Extreme athletes soar over previously unreachable slopes in speed riding, a fusion of skiing, paragliding

Mountains around the globe are inaccessible to the average skier due to dangerous terrain and steep slopes.

The relatively new extreme sport, speed riding, gives its practitioners access to these previously unreachable terrains. Speed riding is a high-speed mountain sport that fuses elements of skiing and paragliding.

"Speed riding is using the small high performance para-glider known as a speed wing on the snow with skis," Co-Founder of SkiandFly Asher Zalchendler.

Speed riding is free ride in the third dimension.

"The objective is not to get height and for a long time, but to play with the relief as a skier would. The charm thus is to go down slopes quickly by mixing the glide on snow and the gliding flight with touch and go," Speed Riding teacher in Les Ailes du Mont Blanc Sandie Cochepain said.

The sport was born in the French Alps in the early 2000s by paragliders and extreme athletes, including Fred Fugen, Antoine Montant and Francois Bon. The name speed riding was founded in 2003.

There are now about 50 paragliding schools and 200 teachers qualified to teach speed riding in France. The sport has spread and continues to grow internationally. The sport often occurs off-piste at authorized ski resorts around the world. Speed riding organizations like SkiandFly have started to pop up globally.

"It can be very dangerous," Zalchendler said. "Skiandfly and our network of coaches and schools provide safe entry into this exciting mode of flying."

There is a possibility of collision with an obstacle or with another other practitioner at a high speed if you don't respect the security distances, according to Cochepain.

It is highly recommended to attend a speed riding school or to have an instructor. Learning alone can be very dangerous for you and for the other skiers. If an accident appears to have occurred due to improper practice, speed riding may become forbidden for everyone.

It's relatively simple to learn, which allows many people to get involved. You do not need to have paragliding experience to try, but you have to be a good skier and experienced with all snow types and off-piste skiing, Cochepain said.

Regulations vary from country to country, but the sport often requires a paragliding license and third party insurance. Chamonix, France, provides rules for speed riding, which include rules like a helmet must be worn and no flying in the clouds.

Speed riding is mainly an air sport, so it depends a lot on the weather, especially the wind.

"You optimally want the wind to come up the face of the mountain so you have a headwind. The headwind helps to gets your wing over your head and keep in control of it," Red Bull Miles Above Athlete Mike Daisher said in a YouTube video.

While speed riding allows you to fly in stronger wind in comparison to paragliding, there is a limit depending on the experience of the pilot and the size of the glider between 30 and 35 km/h of wind, according to Cochepain.

The wings are typically very adaptable, allowing the athlete to fly at different styles in high winds, according to Zalchendler.

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