dano Posted January 9, 2013 Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 DON'T "ZORB"! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2259094/The-horrific-moment-father-young-girls-dies-inflatable-ball-zorbing-spins-control-falls-cliff-Russian-ski-resort.html?ICO=most_read_module Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted January 9, 2013 Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 What an unfortunate incident, my thoughts go out to his young family. My wife and I went Zorbing about 5 years ago in New Zeland after we got married. We had a fantastic time and still talk about it today. There are a few interesting observations form the NZ experience that I wanted to point out. 1) The course was completely surrounded by ~10' fencing 2) You could choose from a straight course or a zig-zag one 3) You could either be strapped in or allowed to bounce around with a bit of warm water inside the zorb (it was like being in a giant washing machine) 4) There was a giant catch-net at the bottom (and fencing beyond that) to ensure you didn't continue and hit the "clubhouse" at the bottom 5) Only one person was ever allowed to be in the zorb at a time. Just my general observations from the video. -Gord Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeho730 Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 That was the one near Taupo, right? I did that too, unstrapped. Pretty fun, quite safe I recall. Fully fenced slope so Zorb wouldn't go anywhere (not that there was any cliff around the area I recall). Freaky accident but yeah, it was unsafe, the way they did on the video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Yep, my wife and I are adrenaline junkies, so we did as many crazy things as we could while on our honeymoon....sledging, zorbing, bungee jumping, cave diving, ice climbing, scuba on the Great Barrier Reef....fun times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 What were they thinking? It's not like the stupid things ever go where you point them ... which is why the ones in New Zealand, and the ones in Calgary, are fully fenced in and nowhere near a cliff. That looked like a pretty steep run too, compared to the ones I've gone down, which are always disappointingly gentle. I guess there's a reason for that. Apparently the operators are on the lam now. I think I would be too. I'll have to point this out to my old boss. We've contemplated how one would handle launching off the old Olympic ski jump at COP, and from this I suspect the answer would be - not well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mucknbullets Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 It's the fact that one of the operators says "Oh! It's gone the wrong way again". AGAIN!! FFS did you not think the first time it happened to maybe not do it again. Only zorbing I have seen here in the UK is usually down some nice gentle green hill in the West Country where after a few scrumpies (local strong cider) it seems like a good idea. Down a narrow, steep ski slope is just mad without any control. Even a rope attached would have been better than nothing especially the guy at the bottom who will catch you. Yeah right. RIP and thoughts to families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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