  Cosmic rays from outer space enter the atmosphere with energies of up to
10^{11} GeV. The initial particle or a secondary hadron inside the shower may
then interact with an air nucleon to produce nonstandard particles. In this
article we study the production of new physics by high energy cosmic rays,
focusing on the long-lived gluino of split-SUSY models and a WIMP working as
dark matter. We first deduce the total flux of hadron events at any depth in
the atmosphere, showing that secondary hadrons can not be neglected. Then we
use these results to find the flux of gluinos and WIMPs that reach the ground
after being produced inside air showers. We also evaluate the probability of
producing these exotic particles in a single proton shower of ultrahigh energy.
Finally we discuss the possible signal in current and projected experiments.
While the tiny flux of WIMPs does not seem to have any phenomenological
consequences, we show that the gluinos could modify substantially the profile
of a small fraction of extensive air showers. In particular, they could produce
a distinct signal observable at AUGER in showers of large zenith angle.
