I’ll admit that I thought this was a little crazy at first. However, once the giddy newness of watching someone find a new way to zoom down a mountain wears off, I began to see honest potential in those plastic shoes. Grass skiing could be as cool as downhill skateboarding, or the undeniably ballsy street luge.

Some of the videos I found on youtube are actually quite a testament to the possibilities of this nascent sport. People can get going pretty fast and still actually turn.

I’m glad to see the trend of moving cold weather sports into warmer seasons continues. Roller blading is undeniably cool. Street luge is fun to watch…mostly because of those occasional puffs of hay that signal a whipeout. Now, we can even watch grass skiing.

The technique of using a short ladder with a hook on the end to climb a tall building was once an important way for firefighters to avoid dangerously damaged staircases. A skilled firefighter could quickly hook the ladder on a window sill above him, climb up the ladder, then sit in that window while repeating the process. Theoretically this allowed a firefighter to get to any story of a burning building without much equipment.

As cool as this technique is, the function it provided firefighters has simply been replaced by other methods in North America. However, in eastern Europe speed hook ladder climbing has started to slide from “professional practice” to “sport.” If you are not yet convinced of the coolness of this sport, a 30 second video of a contestant climbing a building facade at amazing speeds will probably change your mind. I love seeing people do things that I thought were impossible, the outfits are pretty cool to.

On your first day at the office faceball the biggest guy in there so people don’t mess with you.

My favorite part: they fight wearing a traditional dress and petticoats.