I like to travel and live adventures. I have done canopy, kayak, mma, rugby, food challenge, sandboarding, etc.
In Taiwan, which extreme activities can you do?
I like to travel and live adventures. I have done canopy, kayak, mma, rugby, food challenge, sandboarding, etc.
There’s some outdoor activities in Taiwan that could qualify as leaning to the extreme side, like rock climbing, canyoning, sea kayaking, trail running, high-mountain trekking etc. but extreme sports are niche at best and the government is not going to promote anything that they deem dangerous. So you’d need to spend some time in Taiwan and get to know local groups who go beyond what is considered main stream.
2 Likes
Gaelic football. As extreme as it gets.
Also river tracing. Shooting the waterfall at ĺŠ äąťĺŻ® in Wulai is pretty high adrenalin.
Hannes has a better list.
And he’s right. There is zero support and very little opportunity for anything risky in Taiwan. Better come to Japan. Or to be honest, go play with those crazy French people.
One sport I’d consider extreme in Taiwan is kite-surfing. Not sure how many people do this, but I think in places like Hsinchu and Penghu the conditions seem to be very good for that.
2 Likes
Fair enough. That one can kill you. Just from the water quality if not the dropping from a great height or drowning.
Another possibility is canyoning and or river tracing, although the people I’ve done that with have chosen very tame ones in comparison to my experience in Australia. Rock climbing has limited appeal outdoors but there are some places with established routes. Hard to find experienced partners though. Most like the gyms indoors.
Basically no mountaineering because snow and ice equals bad so not easy to get permits. You can hot dog it but risk getting stuck with no rescue and possible fines and or deportation.
No skiing at all. Definitely no paraponting! Some hang gliding and microlight flying but bad safety record.
Long mountain traverses at altitude are about the most available extreme sports I can think of, and there are many many groups and individuals doing that. Very well established. And well supported by govt bodies with many huts, etc. weird climbing tradition though, and a bit opaque unless you speak reasonable mandarin
2 Likes
Downhill mountain biking. People have died doing it.
Extreme running. This really is something. One of the challengers is to run the major 10 Taiwan mountains.
On the flip side to that is bikini mountain climbing. People have died from that one too.
And on the regular there’s plain old mountain climbing. People have died from that too so make sure friends know where you’ll be going and when you should be checking in.
Becoming popular is long distance swimming. Sun Moon Lake swim is coming up in September I believe.
Wind surfing is an actual thing in some places. So is stand up paddle boarding.
2 Likes
Okay. Let’s help out the guy some.
Traverse the central mountain range from south to north, beginning in Pingtung somewhere. You do that, you’re extreme and you might make the news.
Air sports are popular here as well as some hiking/rock climbing. Pretty extreme in some spots in taiwan.
Can you tell me more about the events in Taiwan for this?
1 Like
The frogmen are no joke!
You certainly can hike during snow season in the high mountains if you have the proper gear and training.
I am curious about actual events that you can enter, like you would a marathon. I don’t think I would enter such a race (1500m is the longest I swim), but it would interest me to know long distance swimming is here and more common now.
1 Like
Sun Moon Lake registration opens July 11 with the swim date set for September 27. Of course that’s a Tuesday. Which is quite stupid. All the other years it’s been on the weekend.
Al the other ones (10km, 5km, 3km) are organized through swim clubs and arranged for swim meets. They have various swim meets throughout the year. Unfortunately there’s been a lot of politicking around who controls swim meets and selection criteria (I understand there’s a current investigation with possible criminal charges involved) so there’s been less communication around the meets these days. Taipei Arena is the base for Taiwan’s FINA coaches. You should be able to get more info through them.
2 Likes
I did the Sun Moon Lake swim on a day before the big swim (Saturday before the big swim on Sunday). It was timed with a chip. Not a huge crowd. I really enjoyed it.
3 Likes
Who organizes a swim like that for a Tuesday? It’s pretty ridiculous. For the top level elite athletes that are doing the swim as part of the FINA calendar then they’ll all be sponsored. For everyone else it’s really flipping the bird at them. I don’t think they’ll even have a Masters group for swims.
1 Like
A friend of mine has competed in the north-to-south, 24-hour bicycle race. Last year he did it in 30 hours 
, so he’ll try again to reach Oluanbi in 24 hours.
1 Like
Trailrunning - run the beast run or similar. Quite extreme in Taiwan.
Kitesurfing in Penghu in autumn - the winds are crazy here, so if you wanna boost to the moon and break that woo world record - Penghu is a place to be to show that Cape town and the Netherlands don’t rule it all. It has often 50-60 knots so venture out on a day with 70 knots and break that world record…
River tracing - there are some more advanced places - but yes most is rather lame. Lulu hot springs upstream with high water levels is getting as good as it gets even though they play it on the safe side now after some deaths during the last 2 years.
There is a culture of everything is forbidden but no one really cares… They guardians in national parks shout behind you - but that’s it. Say you ride a road up that is closed to everyone with your bike, the people at the military station on top welcome you and congratulate you on making it there… Strava KOM to that place shows your not alone.
You do an bike and camp from Taichung via Daxueshan, Xueshan, Dabaxianshan, Taoshan and down to Wuling - everyone greets you enthusiastically and asks you how you made it there.
Most of the river tracing has signs it’s forbidden to enter - but local guides build their commerce on it and everyone in the places knows people do river tracing in those places.
Paragliding - Taiwan isn’t optimal - but the virtual lack of any safe landing spaces makes your XC paragliding pretty extreme here. Puli is actually quite suited for acro paragliding - nice thermal wind every afternoon that pushes you quickly up 400meters - so you have around 300m to play for tricks.
Mtbiking - not very well suited here - especially as you don’t get permits for the interesting (above 3000m) trails. The built trails are catching up - but way way way to go vs North America or the Alps or even UK.