Posted on 01/09/2013 7:55:14 AM PST by BenLurkin
What was supposed to be a thrilling ride down a ski slope inside a giant inflatable ball ended in tragedy for the two Russian men inside.
The transparent plastic ball -- called a zorb -- veered off course and sailed over a precipice in the rugged Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia.
The man who died, 27-year-old Denis Burakov, was with friends at the Dombai ski resort, where they frequently went snowboarding, on Jan. 3 when he decided to take a ride in a zorb being operated next to a beginners' slope. His friend Vladimir Shcherbakov joined him.
An eight-minute video taken on Burakov's phone by one of his friends shows the two men being fitted into harnesses inside the zorb, which consists of two polyurethane balls with a layer of air between them. The zorb is then released to roll down the hill, the two men spinning inside.
But the zorb bounces off of the intended path, and a man waiting for it at the bottom of the hill tries in vain to catch the ball before it pops over a rocky ledge and disappears down a gorge below Mount Mussa-Achitara.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Don’t try this at home kiddies - this is best left to trained professionals.
The lyrics look like they could have been in a Blue Oyster Cult song!
Yes, but there is a serious flaw in the design of their Zorb course.
Their best album
Who wouldn’t want to roll down a snow covered mountain into a rocky abyss in a giant inflatable barf bag?
Is that Gerard the Hutt?
Get Down with Gravity.
2013 Darwinovich Award Winners
It would take a heart of stone not to laugh. Too bad they didn’t video the whole ride downhill.
Stupid is as stupid does. Not only does this not look like the least bit enjoyable, any idiot can see the obvious dangers. My guess, since it was in Russia, that lots of Vodka was involved, by everyone involved.
You play schtuppid games, you vin schtuppid prizzes
I’ll say. He was really moving to catch them/block the path. A heroic effort.
No shiite. What could go wrong with a short downhill course that ends at the edge of a precipice?
In Russia, beginner's slope next to ender's slope.
To die for... entertainment.
In the immortal words of Daffy Duck, great trick, but I can only do it once.
Actually, it is a lot of fun, and there are dozens of Zorb runs in the United States. None of which have a deep gorge at the bottom of the hill.
In some places, you can choose a “water zorb”, where they put water into the ball with you, and it’s like a water slide.
I haven’t done one of these yet, simply because a single run is very expensive everywhere I’ve been that has them. More expensive even than the zip lines, which are usually pretty expensive, because of the insurance.
But I’ve watched videos of people doing this, and they are all having a blast. And I spoke with one woman who did it who loved it and said she’d do it again.
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