# People laugh until men fall off cliff in giant plastic ball **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631 "2013-01-09T15:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/1 "2013-01-09T15:25:41Z")
I’ve never much fancied zorbing, but [this](http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/09/world/asia/russia-zorb-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t3) about wraps it up. > [@](#): > > An extreme sport went extremely wrong recently when two men riding in a large inflatable ball rolled out of control and fell off a snowy mountain in Russia killing one and seriously injuring the other. The video is linked in the article. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to send people down that slope, with just one guy at the bottom to stop the ball, and a long long slope leading to a cliff and a frozen lake _1km away_ if it rolled off course? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/2 "2013-01-09T15:28:53Z")
sounds like a metaphor for Congress and the fiscal cliff. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/3 "2013-01-09T15:42:48Z")
I just discovered that I knew one of the Zorb inventors when I was a kid - he was the younger brother of a classmate. Rolling people round in a tractor tyre or tube was considered great fun at the time. However, as for the people who implemented that particular incident, :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: Si ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/4 "2013-01-09T15:48:37Z")
One fairly boggles at teh dumb. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/5 "2013-01-09T15:48:55Z")
Comrade, hold my vodka and watch this… ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/6 "2013-01-09T15:59:41Z")
In Soviet Russia, ball rolls you. In all seriousness, though, what an unfortunate thing to happen. And no, I don’t want to watch the video. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/7 "2013-01-09T16:13:32Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Who the hell thought it was a good idea? Russians. Drunken Russians. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/8 "2013-01-09T16:18:11Z")
Taking “Redneck” to a whole new level… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/9 "2013-01-09T16:24:20Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > In Soviet Russia, ball rolls you. > > In all seriousness, though, what an unfortunate thing to happen. And no, I don’t want to watch the video. You don’t see them splat, you don’t even see them roll over the edge of the cliff; you just see the ball roll down the mountain chute, out of sight and out of control, while a few people scream the Russian equivalent of “oh shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/10 "2013-01-09T16:27:42Z")
Cockroach Eating Competition Charlie (Florida) Bigfoot Costumed Bert (Montana) Zorbing Russian The list goes on. Sympathies to the families. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/11 "2013-01-09T19:11:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Russians. Drunken Russians. The scariest part is that this wasn’t just Igor and Boris hitting the vodka and doing something silly. This was an “organised”, supposedly professional outfit taking paying customers. But one look at the video makes me wonder how they could possibly have thought that slope was a good place to do it. The “runout zone” ends in a col where the ball will naturally want to veer off down the slope, which leads to the (out of shot) cliffs. Gravity, dudes, gravity. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/12 "2013-01-10T03:29:58Z")
[http://www.weather.com/news/zorb-ride-turns-deadly-20130109](http://www.weather.com/news/zorb-ride-turns-deadly-20130109) Holy Crap:eek: > [@](#): > > MOSCOW — What was supposed to be a thrilling ride down a ski slope inside a giant inflatable ball ended in tragedy for the two Russian men inside. > > The transparent plastic ball — called a zorb — veered off course and sailed over a precipice in the rugged Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. One man died and the other was badly injured. The terrifying ride was captured on video. > > The man who died, 27-year-old Denis Burakov, was with friends at the Dombai ski resort, where they frequently went snowboarding, on Jan. 3 when he decided to take a ride in a zorb being operated next to a beginners’ slope. His friend Vladimir Shcherbakov joined him. > > An eight-minute video taken on Burakov’s phone by one of his friends shows the two men being fitted into harnesses inside the zorb, which consists of two polyurethane balls with a layer of air between them. The zorb is then released to roll down the hill, the two men spinning inside. > > But the zorb bounces off of the intended path, and a man waiting for it at the bottom of the hill tries in vain to catch the ball before it pops over a rocky ledge and disappears down a gorge below Mount Mussa-Achitara. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/13 "2013-01-10T03:35:23Z")
Эй, вы все, следите за этим! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/14 "2013-01-10T03:38:36Z")
I reported it, since we have a thread on this. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/15 "2013-01-10T04:00:48Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I reported it, since we have a thread on this. Oh crud, I didn’t see one. What is the link? Sorry for the repeat posting ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/16 "2013-01-10T04:12:01Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Эй, вы все, следите за этим! Thanks for the advice. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/17 "2013-01-10T04:22:07Z")
Merged duplicate threads. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/18 "2013-01-10T14:36:50Z")
> [@Vita\_Beata](#): > > Cockroach Eating Competition Charlie (Florida) > Bigfoot Costumed Bert (Montana) > Zorbing Russian > > The list goes on. Sympathies to the families. The way I see it, this let’s the _Dumb Ways To Die_ people do a sequel. That’s good, I liked that song. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/19 "2013-01-10T16:02:36Z")
Frankly, it doesn’t even look like that much fun: like if I were strapped into an industrial-size clothes dryer and was told I was rollng down a mountian but had to take your word for it. At least with jet skiing or water skiing (which have high death rates, too) you get the full experience Imagine a video from inside the zorb, as opposed to this one of an expert [paraskiing run](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf32z3lXnqQ). Which would would have the consolation “at least he died happy?” ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631/20 "2013-01-10T16:06:01Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Frankly, it doesn’t even look like that much fun: like if I were strapped into an industrial-size clothes dryer and was told I was rollng down a mountian but had to take your word for it. At least with jet skiing or water skiing (which have high death rates, too) you get the full experience > > Imagine a video from inside the zorb, as opposed to this one of an expert [paraskiing run](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf32z3lXnqQ). Which would would have the consolation “at least he died happy?” No. Way. In. Hell! My palms are sweaty watching that! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-laugh-until-men-fall-off-cliff-in-giant-plastic-ball/646631.md?page=2)