World Record Cliff Jump on Skis - 245 Feet

[Marc]

The guy is out of his mind. I mean he survived but I think you need some extreme skills to pull this off. There is NOTHING safe about this stunt. Sure the snow was deep but I believe this guy got lucky. To put in in perspective the cliff is about 1/5 the size of the empire state building.

SnowRider

That's it. Next winter I'm jumping off the Empire State Building with skis on.

 

[YardSaleDad]

That's it. Next winter I'm jumping off the Empire State Building with skis on.

I work only two blocks away. Let me know when you are coming, and I will video tape it for you.

 

[AdironRider]

You guys realize its physically impossible to land with the skis down and ride away right? Not only would the impact pretty much shatter all the bones in your legs, but as you free fall the wind resistance on your skis pretty much makes you flip upside down.

 

[JimG.]

You guys realize its physically impossible to land with the skis down and ride away right? Not only would the impact pretty much shatter all the bones in your legs, but as you free fall the wind resistance on your skis pretty much makes you flip upside down.

So, it's much better for him to land on his head?

Come to think of it, his head must be full of rocks to try this, so you're right.

 

[ChileMass]

So, it's much better for him to land on his head?

Come to think of it, his head must be full of rocks to try this, so you're right.

Now, now, Jimmy G - we're supposed to be tolerant of all kinds on this board, even idiots - er, I mean big air people........:dunce:

 

[JimG.]

Now, now, Jimmy G - we're supposed to be tolerant of all kinds on this board, even idiots - er, I mean big air people........:dunce:

AdironRider makes a good point upon some reflection...I know he landed in snow that was something like 15 feet deep, but there must be a threshold for what leg bones can tolerate even when landing in a soft medium.

I wonder if this guy came close to terminal velocity before hitting the snow?

 

[NYDrew]

CALCULATED and WAITED for the perfect conditions [using SCIENCE] just to survive a FAILED jump, all to proove his FAITH and what not. This guy's just a moron, Darwin award within 3 years.

 

[John84]

AdironRider makes a good point upon some reflection...I know he landed in snow that was something like 15 feet deep, but there must be a threshold for what leg bones can tolerate even when landing in a soft medium.

I wonder if this guy came close to terminal velocity before hitting the snow?

If I remember correctly, terminal velocity is reached after 1000 or so feet of freefall, obviously depending on wind speed, aerodynamics, and other factors.

 

[from_the_NEK]

You guys realize its physically impossible to land with the skis down and ride away right? Not only would the impact pretty much shatter all the bones in your legs, but as you free fall the wind resistance on your skis pretty much makes you flip upside down.

Very good point. I know that a lot of videos that I have watched of big cliff drops that the skiers often do a front flip while in the air. I theorize that:
1. Using the front flip technique immediately takes away the problem of having to try to stay upright in the air.
2. Head first allows jumper to easily spot the landing. ( a problem that this jumper had since I think he was using most of his concentration to attempt to remain upright).
3. Simply tucking the head allows jumper to easily resume/continue rotation to at least land on their back (safest landing position).

I agree that landing squarely in a standing position from that high would shatter leg, ankle, and hip bones.

All that said and the biggest thing I have ever hucked was only 12 feet high.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Opps, I forgot one point.

4. And it is just more stylish.

 

[JimG.]

Very good point. I know that a lot of videos that I have watched of big cliff drops that the skiers often do a front flip while in the air. I theorize that:
1. Using the front flip technique immediately takes away the problem of having to try to stay upright in the air.
2. Head first allows jumper to easily spot the landing. ( a problem that this jumper had since I think he was using most of his concentration to attempt to remain upright).
3. Simply tucking the head allows jumper to easily resume/continue rotation to at least land on their back (safest landing position).

I agree that landing squarely in a standing position from that high would shatter leg, ankle, and hip bones.

All that said and the biggest thing I have ever hucked was only 12 feet high.

Are you guys both assuming that the person would land on a packed surface? Or do you believe the leg bones would shatter even if there was 15ft or so of unpacked powder snow?

I ask because the guy landed head first in roughly 15ft of unpacked snow and was in a hole about 10ft down. Even if he landed squarely on his feet, wouldn't all the unpacked snow prevent bones from shattering by absorbing most of that energy?

 

[from_the_NEK]

I ask because the guy landed head first in roughly 15ft of unpacked snow and was in a hole about 10ft down. Even if he landed squarely on his feet, wouldn't all the unpacked snow prevent bones from shattering by absorbing most of that energy?

Going in head first presents a lot less surface area hitting the snow and slowing the impact over the course of the 10 foot deep impact. Pulling the skis into the snow behind him is probably what kept him from bottoming out.
If he had hit the snow feet first with both skis flat, that is a lot of surface area hitting the snow hard (even if it is very powdery on the surface, eventually that snow is going to get fairly dense the deeper you get) and slowing him down much more quickly. In that case he may have only bomb holed 5 feet (still not going to ski out of the hole). That is a lot of extra force on the legs and knees with all of his body weight coming down on to of them. :-o
I say if he would have landed feet first he would have broken some bones on that jump.

 

[JimG.]

Going in head first presents a lot less surface area hitting the snow and slowing the impact over the course of the 10 foot deep impact. Pulling the skis into the snow behind him is probably what kept him from bottoming out.
If he had hit the snow feet first with both skis flat, that is a lot of surface area hitting the snow hard (even if it is very powdery on the surface, eventually that snow is going to get fairly dense the deeper you get) and slowing him down much more quickly. In that case he may have only bomb holed 5 feet (still not going to ski out of the hole). That is a lot of extra force on the legs and knees with all of his body weight coming down on to of them. :-o
I say if he would have landed feet first he would have broken some bones on that jump.

Makes sense. I didn't consider the fact that the skis would present more surface area to the snow and it thus would have slowed him more violently.

 

[kingslug]

To me it's all just a stunt. I think it would be safe to say that once you jumped you have very little control. The wind, body position, etc, would all come into play. I've seen smaller jumps where the skier was able to keep good position and land right, even ski away. Jumping hundreds of feet is almost all chance. Right after some guy jumped 220 feet at Snowbird his friend showed me the video he took . I was waiting for the bus back to town. The guy was in the clinic, had landed wrong, maybe on a rock, and was hurting. I didn't know what to say. It was the sickest thing I had ever seen. Over at TGR they where all talking about it, some positive, some neg. It's not skiing in my book.

 

[AdironRider]

Whats with everyone getting pissed off and calling people idiots? The only idiot is Pierre, I never argued that. I just pointed out that its physically impossible to land skis down, as everyone seems to think he should have done.

 

[JimG.]

Whats with everyone getting pissed off and calling people idiots?

Huh? I thought this thread was pretty civil. Who called who an idiot?

EDIT: I re-read and I think you're referring to Chilemass' reference to idiots...then I quoted it and referred back to you. And I think you think we were calling you an idiot. Misunderstanding bud...we were both referring to Pierre, not you.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Jumps

Two years ago in March my buddy Bob and I were just about to have lunch on the outdoor patio area of the cafeteria at Snowbird UT, when some people started calling out: "Look, they're going to do it." We looked to where they were pointing, and there on a cliff about a thousand feet above the canyon road three skiers were about to step off. The first one skied off the edge, tossed out a small drogue chute, and immediatel popped a nice parasail. A moment later, the second guy did the same. The third guy waited a couple of minutes, then skied off. No sooner had he hit the air when he became inverted. He was now falling head first, with his skiis above him. We could all see that he was hesitating in tossing the drogue. Presumably, he was afraid it would tangle in his skiis. As he was about to hit an outcropping in the cliff, he simply tossed the little chute. It did not tangle, and instantly popped his parasail snapping him back into an upright position. We all think, he actually touched the outcropping with his skiis, but he seemed OK as he glided down the canyon road. Those "huckers" are totally out of their minds. That guy must have had the adrenaline rush of his life! We also saw another guy do a jump of about 75 feet off a rock under a lift at Brighton. He hit fully upright, and simply skied out of the jump in one motion.

 

[ChileMass]

Whats with everyone getting pissed off and calling people idiots? The only idiot is Pierre, I never argued that. I just pointed out that its physically impossible to land skis down, as everyone seems to think he should have done.

To the above post - if you can huck 75' and ski away, cool. If the drop is so far that skiing away is impossible, you don't need to do it.

It's just playing with fire, and I really hate it when people get killed skiing. It bums me out a lot when people do stupid things skiing or riding and wind up in trouble or dead. And unfortunately many of them are young. I just don't like to see people taking what can only be characterized as overwhelmingly stupid risks. This is just completely stupid.

Yup - in my opinion the guy that achieved this dubious record is an idiot. I say he fits the definition.

 

[deadheadskier]

You guys realize its physically impossible to land with the skis down and ride away right? Not only would the impact pretty much shatter all the bones in your legs, but as you free fall the wind resistance on your skis pretty much makes you flip upside down.

This I completely disagree with. There are skydivers who jump out of planes with snowboards on plummeting at near terminal velocity who are able to keep their boards underneath them. So it's not like it can't be done, it just takes major skill in terms of balancing oneself against the increasing upward pressure of air.

As for the impact crushing the bones in your legs from such a height. I think its a given that it could and is very likely to happen, but much of that depends upon the angle of the slope in which you are landing. If the landing is a slope of 20 degrees, then yes, the oppotunity for 'splat' and cracked bones is quite high. If the landing is 50 degrees or greater into very soft powder, the impact would be considerably less and one might be able to stick the landing without breaking bones. Skiing away I think would be impossible though. I've never seen footage of anyone going off something over 100 feet, land and ski away in constant motion.

Just something to consider even though the physics are completely different, but a nordic jumper launching off a 120 meter hill not only travels 350 to 400 feet in distance from the point of take off, but they also drop that far vertically.

So you really can't say its 'physically impossible' for someone to land on their feet doing a jump like Jaimee did without crushing bones. It's unlikely, but not 'physically impossible'.

The world is a crazy place, there are very few things one can speak of in absolute terms is what I'm trying to get at here.

 

[AdironRider]

Well if you want to nitpick then yes deadhead I agree with you.

However, jumping out of a plane with a snowboard is an entirely different beast than trying to land a 250 foot cliff huck. Out of a plane you have thousands of feet to gain control, whereas on a 250 foot huck you have no ability to correct yourself if you wanted to, you need to get it perfect. Also, with the ski jumpers, they have a perfect run in, perfect technique and are also going forward as much as they are down. THis is opposed to a cliff huck where they just kind of freefall. Again, much harder to control a freefall like that in backcountry conditions.