Speed flying is a pretty cool new sport that can be extremely exciting and fascinating for people everywhere, no matter if they are actually participating or just observing the activity. Even though this sport is relatively young and new to the public, it has begun to become very popular among skiers around the world. Its influence began in Europe. It originated in France and has quickly begun expanding into a very popular enjoyable sport for all experienced skiers to try out and enjoy. Although it is perceived by many as being a dangerous new sport to try out, it is, in fact, not very dangerous at all if done in appropriate weather conditions. Heli boarding

This amazing, new sport was actually created initially by paraglider pilots and skydivers who wanted to experience something new and interesting. They wanted to somehow create a sport that could allow them to enjoy both skiing and gliding at the same time and thus, this awesome new sport was born. Now people can both glide by ski and glide through the air simultaneously. The sport is practiced with the use of skis and parachutes that allow riders to glide and slide their way down slopes. At first, when the sport was first started, people used their own skydiving parachutes and modified kites to get down the slopes with style. However, there are now special models of actual speed flying wings and gliders that can be purchased from manufacturers in various places.

There are actually a couple of similar sports that were created by skydivers that have been around for a bit longer than speed flying. One of these sports is called blade running. Blade running is a cool sport that involves riders exiting an airplane and then flying their opened parachutes down across a special marked course made up of flags that have a shape that is thought to resemble a blade thus giving birth to the strange name for the activity. The other sport which is actually quite similar to this one is called swooping. 

Swooping involves a rider who exits an airplane and then scores points for both tricks and style marks as they move down the mountain. Then, at the end they swoop down over grass or water in order to land.

Now the sport has been around for a few years so the terms Speed Riding and Speed Flying have become the standard definitions when talking about the individual activities of both the winter and summer aspects of the sport. However, the two terms are very different from on another since they refer to two very different activities. Speed Riding is flying down snow covered slopes with skis with frequent ground contact. This sport has an equal amount of gliding and sliding for riders to experience. Speed Flying is flying down snow free slopes after foot launching with no ground contact until landing. Speed-Flying is also the general definition which covers ALL the activities - both riding and flying and everything in between. Heli ski