Pressed for adventure? Try ironing atop Mount Everest
Posted on Monday, November 20, 2006
NEW YORK — Phil Shaw, otherwise known as “Steam,” was the first to see that special something in his laundry. Tired of putting work before pleasure, he took some freshly washed clothes into the back yard, along with a battery-powered iron and an ironing board, and proceeded to press his duds in the great outdoors.
Then, deciding that the back yard was too small a stage for his domestic duties, Shaw took his ironing to new heights. He carried the iron and board along on a mountain climb in Leicester, England, with his roommate — and gave his clothes a press at the peak.
That was almost 10 years ago. Since then, “extreme ironing” enthusiasts have pressed clothes atop Mount Everest and Kilimanjaro, pressed through the traffic of New York in the back seat of a taxi, and jumped out of planes (parachute included ) with iron and ironing board in tow. They’ve ironed in the waters around Madagascar and on top of Mayan temples in Guatemala.
Whether ironing high or ironing low, extreme ironing is a growing international sport.
According to researchers at American Sports Data Inc., extreme sports are becoming more popular while more tradi- tional sports like baseball (with participation down 25 percent from 1987 to 2002 ) are losing players. The unique community of extreme sports, with its group events and zany competitions, makes people feel they are part of something more than a little off-beat. And that’s the way they like it. Part of the draw is that you don’t have to be a super jock to have extreme fun.
UNICYCLE LADIES Another benefit of extreme sports is that they build unique communities for people of all ages. During the 2004 Mountain Unicycling World Championship in Japan, two women in the over-66 category raced each other on unicycles for 800 meters around a track. One of the women fell off the unicycle, allowing the other to quickly make up time. She lapped her competitor as the crowd cheered.
“I saw the age groupings and was like, ‘ Wait, 66 and up ?’” said John Foss, former national and world champion in mountain unicycling. “We all wanted to get on the track and help the woman get back on the unicycle, but then she would have been disqualified. It took her almost 10 minutes to get back on.” This year’s world championship was held in August in Switzerland. Events included trials, where cyclists hop around cars and other urban obstacles, and “street riding,” which combines riding a unicycle with skateboardlike tricks.
“We’re a little smarter than the skateboarders,” said Foss, 44. “We wear protection.” Foss started mountain unicyling in his 20 s, when he moved from the Detroit suburbs to California. Having practiced the sport for more than 20 years, he has seen people from 6 to 66 compete. It requires a lot of balance and even more humor. “It looks ridiculous,” Foss said, “and we love it.” IRONING IN EXTREMITY Extreme sports also allow participants to become experts, of a sort. The extreme nature of the activity appeals to the compulsive. People can join groups, clubs and teams in their sport and share information over the Web. Members of the Extreme Ironing Bureau, while competitive, are more concerned with finding exciting ways to, well, iron. More than 2 million people have visited the group’s Web site (extremeironing. com ) to boast about their most extreme adventures. Founded in Britain, extreme ironing has become popular in the United States, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Chile and Australia. Participants are judged on difficulty, technique and how wrinkle-free the garment ends up. Contestants iron uphill, in the water and sometimes in the air. And the sport features its own world championships. Member postings on extremeironing. com show people breaking ironing world records all the time. During the sport’s first world championship, Shaw, or “Steam,” posted a blog of his experiences. Describing a unique take on freestyle ironing, Steam wrote: “My twist involves bouncing on a children’s space hopper, draped in a Union Jack flag whilst ironing. This is trickier than I thought, and I manage to burn myself more than once.
“ I’m a little disappointed with the quality of my ironing of the boxer shorts, but hope to grab a few style points for the stupidity factor. It’s almost all over for me — all that remains is a quick sprint to the finish line, and a large German beer.” Hey, even an ironman needs to sit back and relax sometimes.
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