Extreme ironing is one of the craziest extreme sports that you probably haven’t heard about. It is largely known as the thrill of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt. It is based on your creativity since extreme ironing rules are way simpler than the table manners that you have to follow at a formal event that you bother yourself to attend. All you have to do is taking an iron and an ironing board and embark on an adventure. Strange extreme ironing activities include ironing while skydiving, ironing while scuba diving, ironing while rock climbing and so on and so forth. You can even try doing extreme ironing while zorbing if you find yourself adventurous enough.
Origins of extreme ironing date back to the golden 90s. One day Leicester resident Phil Shaw comes home very exhausted and encounters a pile of cloths waiting to be ironed. A light bulb starts shining in his mind when he decides to iron his clothes in his garden. When his housemate sees him ironing in the garden, he doesn’t call the mental hospital to pick up his lunatic friend. Instead, he supports the idea and they establish the Extreme Ironing Bureau. This story took place in 1997. The popularity of extreme ironing has been increasing gradually for 18 years.
Shaw, also known as Steam, set off for an international tour to promote this activity. The turning point in the history of extreme ironing is Steam’s encounter with German tourists in New Zealand during his international tour. With the help of the German extreme ironers, a group called Extreme Ironing International was founded.
Britain’s Channel 4 aired a documentary named Extreme Ironing: Pressing for Victory. Extreme ironing had become a rock star all of a sudden. However, the real gig came later on. The popularity of extreme ironing increased immensely after it was mentioned by the National Geographic Channel.
The idea got viral and became so popular that they decided to organize the 1st Extreme Ironing World Championships in a town close to Munich, Germany in 2002. There were competitors from 10 different nations.
From then on, it became usual to see extreme ironing news on the television channels and websites of major news networks. For instance, when 128 British divers did extreme ironing under water to break the world record for the most number of divers ironing underwater, BBC was ready to help this extreme sport to climb the stairs of popularity. The Time Magazine also mentioned extreme ironers’ daredevil attempts such as doing extreme ironing on the top of Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower.
Extreme ironing in strange places has become a lifestyle for many people after the sport gained publicity and popularity in time. Extreme ironing enthusiasts bungee-ironed, parachute-ironed, and scuba-ironed.
Extreme ironing has taken the place of more conventional sports such as football, basketball, and volleyball to some extent. For instance, it was not uncommon to see children playing football during a road closure. However, a British man in a gown caught while extreme ironing his shirt on M1 when some part of the motorway was closed for a while due to fire on 18 April 2011.
Then extreme sports fans tried extreme ironing while skysurfing, spelunking, kayaking etc. For example, extreme traveler William Hinton did extreme ironing during his hike through the famous Appalachian Trail. It is all about creativity; and extreme sports fans definitely have that attribute.
Extreme ironing in strange places is apparently quite fun. All you need to do is coming up with an idea and carry it out. If you are already an adrenaline junkie, then you simply can increase the level of your extreme adventure adding extreme ironing to your activity. Creating such an amalgam of your favorite extreme activity and extreme ironing will increase the level of fun you get from extreme adventures and travel destinations that thrill you.
The gist of this extreme activity is its simplicity as we mentioned already. The fact that you are not planning to embark on an extreme adventure does not mean that you cannot perform extreme ironing. Come closer and consider the unusual extreme ironing activities we suggest. It is time to get away from the tedious routine of your life.
Have you ever used the roof of your car to exercise? Well, you can extreme iron there. You can extreme iron on a slide in the nearest playground as long as you don’t bother children. You can do extreme ironing on the tree in your garden. You can sneak into the parking lot of public buses and extreme iron on one of them. Nevertheless, the last one can be considered as vandalism; so think it more than twice before you execute the action.
Think about it! You can have cooler holiday photos if you do extreme ironing on the famous landmarks such as Eiffel Tower, Pisa Tower, Collosseum, and the London Eye.
Extreme ironing has definitely the potential to change your life once and for all. Now you can imagine having ironed shirts while performing your extreme activities. Awesome, isn’t it?