5 Places to Almost Die Before You Die

1. Tiankeng Sinkhole, Xiaozhai, China

When I was 18 years old, I took a trip with a few buddies of mine to Lake George in upstate New York. We had heard that there was a great spot for cliff jumping on the far side of the lake, and we found it without too much trouble. It was a fifty-foot sheer rock wall that dropped straight into deep water. Hyped up on adrenaline and Red Bull, we scrambled to the top.

"Me first!" my friend shouted, running to the edge. He quickly stopped. What seemed like a short drop from the bottom now seemed like a very large drop from the top. This, mind you, was fifty feet into water. I cannot imagine jumping 2,164 feet into the world's largest sinkhole.

The Tiankeng sinkhole near Ziaozhai, China, attracts some of the world's craziest individuals. I'm not referring to lacrosse goalies, drummers, or Tom Cruise. No, I'm talking about B.A.S.E. jumpers, the wild individuals who get their thrills from parachuting off extremely high platforms (including buildings, antenna, spans, and earth, hence the acronym B.A.S.E.). The extreme sport is considered one of the most dangerous in the world, with an estimated one fatality for every sixty participants.

The sinkhole itself is the shape of an inverted bell and was created over time as an underground river eroded the limestone walls. From the top, it looks like an underground rainforest. From the bottom... well, I couldn't tell you.

2. N57 40.390 E12 29.000, Västra Götaland, Sweden

One day, however, after searching through a few pages, I found something interesting. As it turns out, one of the most extreme geocaches in the world is located in Durham's storm drain system. I didn't know what a geocache was, but the words "extreme," "world," and "system" caught my eye. I turned to Google once again.

As it turns out, Geocaching is a sport that roughly resembles an international treasure hunt. Officially started in 2000 by David Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon, the game is simple. Someone posts clues and the coordinates of the cache, or treasure, and someone else tries to find it using a handheld GPS. Then, he/she takes what's inside the cache and replaces it with something else. There are caches everywhere: putting my zip code into geocaching.com revealed over thirty within a five-mile radius of my position. After some more research into Durham's extreme cache, I came to the conclusion that it was extremely dangerous. The Durham cache seems like child's play, though, compared to the extreme cache in Vastra Gotaland, Sweden.

The description on geocaching.com makes it pretty clear that the Vastra Gotaland cache is not for amateurs. "No cache is worth dying for!" it says. It further discourages anyone from attempting to find it unless he or she "has a serious death wish, is immortal, has more than three lives left, or is very stupid and not afraid of heights."

With a description like that, how could you afford not to snag this cache before you die?

3. The Graveyard of the Atlantic, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

Instead, I'm going to jump right into the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Figuratively, of course. It's not known as a graveyard for nothing: in the past 600 years, more than 600 ships have been wrecked along this small strip of North Carolina coast. For those of you who don't speak math, that's an average of one shipwreck every year for the last six centuries. For an area that's generally known for its warm, sunny beaches, that's a lot of sunken ships.

The turbulent waters around Cape Hatteras are a result of two great ocean currents meeting and are responsible for the area's nickname. From the north comes the chilly Labrador Current, and from the south comes the toasty Gulf Stream. When the two meet, they create a sailor's nightmare in the form of rough waters and shallow sandbars.

Inclement weather also contributes to the abundance of shipwrecks. Hurricanes frequently move up the North Carolina coast, and storms are a common occurrence.

Granted, nature is not solely responsible for all of the shipwrecks off Cape Hatteras. Piracy has destroyed many boats, the Civil War took a few more, and German U-Boats added to the collection. From the shore, tourists can often see the eerie masts of long-sunken ships rising out of the water. While Cape Hatteras might be a beautiful spot to vacation, it might not be the best place to try out your new yacht.

4. Space, Space, The Milky Way Galaxy

Yet that's exactly what approximately 300 people are currently signed up to do with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. On December 7, 2009, Branson revealed the SpaceShip Two, his newest rocket plane. While it hasn't been put into operation yet, prototypes look both frightening and awesome.

The sixty-foot long SpaceShip Two will be able to travel at Mach 3, providing clients with approximately six minutes of weightlessness during a two and a half hour journey. Up to six passengers can fly at a time, meaning that you can bring friends. The ship can also accommodate two pilots, which seems like your best bet for experiencing weightlessness if you don't have 200,000 bucks to blow.

From the vantage point of space, views are supposedly spectacular. There are, however, several risks incurred when traveling beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Other than the aforementioned aliens, there is the possibility of the craft malfunctioning. Indeed, astronaut is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. While the experience is sure to be out of this world, there is one important thing to remember: in space, no one can hear you scream.

5. Annapurna, Himalaya Mountain Range, Nepal

I have often found that the craziest things in life come in sixes. For instance, I once met a group of fourteen-year-old sextuplet orphans who ran a circus. The six of them put on some of the most ridiculous acts I have ever seen. There are six basic animal groups, and animals are pretty wild. There are also six peaks that fall under the name "Annapurna," and they are the deadliest (by percentage) mountains in the world.

Annapurna I is the highest of the six peaks, the others being Annapurna II, Annapurna III, Annapurna IV, Gangapurna, and Annapurna South. Of all the places to visit on the list that could almost kill you, Annapurna is the most likely to actually do the job.

Since the first summit by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal in 1950, forty-one percent of the people who have attempted to summit the mountains have died. Although more people have been killed on Everest, its eight percent mortality rate makes it seem easy by comparison. Even K2, the second deadliest mountain in the world, only has a twenty-five percent mortality rate.

Avalanches are primarily responsible for the mountainous deaths, although climbers have also been killed by extreme cold and falling ice. For the roughly 130 people who have actually succeeded in summiting Annapurna I, the views are probably similar to looking out the window of SpaceShip Two. For the rest of us, backpacking around Annapurna is typically said to be some of the best in the world.