He has parlayed his success on snow and half pipes into Hollywood film roles and huge endorsement deals.

FORBES: Connect

The joints between the half-pipes have rubber seals to stop the contents leaking, and each half-pipe has a vertical pipe connected to it, to introduce or dispose of the fluid concerned.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

Take William Stein, a University of Washington math professor who grew up skating vertical half-pipes in the 1980s.

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White-knuckle skiers and snowboarders love the mountain for its advanced black diamond runs and four different terrain parks, with practice jumps and half-pipes.

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Or, rather, it employs two ring-shaped half-pipes that rotate with respect to one another (the lower one remaining fixed while the upper one revolves along with the building).

ECONOMIST: Monitor