Can't imagine there's any dignity when you die zorbing...

This is NOT a zorbing fatality.

I can't imagine the number is very high at all, but I learned today that apparently you can die while Zorbing.

One man was killed and another seriously injured when the zorb they were riding in veered off course and plummeted off a rock ledge near Mount Mussa-Achitara in southern Russia. The slope at the Dombai ski resort was not properly set up for this type of activity, and violated every safety rule, according to Sergei Loginov, deputy director of Z-orb.ru, the largest supplier of zorbs in Russia. This was confirmed by an eight-minute video shot by a friend on the phone of Denis Burakov, who died in the accident.

As the zorb heads down the hill, it bounced from its intended course and headed straight for a rocky ledge. A man at the bottom of the hill tried and failed to catch the zorb...and off it went. Both men were ejected from the zorb and wound up about thirty feet apart after rolling a mile or so down the ledge. Burakov suffered serious spinal injuries and died on the way to the hospital, and his friend Vladimir Shcherbakov suffered a concussion and other injuries and remains hospitalized.

As federal investigators inspected the Dombai resort, the emergencies minster demanded stricter enforcement of safety rules for winter sports. According to an Emergencies Ministry spokeman, 20 to 30 tourists die every year in the North Caucasus ski resorts, down from "hundreds" of people a year until new regulations took effect in 2006. The regulations have been effective, according to the ministry, but at the same time, local officials will often look the other way if it means bringing in additional revenue to their communities. Because we all know all reliable Russian safety rules are...

Yes, indeed...if it weren't for fucked up European and Third World tourist attractions, there would be a definite shortage of people hurting themselves on video for us to laugh at.

I mean, in all honesty, is it incidents like this that will ultimately prevent zorbing from becoming an Olympic, or even an X Games event? Nah, it's because zorbs are bouncy castles for people who want the Jackass experience without getting covered in strange waste. I wonder how many zorbing enthusiasts envision themselves hurtling down that hillside in England chasing that fucking wheel of cheese...

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