Winter surfing is being mastered in the Urals

In the Ural region, an unusual sports direction is developing - winter rafting on local reservoirs.

A unique movement appeared in the Urals about four years ago from the idea of seeing and feeling all the beauty of the local nature. Since the rivers and lakes of the region freeze in winter, artificial channels are used for extreme sports. At the end of 2016, members of the Ural Surfing Club in Yekaterinburg decided to go rafting down the Chusovaya River. The river had not yet frozen, but the snow was already lying on the banks, and the air temperature hovered around zero degrees. The guys thought it would be great to make a trip surrounded by a snowy forest and rocks. Reality fully confirmed expectations.

One of the authors of the idea and team captain Mikhail Paltsev noted that the local population does not even understand how lucky they are to live in such beautiful places. Photos and videos of the first winter rafting were published by young extreme sportsmen in the network. From what they saw, not only the residents of the Urals shuddered, but also foreign tourists, who were set on fire with the idea of repeating the feat of surfers.

The industrial channels of the region are perfect for such extreme sports. This year, athletes from Ural Surfing chose the artificially created drainage channel of the BNPP for rafting. The guys were not stopped either by the January frosts down to -22 degrees, or the difficult process of admission to the territory of the canal. No one in the world has dared to make such a winter rafting.

The athletes themselves called their journey a gamble. Even before the start, many guys were cold, so they had to additionally warm themselves and put on hats, fur coats, and down jackets on top of their wetsuits. The whole journey took about 30 minutes. The surfers started from the BNPP wall and finished in 2 km.