No, your eyes do not deceive you. Yes, this video features skiers descending a snowy slope with parachutes on their backs. What is this crazy hybrid sport, you wonder? It’s called speed flying.

Started in the 1970s by French mountaineers, speed flying (also referred to as speed riding) has enjoyed a fervent 21st century boost in popularity among the extreme sports set. One part skiing and one part paragliding, speed flying allows skiers to traverse tough terrain with the peace of mind only a paragliding canopy cord provides. With just one yank, you’re able to swap sports and sail above rocks and ice patches at speeds of up to 60 mph. The Telegraph reports that, since 2005, numerous resorts dedicated to speed riding have popped up in the Alps and more Adrenalists than ever before are getting certified as speed riders with the French Paragliding Federation.

Despite the paraglide safety net, speed flying experts recommend new entrants to the sport be competent skiers. No sport is safe when you’re moving as fast as a car on the expressway. Especially not when trees are so intimately involved.

We’ve shown you speedriding (AKA speedflying or ski-gliding) before. But like wingsuiting, this extreme sport just doesn’t get stale. Especially when you keep pushing the envelope like Swiss adrenalist Ueli Kestenholz, who was the first ever human to put his fingers on an Olympic snowboarding medal after winning Bronze in giant slalom at the 1998 games in Nagano. 

As you can see above, snowboarding between sticks wasn’t quite extreme enough for Herr Kestenholz. After the 2006 Winter Games, he took up free riding full-time, and filmed the multisport movie Playgravity with fellow speedrider and good friend Mathias Roten — also featured in the above video. 

In 2008, Roten died speedriding by himself in the Swiss Alps. Some believe his glider failed to properly inflate after he took off from a cliff near the 3,000-meter peak of Hockenhorn. Kestenholz and the tiny, tightly-knit community of speedflyers was devastated by his loss.

But they have continued to fly. And we can’t help but watch.

Check out Ueli Kestenholz’s website to see what he’s up to next.