LOOOVE severe storms. Track them on the internet, then go out into them whenever possible. Nothing quite like getting "hugged" by the pressure of gale force winds up against your chest or tasting the nickel flavor of lightning in the air. Chased many tornadoes. Haven't caught one yet, but it's on my list along with earthquakes, volcanoes, avalanches, and tsunamis. I've seen the effects of all three but I want to feel the energy in medias res.
Used to live in the heart of the Midwest. Favorite trick was to lay underwater on the bottom of the swimming pool, pinching my nose closed, while I watched a hard rain and then hail turn the surface of the water into a psychedelic moving wallpaper of a billion circles. Good stuff.
Climbing at around 13,500' on Mt. Quandary in a blizzard in Colorado was unforgettable. The horizontal snow whipped my trekking poles out from under me and held them perpendicular to the ground. I smiled so much that day, I had a problem with my teeth freezing.
Climbing another mountain, Mt. Bierstadt, I got targeted for lightning around 8 times and had to assume the position. The sensation on your scalp just before a strike feels like someone has sewn a hundred bees under your skin and they are all crawling and buzzing around in your blood, trying to get out.
On a third mountain, Boreas Mountain, body surfed the wind blasts running up a cliff. Leaned out over the edge past the point of no return and felt the air push me back each time. Had to time it just right because when the wind died, it was back to just me and gravity. Did it again at another time when the gusts were strong enough to push full sized vehicles across the ice in a parking lot.
http://allthoughtswork.wordpress.com/20 ... after-all/Got chased by a rogue wave on the Pacific Northwest coast--kind of like a mini-tsunami but with no warning whatsoever. Barely made it over the land berm in time to escape getting dragged out to sea. Laughed and squealed like a little kid the whole time.
Really, really, really want to try speed flying, maybe over an avalanche....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ufVNNkVIO0Baby Herc