Forget bungy-jumping, base jumping and street luge. The world's weirdest extreme sport has been discovered: yak skiing.
An enterprising Tibetan called Peter Dorje is capitalising on the increasing demands of jaded holidaymakers by offering them the chance to hurtle up a mountain attached to a yak.
Every winter Mr Dorje
gives groups of tourists the chance to experience the sport in the Indian village of Manali.
He takes up to five visitors and his herd of yaks into the surrounding hills to camp for the night.
At first light, Mr Dorje leads one of his yaks to the top of the hill, where he ties it to the end of a large rope, which is then looped round a tree to form a pulley system.
Meanwhile, the nervous skier waits at the bottom with a bucket of pony nuts, ready to tie himself or herself to the other end of the rope on a signal from the top.
Once that is done, a shake of the bucket will bring the hungry yak charging downhill, pulling the skier upwards at breakneck speed.
Time magazine says Mr Dorje has just one piece of advice: "Never shake the bucket of nuts before you're tied to the yak rope."
Any panicked thrillseekers who do are likely to be confronted with half a tonne of disgruntled yak heading towards them, and no means of escape.
Despite their imposing appearance, the magazine reports that the yaks' owner has developed a foolproof way to tame the 1.8m tall, lavishly horned beasts.
Although they have a robust digestive system designed to cope with moss, grass and lichen, the yaks are extremely partial to pain au chocolat, which Mr Dorje buys from a bakery at the northern end of town.
Time features yak skiing in a special "Best of Asia" edition, alongside more sedate pursuits such as visiting Tokyo's parasite museum and sitting under the world's oldest tree.
- INDEPENDENT
