to get to the high speed, dangerous down-hill bit, then this is the sport for you. Catch a ride in a helicopter to the top of a hill or mountain and put your cycling and endurance skills to the test with this fast paced activity. If you need a helicopter to take you up to the starting point, there’s a good chance you’re not going to know the trail very well, making it dangerous for first timers or inexperienced bikers. You’re gonna want to use a pretty good bike that can handle the impact of the ride without killing you on the way down. All in all, it’s not cheap, and it’s not easy, but it sure is a lot of fun.

Photo Credit: Pete Marshall

Go Heli-Skiing

Much like Heli-Biking, only more dangerous and more intense – the limitations to what you can and can’t ski down are very different. The helicopter goes a lot higher into the mountains and drops you off at the very top, allowing you to have a much longer decent. Very few resorts offer heli-skiing, so when you find one that does, it’s likely to be in an uncrowded resort, leaving a whole mountain of fresh, powdery snow all to yourself – perfect if you’re fed up of overcrowded resorts.

Photo Credit: Patrick Angberg

Go Ice Climbing

Think of rock climbing, only much colder and much harder, and you’ve got ice climbing. A great pursuit for any climber looking for a more challenging sport where they can climb frozen waterfalls, and frozen rockfaces. Even though you still use ropes and harnesses like you would when rock climbing, ice climbing is much more dangerous due to the unpredictable nature of the ice, but it is a key technique to master if you’re planning on summiting any mountains, as you’ll struggle to find any roads towards the top. There’s 2 different types of ice that you can climb; alpine ice, which is frozen rainwater and snow that you would find on a mountain top, and water ice, which is frozen liquids of water, such as a waterfall. If you’re going to try your hand at pioneering any mountains, make sure you’re familiar with alpine ice as the differences can be huge.

Photo Credit: Erik Charlton

Go Kite Surfing

Strapping kites to stuff to make them go faster has been going on for hundreds of years, so it was only a matter of time before they attached one to a person in the water. Kite surfing is often described as  wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding and gymnastics into one extreme sport, where pros can reach speeds of over 50 knots in the right conditions. You essentially strap a wakeboard to your feet and a kite to your body and use the power of the wind to propel you, and the waves to do tricks. It’s a lot of fun when you get the hang of it and has become much more safe in recent years with improved technology and schools opening up.

Photo Credit: Jean-Damien Guichard

Go Wake Boarding

Much like kite surfing, you have a board strapped to your feet and you’re dragged though the water, the main difference being that you’re holding onto a line behind a boat and not a kite. Much like a powered surfboard, you’re dragged along the water using the wake produced by the powerboat to do tricks and grabs. There are centers that have a powered line which will pull you through a lake and take you over boxes and other equipment that you can jump off of, if you’d prefer not to hire a boat. Speeds typically reach anywhere up to about 25mph, limited to the speed that the powerboat is capable of, but when you’re only holding onto a line behind a boat, you’re not likely to want to go any faster then that.

Photo Credit: Allison Taylor

Hike up a Glacier

If you’re a hiking enthusiast, then you’re probably used to hiking long distances over man made trails for long periods of time, but that won’t necessarily prepare you for glacier hiking. You’re hiking over ice, in freezing cold conditions, and this is enough to deter most people, but if you stick with it you’ll see some of the most breathtaking views imaginable that you just won’t see anywhere else. It can be dangerous at times if you don’t know the route well enough, or the ice isn’t as hard as you thought, and there’s always the risk of falling into a crevasse if you’re not careful, making this a particularly dangerous hike.

Photo Credit: Abir Anwar

Land Yachting

This is exactly what the name suggests, you’re sailing on land, but instead of a boat, you’re riding, lying down, in a buggy. Originally started as a form of transportation, it’s been a racing sport since the 1950’s with enthusiasts across the world. Races typically take place on long flat beaches or airfields where the wind it not interrupted and the racers can maintain faster speeds. The world speed record for land yachting is 126.1mph set by Richard Jenkins back in 2009, an astonishing speed that would have likely killed him had he fallen out, making this a truly extreme sport.

Photo Credit: Hotel Dephil

Mountain Biking On Snow

This post is all about active sports for active people, it’s not about being stupid, so when taking on mountain biking in the snow, you’re going to want to put some snow tires on your bike to prevent you from sliding around everywhere and killing yourself. Even though the sport is called snow biking, the best routes are over ice as they provide the best cycling surface and make it easier to navigate hills and jumps. The great thing about snow biking isn’t just the danger and excitement, it’s the fact that even a small change in the weather can completely change your route, making it much more interesting.

Photo Credit: Placid Casual

River Surfing In Munich

This once illegal activity is fast becoming popular in munich as the fun of surfing can be had in multiple locations throughout the city without the need to travel to the sea. The waves are created from water passing through a small gap and over a rock, producing a static wave that people can jump into and surf on the spot. This is a free sport, but you enter at your own risk, with your own equipment, as the rocks are very good at breaking gear and body parts if you’re not careful. This is suited for practiced surfers, preferably with experience on a surf machine, but there are beginner rivers if you want to practice when you’re out there.

Sail Around The World

If you’re into sailing, this is about as hardcore as it gets, it takes roughy 1-3 years of solid sailing for a non pro to complete it. If you’re going solo, be prepared for a lot of time on your own, trying to maintain the sailing 24 hours a day, as there will be plenty of nights where you can’t dock up somewhere safe. If you’re physically fit enough to take this mammoth task, then that’s really just half the battle, there’s also the cost. You’re gonna need an ocean-worthy boat, kitted out with all the necessary equipment, such as auto pilot and GPS and communication devices to keep in touch with everyone back home. Health insurance is very important and so is enough money to see you through on your journey, remembering that you’re not going to be making money in the time that you’re away. This sort of task is reserved for people with plenty of money and experience that they can afford to take the time to do it right, so if you’re really into sailing, start thinking now about how you can make this happen for you.

Photo Credit: Lee Cannon

Swim Across The English Channel

This isn’t one that you can decide to get up and just do one day, it takes a lot of training before you can even try it, to prove that you’re actually capable of it. The training consists of a series of swim trials totaling more then the distance of the channel in very cold water similar to the actual temperate of the sea. Obvious risks such as hyperthermia and exhaustion are present, but you are allowed to take a support boat along to follow you, who can pass food and water to you, so long as you don’t touch the boat. If you think you’ve got what it takes, remember that this is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and there’s a good chance of swimming through pollution and raw sewage, while you’re slathered in grease for your own protection. This is no easy feat, but if you’re a hardcore swimmer, looking to take your swimming to the next level, this is for you.

Photo Credit: Akuna Matata

Take Part In The London Marathon

Much like swimming the Channel, this requires a lot of training and perseverance to complete and can’t just be done on a whim – genuine commitment is key. For anyone who likes to run, running a marathon is an obvious goal to set yourself, but just because hundreds of thousands of people do it every year, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Allow yourself 6 months of training 3 times a week, gradually extending the length of your runs to help build up your endurance. Proper running shoes make a load of difference to your performance, just make sure they’re worn in before the big day, because you want to avoid any extra wear and tear on your body. GPS transmitters and phone apps can help you track your training progress and show you where you’re slowing down and how you can improve your performance.

Volcano Boarding

This has become somewhat of a craze in Nicaragua, where you can sandboard down an active volcano on a sledge or snowboard like board. First of all, there’s no transport to the top, you have to hike up there yourself. Secondly, even though the volcano hasn’t erupted since 1999, the ground is still very hot, so you have to wear special jumpsuits to protect you. Finally, it’s not like any sort of sandboarding or snowboarding you may know, the terrain is much more different, it’s like boarding down on granulated rocks then anything, and because the ground is hot, falling off hurts.

Photo Credit: Calland Response

Whitewater Kayaking

Whitewater is created when a rapid is formed and enough movement is created in the water that the water bubble and turns white. Combine that with a kayak and you’ve got a pretty exhilarating sport. You can take it easy to start with, on a gentle part of the river, and then move onto more dangerous and demanding parts further along the river as you become used to your kit and surroundings. The types of kayaking runs are graded on their difficulty with the highest being being grade 6, and likened to kayaking off of niagara falls; an extremely dangerous challenge. If you’re a fan of danger, water and adrenaline then this is an obvious sport for you to try.

Photo Credit: Peter Adermark

Whitewater Rafting

There are obvious similarities between this and kayaking, with the main differences being that you’re on a raft and there’s a team of you to look out for one another. This sport takes place in a specialized, durable raft made to withstand being thrown against rocks and along a river at speed. There are advantages to having people in your raft, such as more experience people who can help to control and balance it, but there are disadvantages too such as losing members on the team on the journey and having to get them back in. If you’re going to to try it, start off small with an instructor and then move up to teams of people operating at the same skill level as you, in a grade of river that you can all handle.

Photo Credit: Huberton

Wingsuit Flying

Fly through the air in a special jumpsuit that make you look like you have webbed arms and legs – it’s essentially half suit, half parachute. You get to control your decent, speed and direction a lot better in one of these suits and the best part is that you don’t have to jump out of a plane to make it work. Many people have famously jumped off the side of mountains and hills and used these suits to control their decent through valleys before deploying their parachute. Flying like this is incredibly dangerous, even for people who know what they’re doing, and we recommend a little practice from a plane before you try anything like that.

Photo Credit: Sunborn Child