Hi David,

This new sport was featured on 60 Minutes this year and was even repeated already. It started from Free fall junkies who developed the suits to inflate and provide lift so that they could get better glide ratios. They got "bored" with doing this where there was little reference to the glide path so they started jumping and gliding next to rock cliffs so that they could easily see their "flight" and even add a whole new level of danger and excitement.

There is also a YouTube video of a skier on VERY steep slopes on very high mountains using a modern parachute to ski/fly down runs that could not be done with skis alone. He takes a tumble at one point that looks like sure death but lucks out and gets stopped. I love to ski and have even been on some expert slopes like Jackson Hole but that is WAY BEYOND what I would do. I like being able to watch someone else, though. Extreme sports just keep getting extremer every day! Did you see the "Hurricane" on the Olympics? WOW!