Ekstremsportveko - Extremist invasion

Posted Thursday, June 27, 2002

By Haakon E. H. Eliassen

For one week Voss in Norway will be the world capital of extreme sports, with thrill-seekers visiting to sample skydiving, base jumping, rafting, paragliding, concerts and much more. "Ekstremsportveko" - Extreme Sports Week - is in full swing in Voss. Last year's festival attracted free spirits from 22 countries and the 2002 edition will break that record.

Voss has built up a formidable reputation in its five years of extreme celebration. "You are in the Mecca of the extreme sports world. We expect about a thousand visitors to what is now called the world's largest extreme sport event," says tourism boss Bjoern Sandnes.

"It feels like an explosion. The moment when your chute opens and everything clicks is the biggest kick with base jumping," says Stein Olsen after hopping from the Budda cliff for the "120-somethingth" time.

Kayak-rodeo specialists are measuring their skills along the foaming river. Mountain bikers will race under the Hangusbane, a funicular that carries people to the top of the neighboring peaks.

"Voss is magnificent. There is nothing in the world like it. In Switzerland for example, the rivers are mostly regulated with dams," said German kayak enthusiasts Jutta Kaiser and Michael Henann.

"Voss has fantastic extreme sport facilities, no unlike what New Zealand has to offer," says David Kennedy, head of tourism in Queenport, New Zealand. Queenport is the cradle of extreme sport, and the home of bungee jumping.

Sandnes emphasizes that while excitement and challenge drive the participants there is no dicing with death.

"The attitude among participants has become very good. They are extremely serious and work hard to minimize the chance of accidents. We demand at least ten mountain jumps and 250 parachute jumps before we will take base jumpers up," Sandnes said.

In the five years of the event there have been no serious accidents.

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