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Is Skydiving an extreme sport?

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Yeah, I read some thing the other day saying that the 3 most popular extreme sports are skateboarding, rollerblading and snowboarding. If those are extreme sports, I don't know what you'd call skydiving... or BASE for that matter.
God made firefighters so paramedics would have heroes...and someone can put out the trailer fires.

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....theres not real physical expertise required, the level of fitness needed is very low, and the only time it gets "extreme" is when things turn to crap with gear.



Really? No 'real' expertise required? Low level of fitness? Interesting.

I guess I see it like any other sport. Falling out of an airplane, if you want to call THAT skydiving is not hard. But skydiving WELL does require these things.

My repsonse is to Skydiving as a whole not to the elite level look around any DZ there are some VERY unfit skydivers there every week, go find an unfit regular Downhill Mountain biker, or regular freeclimber
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
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A sport where you can die on any jump qualifies as extreme to me.



Amazing how 17% (at the time I voted) can state that it isn't extreme. Your definition is perfect. It is even more extreme than others so considered. In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%. And you cannot settle for non-fatal injuries, however severe. You just don't have the chance. It's death or death. How many of the so called extreme sports are like our's? Very few if there are.



HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

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8. Chiefly Sports. extremely dangerous or difficult: extreme skiing.


It's definitely not safe to jump out of planes.



I don't think you're using this definition correctly. If you look at the example given, then it suggests that skiing is not an extreme sport, but extreme skiing is. What exactly constitutes extreme skiing, I can't say, but I assume that it would be any skiing of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average, such as backcountry skiing and/or steep, technical terrain. So skydiving is not an extreme sport, but perhaps extreme skydiving is.

The original question was, however, is skydiving an extreme sport. Interesting how everyone concentrated on the extreme part of the question.

Personally, I say down with labels. If the thread on rockclimbing.com is anything to go by, such labels are of most use in pissing contests or having a laugh. So far this thread isn't too funny. Skydiving is skydiving. Who cares about the rest, so let's forget the labels and figure out some way to improve the climate up here in the frozen north so I can go jump!

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Personally, I hate the label 'extreme sport'. It strikes me as a meaningless marketing ploy to sell clothes and shoes and certain foods/drinks. I also seems to be used by people who, for whatever reason, wish to mark themselves out as cooler than the next person.

Yes, skydiving is a small minority activity, and yes, skydiving is dangerous. But I still think the 'extreme' tag isn't a very useful one.

I for one don't consider myself an 'extreme sportsman'. I'm just a guy that likes to jump out of planes.

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8. Chiefly Sports. extremely dangerous or difficult: extreme skiing.


It's definitely not safe to jump out of planes.



I don't think you're using this definition correctly. If you look at the example given, then it suggests that skiing is not an extreme sport, but extreme skiing is. What exactly constitutes extreme skiing, I can't say, but I assume that it would be any skiing of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average, such as backcountry skiing and/or steep, technical terrain. So skydiving is not an extreme sport, but perhaps extreme skydiving is.

The original question was, however, is skydiving an extreme sport. Interesting how everyone concentrated on the extreme part of the question.

One "failing" example in the list of definitions I gave hardly negates the idea that by literal definition, skydiving is an "extreme" activity. I'm not defending this to be a person that's like "Oh man skydiving is SOOO extreme!!11!1!one"

And as far as whether or not it's a sport...

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1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.



Often <> always ;)

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"Extreme" is a lot of different things . . .

Once on a BASE road trip we found ourselves in some berg and the weather was pretty bad so for a laugh we went bowling. We were enticed by a sign outside that read, "Tonight, Extreme Bowling!"

Well it was a bunch of spiked and pierced lane warriors, who hurled trash talk at each other while throwing wicked hooks.

The thing quickly degenerated into throwing drinks and when the balls started flying we split. The owner of the alley admitted the next day he was desperate for business and was willing to try anything. "Nobody bowls anymore," he said sadly.

I see this same desperation when Madison Avenue uses the word "extreme" to sell sugary drinks to suckers.

I first heard the term "extreme" in its current form about 25 years ago and it was in relation to something called Land Luge. This is what it sounds like with the sleds having wheels instead of rails, and the hills not covered by ice but highways that were paved. And the extreme part is these were public roads and not closed off to traffic.

So extreme, at first, seemed to mean taking an existing or traditional sport and turning it on its ear.

So, like the dopes we were at the time, we went along with calling BASE jumping an extreme form of skydiving because it made sense at the time. It was also our way to poke back at those skydivers who delighted in calling us mental cases because they got so indignant when anyone suggested they were being dethroned from the top of the danger heap.

We were wrong of course, and later we realized BASE was a separate sport altogether with its own rules of survival that had little to do with skydiving. We learned you don't BASE jump at the drop zone and you don't skydive at the Flat Iron Building. Those who didn’t learn that lesson paid the price sooner or later.

The true thing about "extreme" is nothing stays so forever. Skydiving was extreme in the 50's and early 60s. But, now anyone that's not dead (or I suppose even if you are) can be a passenger on a tandem jump. And any reasonably experienced skydiver with a bit of training and the right gear can go huck a BASE jump from the Potato Bridge.

Extreme is coloring outside the lines, but more so doing it before everyone else is doing it because that's when it's truly dangerous. You'll realize that the first time you see bowling balls flying through the air . . .

NickD :)BASE 194

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I think anyone that says skydiving is not an extreme sport has lost their mind. You're falling through the sky at 120+ from 3,500 to 18,000 feet in the air with nothing but a backpack and two peices of fabric to save you, and this is not extreme?

:S

I think this would have to come from the same people who would label golf as an extreme sport.
Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

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I think anyone that says skydiving is not an extreme sport has lost their mind. You're falling through the sky at 120+ from 3,500 to 18,000 feet in the air with nothing but a backpack and two peices of fabric to save you, and this is not extreme?

What is your definition of extreme?

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Rock climbing is in the same boat as skydiving. .



Yes, I've nearly shit myself doing both. Two totally different ideas though - whatever you do, don't fall vs. whatever you do, you will surely fall.

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Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

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I think anyone that says skydiving is not an extreme sport has lost their mind. You're falling through the sky at 120+ from 3,500 to 18,000 feet in the air with nothing but a backpack and two peices of fabric to save you, and this is not extreme?

What is your definition of extreme?



Well, if the X-Games considers skateboarding as an extreme sport, and you use the X-Games definition, then skydiving is definately an extreme sport.

I'm with the guy above though, who cares.
Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

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Perhaps it's less about the possibility of death and more about passion?

I remember a whuffo party I attended during my first season in the sport. I sat and listened to a guy tell us about how he was an 'adrenaline junkie' and like to do 'extreme rollerblading'. It was from that point on that I realized labeling one's self as EXTREME is only for those with self-image issues.

I guess it goes as such. It always looks like the other guy is more extreme. I would classify air-racing as extreme, both the unlimiteds and the Red Bull tours. But to racers, it's just racing. It's what they do, it's their passion.

But think of that word.....PASSION. Anything that involves passion can be construed as 'extreme'. Not because of the nature of the activity itself. But rather the participants mindset.
I once used to work with a pro-golfer. He held the same passion for golf as I with skydiving and flying. On the surface you could probably not get any further apart on the sport spectrum. But he attacked it with the same vigor and mindset. I called him the 'extreme golfer'. Passionate.
"Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman's apparel is clearly asking to be mangled."

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In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%.



Every time you're driving fast with your car, and you approach a turn in the road, you have to turn that steering-wheel. Or you'll die. Damn, driving a car is really extreme.

Oh, and... The term 'extreme' is about to make me puke. The term is mostly used by people who are trying to make themselves look cool to other people.

edit: or by people trying to sell something (energy drinks being a common theme).

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In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%.



Every time you're driving fast with your car, and you approach a turn in the road, you have to turn that steering-wheel. Or you'll die. Damn, driving a car is really extreme.



Precisely, driving you can choose to drive fast or not. Skydiving you have no choice, it's always 100%.



HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

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In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%.



Every time you're driving fast with your car, and you approach a turn in the road, you have to turn that steering-wheel. Or you'll die. Damn, driving a car is really extreme.



Precisely, driving you can choose to drive fast or not. Skydiving you have no choice, it's always 100%.



But you choose to every time you're on the freeway.. Is that extreme?

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But you choose to every time you're on the freeway.. Is that extreme?




One more difference and may be it will lead you to agree with me:

When, as you say, "you choose to every time you're on the freeway" and do not turn the steering-wheel in the curve ahead, you may get killed (may) or just severely injured or lucky to escape with bruises or minor injuries. "In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%."

I think it's pretty fair to call it extreme...



HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

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Well. I voted for 'extreme' on the poll, so we do agree. I just don't think it's the "you HAVE to pull" part that makes it so. It plays a role, though.

As I said, I dislike the term itself, since it's mostly just used by wannabes and people trying to sell you stuff.

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Yes, but it can being varying degrees... my genre (4-way) I don't feel to be all that extreme, although shit does happen, and people do die doing it. My 2nd genre, which I'm much less accomplished at (swooping) is absolutely extreme, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who disagrees with that.

for those who say skydiving is not extreme, what the hell is? harley ice-racing? fuck that!:P
"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

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[reply"In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%."

I think it's pretty fair to call it extreme...


That does not make it extreme. Not doing anything makes you either unconscious, dead already or suicidilly stupid, that is not the sport of skydiving
It's a rare thing for people to not pull anything, gear does not fail like it once did in the past. in the normal weekend jumping ranks skydiving is not extreme.
I'm not an extreme sports person by any stretch of the imagination. I weight up risk versus reward before i do many things and the risk in skydiving is low (IMO).
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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In our sport, every single time you practice it, you (or your AAD) have to open a canopy. If not, your chance of dying is 100%.



Every time you're driving fast with your car, and you approach a turn in the road, you have to turn that steering-wheel. Or you'll die. Damn, driving a car is really extreme.



Precisely, driving you can choose to drive fast or not. Skydiving you have no choice, it's always 100%.



But you choose to every time you're on the freeway.. Is that extreme?



I fell off a motorcycle going 65mph and came out of it not great, but far from dead. I jumped again 8.5 months later. Rode the motorcle just 5 months later. Someone in a steel cage with airbags has a even better chance of survival.

Only a couple people have survived no pulls out of many millions of jumps.

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Heck yeah! It's as extreme as it comes. We take the risks seriously and the incident rates are small in comparison to other sports, but that doesn't make it any less extreme.
Take risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping ~ Author Unknown (but I wish I knew)

YouveGottaTryThis.com

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X-Games destroyed the word EXTREME!

If you define extreme sports to those in the X-Games then your on the wrong track.
The X-games is just a publicity stunt for products that are affordable to young kids.
Do you remember when Sky surfing was in the X-Games?? Yeah thats right, back in the day. The only reason they took it out of the X-Games is that it is unmarketable for young kids (Too expensive, and age restrictions) This marks a historic moment in Extreme Sport History. So if you have to be attainable to the youth then you are extreme??

It makes sense does it not??

Just because your version of skydiving (RW
You should not dissuade yourself from thinking that you do not participate in an extreme sport.


Def. of an Extreme Sport participant: If you answer yes to these questions than you are an extreme sport participant:

You are part of a select group that has the "guts" to participate?
You dream about taking the sport FARTHER than the realm of ordinary?
You enjoy developing your physical and/or mental skills?
You seek mastery of inhospitable environments?
You look to escape from the mundane rigors of day-to-day existence,
You simply love the wilderness environment?

If you are still convinced that skydiving is not an extreme sport-How about you quit skydiving and do something extreme like

The truly Extreme Sport of all sports

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