Best Adrenaline Rush Ever: Try These 3 Sports, if You Dare

For the truly daring athletes out there, any one of these three sports will naturally make for a great adrenaline rush.  When your adventurous day is done and you return to a relaxed state of mind, it’s Tanasi CBD time. 

Ice Climbing Adrenaline Rush

Like mountain climbing but with more slips, ice climbing has caught on as a favorite sport among thrill-seekers. That’s why there are so many ways to test your skill with a pick, even during the warm summer months. 

Favorite ice climbing spots include frozen waterfalls and glaciers, but if you’re seeking multiple challenges, try a mix of rock, snow, and ice climbing with a mountaineering excursion. 

While the thrill is inherent in this sport, safety must always be a top priority. You should always climb with a partner—while one person climbs, the other one anchors. Proper gear is also critical. Since ice typically melts in warm conditions, you’ll likely be climbing in cold weather, which means long periods of exposure. Without properly insulated outerwear, that thrill could quickly be replaced with hypothermia, so lots of appropriate layers will be critical. And, once you’re properly warmed, make sure to check out this list of important ice climbing equipment: 

• Insulated climbing boots
• Climbing harness & helmet
• Axes and belays
• Carabiners and screws
• Rope and quickdraws (a special hook that helps your rope flow freely)

One final tip for climbing safely: consider bringing a seasoned guide along for your excursions. Aside from acting as the best and most experienced safety partner, your guide can keep you posted on weather conditions and other ever-changing conditions at your climbing site. With the very real threat of melting, avalanches, and other natural disasters, it just makes sense to keep a pro by your side.

Base Jumping Adrenaline Rush

If climbing up a sheet of ice isn’t enough of a thrill ride for you, base jumping will certainly take your adrenaline levels up a notch. Invented in 1978 by Carl Boenish Jr., his wife Jean, and their pals, Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield, the sport of base jumping basically involve summiting a tall, fixed peak or structure. Then jumping off it with a parachute. The first three base jumpers inaugurated the sport by jumping from the top of Yosemite’s El Capitan, but today, base jumping can happen off of any one of these four object types:

• B uildings
• A ntennas
• S pans (such as bridges)
• E arth (like cliffs, for example)

Much of the thrill surrounding this sport is a result of its inherent danger: To successfully base jump, you must steer clear of your base, and make up for a low starting altitude. So, you need to open your parachute almost immediately after jumping, and there’s very little room for error with any of your gear or trajectory. 

As a side note, this sport is also quite expensive.  Just securing the special base jumper’s parachute costs a minimum of $1500. So, while BASE jumping is a definite thrill ride, it’s not for everyone. Especially not for the faint of heart—or wallet. 

Caving Adrenaline Rush

If the altitudes of our two previous sports leave you shaking, why not head underground and try your hand at caving. This is a sport that involves exploring the inner reaches of a cave—and safely returning to its entrance. While roving deep beneath the earth’s surface carries some inherent risks—enough to spike at least a little bit of adrenaline, we’re sure—caving is a fairly low-risk sport, provided you carry the right equipment. 

Now, that equipment will vary depending on the climate and conditions involved in the specific cave you select, but the most basic of caving gear lists should include: 

• Helmet with a light source and chin strap
• Additional light sources (at least two)
• Backup batteries and lightbulbs
• Specialized cave backpack
• Boots with good treads
• Food
• Water
• Knee and elbow pads

If you are new to caving, exploring with a guide is highly recommended especially if you will have to navigate vertical surfaces. Still, guided or otherwise, caving is almost never hazardous, and almost always thrilling!