FRANCE – a number of big brands are part of the Face to Face sale from 26 June to 2 July: surfs, boardshorts and accessories at great prices – Broke, Quiksilver, Roxy… Check out Private-Surfshop .{mosimage} NORWAY – around 1,200 athletes and daredevils have traveled to Voss, to paddle where it’s too steep to paddle, cycle where cycling doesn’t seem possible, to jump off steep mountains and to do other things that most people view as crazy. The annual week of extreme sports at Voss (called Ekstremsportveko) is celebrating its 11th edition and runs through July 29. In addition to BASE jumping, events include river paddling, sky diving, hang gliding, kiting, climbing, mountain biking and rafting. A professor of medicine who’s studying the concept of risk, Dag Thelle, says the activities aren’t so "crazy" after all – one BASE jumper is “always tense and afraid that something will happen when I jump. The point is I take a calculated risk; just like when I drive a car."… probably less risk than driving a car?? US – a paraglider was injured earlier in the week in a crash near Aspen had to be rafted across the raging Roaring Fork River during his rescue. The pilot, a 52 year old man, crashed into rocks and bushes in the North Star Nature Preserve after his chute collapsed, and he fell about 50 feet. Rescuers were cut off from direct access to the pilot by the surging river, but paramedics crossed the river in a canoe, loaded him into a raft and took him across the river to a waiting ambulance. Surfing Want to win a custom built surfboard? Get your entries in to win your brand new “Gold Coast Surfboards ” surfboard, custom made for this competition – the surfboard will be delivered to the winner, anywhere in the world. Aritz Aranburu (EUK), 22, qualified for the ASP World Tour last year and is currently on his rookie season among the ASP Top 45. Aranburu, the first Basque and Spanish surfer to join surfing’s elite, started his qualification campaign on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) a couple of years ago and has already achieved one of the best European careers ever: 2005 ASP European Junior vice-champion, 2007 ASP European Champion and 2008 ASp World Tour rookie. Aranburu has had a tough start though this year and is now trying to catch up with his fellow ASP Top 45 contenders after three months of rehabilitation due to a broken meniscus and a twisted ankle. He missed the two first stops of the ASP World Tour but got back on tour in Tahiti where he finished last but stepped up in the Fijian barrels with a win over Taj Burrow (AUS) and Dayyan Neve (AUS) in Round 1 before losing to reigning ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) in Round 3.