Comments on: All kinds of jumps, really

All kinds of jumps, really

mathowie — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:50:45 -0800

Top 10 Biggest and Best Jumps Ever Does what it says on the tin [slyt]

By: maudlin

maudlin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:02:20 -0800

That's pretty freaking awesome -- I've seen wingsuit jumping, but had no idea they sounded like jets doing it -- but I only saw three jumps. Was the tin mislabelled?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:04:59 -0800

On the tin? Did you move to England, Matt?

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:06:10 -0800

I'm not sure I understand the motocross tag.

By: NoMich

NoMich — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:07:24 -0800

It looks like the first jump in this video may coincide with the first jump in the FPP video.

By: Decimask

Decimask — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:07:25 -0800

I have to ask: at that speed would they explode like watermelons if they hit the pavement instead?

By: pwally

pwally — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:09:17 -0800

That is insane.. they sound like jet fighters.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:09:58 -0800

Oh shit, I linked to the wrong video. Lemme go find the actual one....Fixed!

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:15:46 -0800

By: Decimask

Decimask — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:22:22 -0800

Here's mathowie's original link for posterity.

By: Flashman

Flashman — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:26:07 -0800

Oh shit, I linked to the wrong video noob. But OMG this stuff is unsane.

By: Ron Thanagar

Ron Thanagar — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:27:06 -0800

OK, where the hell is my seat cushion? I was sitting on it just a second ago. Oh no.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:30:09 -0800

Here's mathowie's original link for posterity. That's the one I'll always remember.

By: unSane

unSane — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:30:25 -0800

#1 makes the others look insignificant, though.

By: Flashman

Flashman — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:30:38 -0800

Shame about the littering though. Some poor sea turtle probably choked to death on that empty can of Red Bull.

By: FishBike

FishBike — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:31:10 -0800

The one that blows me away is Travis Pastrana jumping out of a plane without a parachute. Even though it's not too hard to link up to someone after a few seconds of freefall, it's still the ultimate risk for a goofy little video of your jump. No kidding, I like my mental list of "things that would have to go wrong to result in certain death" to contain more than one entry.

By: synaesthetichaze

synaesthetichaze — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:32:09 -0800

Ugh, I almost puked when that dude jumped out of the airplane wearing nothing but board shorts. It's unbelievable that he would even be allowed to do such a thing.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:34:17 -0800

If you're a male mefit with Acrophobia, you will find your testicles are located near your Adam's Apple. They'll be back in an hour or so... you're welcome...I figured you would want to know where those little guys went while you watched that...

By: acro

acro — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:35:31 -0800

What was he thinking, jumping without Redbull sponsorship?

By: The Winsome Parker Lewis

The Winsome Parker Lewis — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:37:04 -0800

Wow, I thought for sure that first clip had to be fake. The speed looked too unrealistic. Thanks, NoMich, for providing some context! Also, I'm pretty sure that was Tony Hawk at 4:40. I was a bit surprised not to see his 900°, which might not be as jaw-dropping as some of the motocross backflips and wingsuit maneuvers, but definitely counts as one of the great historic jumps of all time.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:44:02 -0800

I have a sudden overpowering thirst for Red Bull and for plunging to my doom.

By: restless_nomad

restless_nomad — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:50:18 -0800

Oh this is awesome. Next time my boss tells me "We should make a viral video!" I'm going to tell her jump out of a plane without a parachute. And I might even avoid getting fired for it!

By: maudlin

maudlin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:56:07 -0800

What was he thinking, jumping without Redbull sponsorship?

Kittinger is currently advising Felix Baumgartner on a planned free-fall from 120,000 feet.[5] The project is called the Red Bull Stratos project and has collected leading experts in the fields of aeronautics, medicine and engineering to ensure its success.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:59:26 -0800

That was great, thanks! If you like the Kittinger high altitude freefall video, be sure to enjoy the Dayvan Cowboy video. Little known fact: Kittinger had a surfboard with him and rode a gnarly wave after landing in the ocean. I've been playing the hell out of the videogame Just Cause 2. It's an open world mayhem sort of game. Your character has a parachute that he can open and close at will, as well as a grappling hook with a winch to slingshot himself around. The entire game consists of jumping off stuff, popping the chute for some glide, then closing the chute for some freefall before grappling to a Humvee down below, reeling yourself in, grabbing the machine gun and blasting all the hapless soldiers around you. It's terrific fun.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:05:08 -0800

be sure to enjoy the Dayvan Cowboy video. Oh thanks for that, I've loved that particular vido and went looking for it this morning and ... had no idea what it was called. I loved the Tony Hawk cameo in jump #4.

By: emhutchinson

emhutchinson — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:09:43 -0800

May I be the first to say, Don't try this at home? Although I did jump out of an airplane at the tender age of seventeen (no Janis Ian jokes, please), I went with the full complement of parachute plus reserve. That guy going bare just might cause me nightmares. Motherhood has made me strangely afraid of heights. That said, mesmerizing!

By: empath

empath — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:12:49 -0800

Track ids: Sub focus - Last Jungle Blue Foundation - Eyes On Fire (Zeds Dead Remix)

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:51:17 -0800

I'm of the age where when I hear "jumps" the first thing I think of is Evel Knievel. For a moment I was bummed when I realized there would be no Evel, but that disappointment went away pretty quickly. I had never even heard of the #1 jump before. Way cool!

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:54:09 -0800

No Rick Sylvester?

By: Schmoopy

Schmoopy — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:00:58 -0800

I am an anthropologist from another solar system here to study the Red Bullites and their strange devotional practices their god demands them to perform.

By: St. Alia of the Bunnies

St. Alia of the Bunnies — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:02:03 -0800

Kittinger is worthy of a FFP all by himself.

By: oulipian

oulipian — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:04:02 -0800

No list of best jumps is complete without this one.

By: Multicellular Exothermic

Multicellular Exothermic — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:07:15 -0800

When I watch footage like this, I find myself wondering, "Where was the cameraman?

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:09:28 -0800

Back in the early 70s there was a self-help guru type, one of the founders of LGAT, who offered the "ultimate" experience of pushing oneself to the edge. For a rather large sum of money, he'd fly up with a client. The client would jump out without a parachute. The dude — I forget his name — would jump out with a parachute. If all went well, the client got a big learning experience about his ability to do the unthinkable. I believe he lost a couple clients and ended up having to stop offering this "service."

By: philip-random

philip-random — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:09:37 -0800

May I be the first to say, Don't try this at home? To which I would add, are there any stats out there of how many people have been killed/maimed-for-life with a Red Bull banner in the background, or maybe just a crumpled can found at the scene?

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:13:37 -0800

Red Bull does, apparently, give you wings.

By: St. Alia of the Bunnies

St. Alia of the Bunnies — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:25:02 -0800

(according to the wikipedia link, Kittinger later spent eleven months in the notorious Hanoi Hilton as a POW during the Vietnam War.)

By: jpcooper

jpcooper — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:31:31 -0800

I've never seen a man jump out of a plane without a parachute like that before. I wonder how the parachutist held on to the guy.

By: FishBike

FishBike — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:35:44 -0800

May I be the first to say, Don't try this at home? I'd love to see the kind of house where any of these jumps even could be done at home.

By: cyphill

cyphill — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:01:16 -0800

9, 8 and 4 are all Travis Pastrana. That dude is seriously crazy. Here's video of him and some friends jumping motorcross bikes into the grand canyon and then parachuting away. At 2:10, he doesn't opens his parachute too late, AND WALKS AWAY. The man is indestructible.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:22:24 -0800

In this mesmerizing video Loic Jean Albert jumps/falls incredibly close to the snow covered mountains.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:29:17 -0800

That was very sweet. Expected that wingsuit jump. Didn't expect it not to be at #1. And yeah, the guy without a chute even being in the vicinity of the door made me nervous. So a pretty perfect set-up for me, that clip. Egads.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:30:49 -0800

I must say, this Red Bull beverage intrigues me, associated as it is with such excitement. Can you confirm that if I -- a middle-aged guy who spends too much time in front of a screen every day -- should drink some, I too will achieve thrills like this? That said, I like very much how the camera view from the, er chase jumper in #5 only follows the target partway down before turning to the ground. It is as if the cameraman thought, "Wow, that dude is awesome and he really... y'know what? I'm accumulating 32 feet per second per second here. I guess I should think about my own landing."

By: empath

empath — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:35:33 -0800

I primarily use Red Bull as a way of ingesting large amounts of vodka while remaining standing.

By: peacay

peacay — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:36:38 -0800

I thought the building jump was the most impressive, albeit insane.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:38:39 -0800

Can you confirm that if I -- a middle-aged guy who spends too much time in front of a screen every day -- should drink some, I too will achieve thrills like this? It might enhance your orgasms. Does that count?

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:41:40 -0800

Ya the wing suit #2 jump was very impressive, especially once a relized about half way through that it must be another wing suit guy doing the filming. "To which I would add, are there any stats out there of how many people have been killed/maimed-for-life with a Red Bull banner in the background, or maybe just a crumpled can found at the scene?" Probably a small fraction of those found with a beer can or fifth of tequila.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:43:35 -0800

I sure could go for a Red Bull after that.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:44:13 -0800

On the side-thing the same guy collected a bunch of low-level flybys tha's worth looking at. It doesn't include this classic with Alain de Cadenet, though.

By: dobie

dobie — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:48:57 -0800

I seriously want one of those flying squirrel outfits.

By: ten pounds of inedita

ten pounds of inedita — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:50:57 -0800

My fingertips are still sweating.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:57:55 -0800

I'm with Slack-a-gogo-- needs moar Evel Knievel. But this was okay in a kind of X-Games sort of way. ;-)

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:04:26 -0800

Further proof that certain extreme actions can only adequately be described by one word: Duuuuuude!

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:23:14 -0800

I thought the leap off the antenna was the most impressive, because that crazy fucker flew between the guy wires. That's a decapitation accident just dying to be had.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:28:10 -0800

That dude doing a double roll on his dirt bike. I mean, WTF. You can't practice that. ROU, #3 in that flyby vid, where the dude just stands there with what looks like no more than a foot or two between him and the jet? That's insane.

By: kanata

kanata — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:28:36 -0800

my new found ability to make it up to the fourth rung on my step ladder seems lacking somehow now. that made my stomach hurt. awesome.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:32:26 -0800

maxwelton: practicing a *double* flip — on a snowmobile, even.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:05:43 -0800

I grew up skateboarding, surfing, skimboarding, and I've done a bit of snowboarding - and I used to have dreams/nightmares about this kind of insanely unreal videogame-grade antics. Dreams/nightmares about stuff board-sliding chair lift cables and epic "what the FUCK" airs like this, along with the usual flying/falling type dreams mixed with this kind of gnar and rad. It's really kind of surreal to see it becoming reality. In real life I've personally maybe managed 6-8 feet of air, usually while skimboarding when I was younger and more rubbery, and without any of the grace and skill these guys do, because with skimboarding you're generally just using shorebreak as a launch ramp and if you are a noob or early adopter, that means you're just flipping off the top of the wave and crash landing in the water behind it, not re-entering anything smoothly at all, just crashing. And suddenly being 6-8 feet in the air is usually pretty intense. I can't imagine 60 feet. Missing from the top ten: Burnquist's megaramp. Particularly the big wheel jumps. Which is again Travis Pastrana. There's also this kiteboarding accident and a similar one on snow.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:09:41 -0800

I thought the leap off the antenna was the most impressive, because that crazy fucker flew between the guy wires. That's a decapitation accident just dying to be had. Yeah, I noticed that, too, and I'm still not sure if it really happened or it's just perspective messing with us. I don't see a frame where he passes through the wires. I don't think anyone would actually plan to do that, but then again I still think BASE jumping is insane to begin with.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:13:44 -0800

I mean, WTF. You can't practice that. They practice. Like gymnasts they use a foam pit for crash landings. Here's how. (Foam pit starts at 1:40, note the backflip with who I believe is Travis' seven year old daughter, Amber.)

By: LastOfHisKind

LastOfHisKind — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:27:40 -0800

I'll say this much: My elderly mother is losing her mind to dementia (possibly alzheimer's disease). I'd rather go out this way... doing something thrilling that makes me feel alive just before it kills me.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:45:56 -0800

If Tony Hawk thinks you're cool, you are cool.

By: charles kaapjes

charles kaapjes — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:10:47 -0800

The guy that jumped on the Vegas Arc de Triomphe jumped an 85 meter wide canal in Greece last week.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:24:25 -0800

I'm as impressed by the canal as I am by the jump. That sucker is deep. Apparently the US Army Corp helped.

By: storybored

storybored — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:43:30 -0800

Also from the same dude: Top Ten Low Pass Flybys of All Time Ignore the five second Top Gun excerpt at the beginning to get to the good stuff.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:04:13 -0800

Kittingers jump blew my mind, how had I not heard of this man before? Yowza. Red Bull sponsor the nuttiest jumps because it "gives you wings". Gag.

By: empath

empath — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:09:05 -0800

Huh, so apparently my grandfather knew Kittinger and worked on this project with him.

By: flaterik

flaterik — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:03:39 -0800

I wonder how the parachutist held on to the guy. Harness under the shorts. You can briefly see the parachuter behind him hook onto it when he catches up. Er... catches down?

By: bwg

bwg — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:26:36 -0800

synaesthetichaze: "Ugh, I almost puked when that dude jumped out of the airplane wearing nothing but board shorts. It's unbelievable that he would even be allowed to do such a thing." And he's a litterbug; a can hurtling down from that height could hurt someone or damage property. But then he goes on to make it worse; he destroys part of the Grand Canyon by dropping motorcycle on it. Sure, the jumps are impressive, but the other stuff makes him kind of a dick.

By: unregistered_animagus

unregistered_animagus — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:14:25 -0800

JEREMY CLARKSON: Did you know there was a man called Joe Kittinger who once jumped out of a hot air balloon at that height? RICH HALL: Oh, you mean "Dead" Joe Kittinger? /qi

By: DU

DU — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:40:20 -0800

If you are wondering how Kittinger got on the list without Red Bull sponsorship, here you go:

Kittinger is currently advising Felix Baumgartner on a planned free-fall from 120,000 feet.[5] The project is called the Red Bull Stratos project and has collected leading experts in the fields of aeronautics, medicine and engineering to ensure its success. Felix Baumgartner will also become the first man to break the sound barrier, during his free fall, if his jump is successful. Baumgartner's jump will be used to test the next generation of full pressure suits, used in space and to collect useful medical and scientific information [12] .

By: honey-barbara

honey-barbara — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:53:13 -0800

Best post! GAD! Imagine having balls SO BIG you jump out of planes with no parachute. I need a valium after watching all these links, but wow! What a way not to get any work done this morning.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:34:01 -0800

I have to ask: at that speed would they explode like watermelons if they hit the pavement instead? Not even on a frozen mountainside from 33,330 feet?

By: FidelDonson

FidelDonson — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:33:21 -0800

Forget Red Bull - this is homebrew jumping - and a great site btw: http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/02/09/jump-from-the-house/