Love the adrenaline rush from extreme sports and have the moolah to match? Check out some of the most expensive extreme sports around the world.
BASE Jumping
BASE, an acronym for building, antenna, span and Earth, is all about jumping from the specified places, with Earth signifying cliffs. This sport, whose popularity can be traced to a host of movies that featured it, is, however, described as dangerous – so much so that it is considered illegal in some places. The cost of $2,000 (for the jumpsuit, protective gear and the special parachute) might not make it seem pricey in comparison to others, but the rate of fatalities (one in 60 participants) does make it a sport designed only for those who have what it takes to undertake a jump.
River Rafting
On a scale of extreme sports, river rafting might seem like an easier option, but there is no denying its extreme dimensions as some rivers are known to be packed with unpredictable waterfalls and whirlpools. The price of rafting could range between $200 to $1,400, depending on whether you are renting or buying the equipment needed. In fact, the International Rafting Federation has adopted scales to categorise the difficulty of a river. The scale ranges from one to six, with six indicating the maximum difficulty level of rafting.
Bungee Jumping
If you are new to the world of extreme sports and have wondered why anyone would want to jump from a cliff with only a rope tied to the feet to stall the fall, you might be surprised, and not very pleasantly, to know that each jump could cost you anywhere from $150 to $420 – the fancier the spot the more the price. Like the Macau Tower jump in China – the full package including the jump, the jump certificate, t-shirt, video, photos, tower ticket and a membership card would cost you $3,988.
(Check out the bungee jumping travel options around the world here)
Mountain Climbing
Not any mountain…this one is about climbing a high-altitude mountain – definitely not for the faint-hearted or for those low on financial resources. You would need around $100,000 to scale an altitude of over 2,100 metres and the bravado to take on the adventure, which could even cost a life. The approximate cost of $100,000 covers special equipment required to undertake the climb, oxygen, guides and other gear-hauling services. As far as costs go, this is, by all counts, one of the most expensive extreme sports.
Underwater Cave Diving
This extreme sport is for scuba divers who are interested to explore underwater caves. Of course, like most extreme sports, it has inherent dangers – most specifically decompression, which could cause sickness and even lead to drowning – and cannot be done without proper training. The cost of around $9,000 includes the training and the gear, excluding the cost of travelling to a destination that offers scuba diving through underwater caves.
Sky Surfing
Sky surfing has been, apparently, designed to make up for the lack of wings for those seeking to experience flying on another level. It demands a lot of practice and an amount of $6,000 for the requisite equipment. It is a type of skydiving, where the surfer wears a board attached to his/her feet to perform surfing-style aerobatics while freefalling. The technique requires the surfer to stand upright on the board during freefall and tilt the nose of the board down to generate forward movement, before pulling the parachute to land. It is a balancing act and has been described as dangerous by even experienced skydivers.
Wing-Suit Flying
Another flying venture that demands money, as well as guts, is wing-suit flying. At $5,000 (cost of suit plus parachute), it is not for the budget-conscious or the faint-hearted. Also known as birdman suits and flying squirrel suits, the wing-suit is a special kind of suit that lets one float until landing safely by deploying the attached parachute. The ones endowed with daredevilry are known to combine it with BASE jumping – parachuting or wing-suit flying from a fixed structure or cliff.