There are times when friends ask what weird sport I’m shooting next. I tell them and then find myself laughing as they wrap their head around what I’ve said. I’ll say, “Yeah, I’m going to Québec to photograph downhill ice skating” and I can see the wheels turning. Some of it sounds normal — Québec and ice skating. But what’s that about downhill? Sounds dangerous. Um, yeah. And weird.

It is.

Red Bull, a company that’s never seen a weird sport it didn’t love, is the proud sponsor of Crashed Ice, the international ice cross downhill championship tournament. It’s a sport that was created in 2001 by the Swedes. The tour includes stops in München and Moskova and cities across Canada, eh. I shot the 2011 championships in ridiculously gorgeous old town Québec City. It once again hosts the finals this weekend when Canada’s Kyle Croxall and defending champion Arttu Pihlainen of Finland repeat their duel for the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship.

None of the Americans I talked to before heading north had ever heard of Crashed Ice. It’s a different story with the Canucks, who simply smiled when I mentioned it. Our neighbours to the north know a good thing when they see it. And I can only say “bless you” to Red Bull for sponsoring so many wonderfully weird sports. I know you’re doing it just for me.

The competition course weaves through Vieux Québec, creating a spectacular, surreal backdrop. Four cats dressed in hockey pads and helmets race each other down a winding 540-metres course filled with twists, turns, jumps and bumps. (This year’s course grows to 584 meters, with a 60-meter vertical drop!) It’s all a blur, making for killer video as skaters hit more than 70 km/hr.

I drove up with my friend Cynthia from New York City, arriving on Thursday afternoon. Folks were practicing, gearing up for the semis on Friday. It was a good chance to get acquainted with the scene. On Friday night, I successfully tested all the winter gear purchased for the rainy Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Now what’s cooler than bein’ cool? ICE COLD! It made me smile to see some of Oprah’s Olympic red gloves in attendance. I was sporting a trés chic bright red vest bearing the word MEDIA in all caps. The crowd were solid but not insane. No, they wouldn’t go totally nuts until the finals, which drew 110,000 people.

I did something a little different for the finals. I used Gigapan to take a series of panoramic photos from atop a gouvernment building near the start of the race. I had scouted the spot a couple of days before, and with the help of Pascal and his fellow security members, I spent about 45 minutes taking photos. During this time, I joked with Pascal en français that I would have felt like an ass asking him to stand on the rooftop freezing his ass off, if it weren’t for the fact that I was sure he was used to it. He smiled. “Yeah, this is normal for us.”

C’est fou, Pascal. But obviously, I like crazy.

Tune in to NBC on Saturday, April 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern if you want to see Crashed Ice on TV.

Video: Red Bull Content Pool