Gadling goes Zorbing

by Grant Martin on

We’ve written about Zorbing a few times at Gadling, the crazy extreme sport where you jump inside of an enomous plastic ball and bounce around as it rolls down a hill. Think of yourself as the rodent inside of a giant, cushioned hamster ball. It’s hard to resist.

Various iterations of the sport have been around for a few years now, including an official franchise in Tennessee and a whole host of copycats, but the technology was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, a small, adventure-centric town three hours south of Auckland.

Here, you can get your Zorb in a few different flavors: alone, with water, with a friend, down a zig zag path, or combinations therein. Since I was with another guy and wanted the “ultimate experience,” I chose to take the zig zag path with water.

So what’s it like?

Well, at the bottom of the hill you first change into swim trunks, then they shuttle you to the top and you jump in line. Once it’s your turn, they ask if you want water (highly recommended) then they toss a bucket full of warm water into the waiting Zorb. Draping a slippery rug into the entry, the attendant asks you to dive in, then they zip closed the inner sphere. On three, you kick back towards the bottom of the hill, and off you go.

The whole thing lasts about 45 seconds, but it’s the most disorienting, wonderful, happy experience of your life. The Zorb spins below you as you try to maintain some sense of location and focus, then as it changes directions you bounce back and forth inside of the inner sphere. It’s fun in a wholly wild, new way.

Worth the $35 to ride? Sure, at least once. Check out a video of the experience after the jump.

Volcano Boarding: Sledding Down An Active Volcano

by Kraig Becker on

The New York TImes has the scoop on a new sport that can trace its origins back to the slopes of Cerro Negro, a 2388 foot tall volcano in western Nicaragua. The new extreme sport is called Volcano Boarding, and participants use a small piece of plywood to rocket down the side of a sometimes active volcano, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph.

The article credits Darryn Webb, an Australian tour guide working in Nicaragua, with coming up with the idea behind volcano boarding. Webb grew up in Queensland, where he learned to sandboard, which is a bit like snowboarding on sand dunes. Back in 2005, when he first set eyes on Cerro Negro, he immeditely began plotting a new way to go down its slopes.

Webb says they tried a variety of different concepts when looking for their “sled”, including boogie boards, mattresses, and even a minibar fridge (!), before eventually going with their current design, which is little more than reinforced plywood with formica on the underside to increase speed. Boarders don a jumpsuit and goggle designed to protect them should they become separated from their rides, and begin the arduous 45 minute climb to the summit, carrying their board.The ride down is, as you would expect, unlike anything else. The writer reports of high speeds, but also a very bumpy and noisy run, in which rocks, dust and ash flew everywhere. Controlling your speed is a challenge to say the least, and when using a technique for slowing down that was shown to her by an instructor, she ended up crashing out of control. But once the ride was over, she wanted to go again, which says a lot for the experience as well.

For extreme sports junkies, hurling down the side of a mountain isn’t nearly extreme enough of course, so the lure of an active volcano makes it all the more exciting. Cerro Negro is young, geologically speaking, and still very active. Since 1850, the volcano has erupted 20 times, and I suppose there are some who come to ride its slopes who have visions of outrunning lava flows as they go. So far, that hasn’t happened, but then again, this is a new sport.

Extreme sheep herding

by Annie Scott on


You may think being a shepherd is passe, but these guys in the United Kingdom found a number of ways to spice things up!

First they herded they sheep marching band style, encouraging them to form a larger, friendly-looking sheep.

When the sheep got good at that, they introduced LED lights and quickly found the sheep amenable to simulating a game of Atari – style Pong.

In fact, the sheep were so smart, the shepherds had little trouble arranging them into the trickiest of patterns — even piecing together a timeless Italian work of art!

They celebrated their diligent and successful explorations of the art of shepherding with some abstract and sort of confusing fireworks displays.

Good on ya boys. But you’re better with the sheep!

Extreme kayakers tackle 300ft reservoir in Wales

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents would warn you not to go down to the reservoir? It’s not that the reservoir wasn’t fun – it was just, you know, a little dangerous for kids. It was really steep, there was unsupervised water where you could drown and there were always those unruly punks who would vandalize the walls with graffiti and other nonsense.

I don’t think the kids in Wales, site of the Llyn Brianne dam, learned their lesson about reservoirs. As the BBC points out, it seems that the dam makes for a mighty tempting joyride during rainy season, when the spillway turns into a rushing torrent of water that drops hundreds of feet to a river below. As you can see in the video, several professional kayakers have recently attempted it, shooting down the 300 foot concrete flume at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.

In case you are missing the gene for common sense, this is highly dangerous. In fact Welsh Water, who owns the dam, has condemned the practice as highly illegal. But still, you’ve got to admit, it looks like quite a thrill. Just don’t come running to me when you crack your head open kayaking the reservoir…

Thrill Seekers Can Swim Nose to Nose with Crocs in Australia

by Josh Lew on

Adventurers needn’t head to the Outback to get a taste of what it is like to be eye-to-eye with Australian wildlife. A new attraction at Crocosaurus Cove, in Darwin, Northern Territory, allows divers to come within inches of giant saltwater crocodiles. A mask and swimsuit is all that is required for those who want to enter the “Cage of Death.” The transparent “cage” is made from 5-inch-thick acrylic. It moves on runners through 4 croc pens housing animals that 18 feet long and weigh over 1 ton. The “ride” takes about 20 minutes.

Despite their legendary status, crocodiles attacks are rare. Warning signs are displayed on lakes and rivers inhabited by the giant beasts. On average, there are only 1 or two croc-related deaths per year. That probably doesn’t lessen the amount of adrenaline that comes from being face-to-face with the toothy creatures, separated by only 5 inches of glass.

[Via Reuters]