When the thrill of hauling down a mountain on two planks of wood just isn’t enough, some people choose to turn towards speed flying. Speed flyers use skis to gather speed before lifting off the ground with a paragliding wing. Sometimes the skis are just used to takeoff and land, sometimes the speed flyer will land mid-flight before taking off again.
It’s a pretty impressive sport to watch, but like any airborne sport it can be fairly dangerous. Studies have shown that the injury rate of paragliding tends to be lower than that of other adventure/extreme sports, but accidents are more fatal when they do happen. Fortunately the pilot in this crash seemed to be alright in the aftermath, though his landing was probably a bit more difficult given that he lost both of his skis.
