It's officially called "ice cross downhill," and it was invented in Sweden in 2001. It involves many men wearing hockey skates and racing like lunatics down a 300-meter track of ice, a track designed like a luge course from hell: full of bumps, drops, hairpin turns. The track for the first Red Bull Crashed Ice race (to give the sport its full, sponsored title) was set up in the Stockholm fish market. For the 2013 Saint Paul event January 24-26, the track began near the city's enormous Catholic cathedral--a bid to summon divine, or at least angelic, protection for the participants in theis most extreme of ski races? Our photo maven, Bill Kelley, was in the crowd, cranking up his shutter speed and trying to stay warm. The winners in this international competition? A pair of Canadian brothers, Kyle and Scott Croxall; but third was Lakeville, Minnesota's Cameron Naasz. Here's an energy-drink toast to all the competitors.

(All photos by Bill Kelley, except for slides 3 and 20, which are by Balasz Gardi.)