The Snake Crossing is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the third obstacle on American Ninja Warrior 7 in Pittsburgh.
It consisted of two tilted S-shaped balance beams, similar to the Sekisho Michi from KUNOICHI 2002, separated by three dancing stones.
Competitors must traverse the stones and beams to reach the landing platform. The first beam was designed so that the competitors began walking slightly downhill, and then uphill in a straight line. The second beam was designed so that the competitor walked right before coming back left, and then right again following the S-shape. Since the beams were tilted, a lot of competitors had trouble getting past the middle of the second beam. To avoid this part, some competitors leaped to the last stone from the first half of the second beam. Competitors were not allowed to use their hands while attempting this obstacle, or they would be disqualified if they did it.
The Snake Crossing was proven to be one of the trickiest obstacles in American Ninja Warrior history, having the second highest number of competitor eliminations from a single obstacle in a qualifier. During Pittsburgh qualifiers, the obstacle took out 50 competitors. An extensive amount of Ninjas that failed the obstacle in qualifying included Chris Wilczewski, Michael Needham, James Wilson, Anthony Cohen, Abby Majesky, Angela Gargano, Carl Fantauzzo, Jr. Amy Linnen, Bull Bullard, Joel Brady, Melanie Hunt, Brianne McLaughlin, Yancey Quezada, Dan Galiczynski, David Hunt, B.J. Reynoso, Noel Reyes, and in his first ANW appearance, Najee Richardson. It was fairly easy for competitors to overthink the obstacle, especially at the second half, with many competitors losing their balance at that point.
Witness reports claim that the Snake Crossing was even harder than what was broadcasted on air. Out of the first 50 competitors to run the Pittsburgh course, only three had gotten past the obstacle. It had claimed so many competitors by that point that the producers decided to repair it, telling the live audience the obstacle was "broken". Not only that, but the producers would also give majority of the fails re-runs, in which most would go on to fail the obstacle a second time. They did nerf the obstacle to a degree, but despite that, it still claimed a high number of casualties. Had the nerf not happened, the failure total would have easily beaten the Tilting Slider for the highest elimination count for an ANW qualifier obstacle.
In the city finals, seven more competitors failed this obstacle during Pittsburgh finals. This included Michelle Warnky, Dustin Sanderson, Kelly Mohler, Joe Archambault, Alex Dell'Aquila, Justin Kydd and Miles Avery.
Other Appearances[]
Ninja Warrior France[]
On Ninja Warrior France 3, the Snake Crossing, locally called Le Serpent de Mer (literally The Sea Serpent) introduced as part of the Split Decision with Rolling Pin and Cargo Crossing in Heat 2 and Heat 4 respectively.
Ninja Warrior Poland[]
Przejลcie Wฤลผa (literally Serpent Passage), Ninja Warrior Poland's official name for the Snake Crossing would appear as the third obstacle of Heats of Ninja Warrior Poland 5. In Heat 1 and Heat 4 it is paired with the Ring Toss as part of Route A of the Crossroads, in Heat 2 and Heat 6, it was paired with the Fly Wheels as part of Route B of the Crossroads and in Heat 3 and Heat 5 it was pared with the Cycle Road as part of Route A of the Crossroads.