All kinds of jumps, really

April 11, 2010 6:50 AM

Top 10 Biggest and Best Jumps Ever Does what it says on the tin [slyt]
posted by mathowie (73 comments total)

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?
posted by maudlin at 7:02 AM on April 11, 2010

On the tin? Did you move to England, Matt?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:04 AM on April 11, 2010

I'm not sure I understand the motocross tag.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:06 AM on April 11, 2010

It looks like the first jump in this video may coincide with the first jump in the FPP video.
posted by NoMich at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2010

I have to ask: at that speed would they explode like watermelons if they hit the pavement instead?
posted by Decimask at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2010

That is insane.. they sound like jet fighters.
posted by pwally at 7:09 AM on April 11, 2010

Oh shit, I linked to the wrong video. Lemme go find the actual one....Fixed!
posted by mathowie at 7:09 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by mathowie at 7:15 AM on April 11, 2010

Here's mathowie's original link for posterity.
posted by Decimask at 7:22 AM on April 11, 2010

Oh shit, I linked to the wrong video
noob.
But OMG this stuff is unsane.
posted by Flashman at 7:26 AM on April 11, 2010

OK, where the hell is my seat cushion? I was sitting on it just a second ago.

Oh no.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 7:27 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Here's mathowie's original link for posterity.

That's the one I'll always remember.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:30 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

#1 makes the others look insignificant, though.
posted by unSane at 7:30 AM on April 11, 2010

Shame about the littering though.
Some poor sea turtle probably choked to death on that empty can of Red Bull.
posted by Flashman at 7:30 AM on April 11, 2010 [5 favorites]

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.
posted by FishBike at 7:31 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 7:32 AM on April 11, 2010

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...
posted by HuronBob at 7:34 AM on April 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

What was he thinking, jumping without Redbull sponsorship?
posted by acro at 7:35 AM on April 11, 2010 [8 favorites]

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.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 7:37 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have a sudden overpowering thirst for Red Bull and for plunging to my doom.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:44 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

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!
posted by restless_nomad at 7:50 AM on April 11, 2010

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.

posted by maudlin at 7:56 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by Nelson at 7:59 AM on April 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

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.
posted by jessamyn at 8:05 AM on April 11, 2010

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!
posted by emhutchinson at 8:09 AM on April 11, 2010

Track ids:

Sub focus - Last Jungle

Blue Foundation - Eyes On Fire (Zeds Dead Remix)
posted by empath at 8:12 AM on April 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

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!
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:51 AM on April 11, 2010

No Rick Sylvester?
posted by forallmankind at 8:54 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by Schmoopy at 9:00 AM on April 11, 2010 [5 favorites]

Kittinger is worthy of a FFP all by himself.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 9:02 AM on April 11, 2010

No list of best jumps is complete without this one.
posted by oulipian at 9:04 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

When I watch footage like this, I find myself wondering, "Where was the cameraman?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:07 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

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."
posted by five fresh fish at 9:09 AM on April 11, 2010

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?
posted by philip-random at 9:09 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Red Bull does, apparently, give you wings.
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:13 AM on April 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

(according to the wikipedia link, Kittinger later spent eleven months in the notorious Hanoi Hilton as a POW during the Vietnam War.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 9:25 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by jpcooper at 9:31 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by FishBike at 9:35 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by cyphill at 10:01 AM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

In this mesmerizing video Loic Jean Albert jumps/falls incredibly close to the snow covered mountains.
posted by Henrik at 10:22 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:29 AM on April 11, 2010

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."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:30 AM on April 11, 2010

I primarily use Red Bull as a way of ingesting large amounts of vodka while remaining standing.
posted by empath at 10:35 AM on April 11, 2010

I thought the building jump was the most impressive, albeit insane.
posted by peacay at 10:36 AM on April 11, 2010

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?
posted by WolfDaddy at 10:38 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by Mitheral at 10:41 AM on April 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

I sure could go for a Red Bull after that.
posted by crunchland at 11:43 AM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:44 AM on April 11, 2010

I seriously want one of those flying squirrel outfits.
posted by dobie at 11:48 AM on April 11, 2010

My fingertips are still sweating.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 11:50 AM on April 11, 2010

I'm with Slack-a-gogo-- needs moar Evel Knievel. But this was okay in a kind of X-Games sort of way. ;-)
posted by Doohickie at 11:57 AM on April 11, 2010

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

Duuuuuude!
posted by gottabefunky at 12:04 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:23 PM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by maxwelton at 12:28 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by kanata at 12:28 PM on April 11, 2010

maxwelton: practicing a *double* flip — on a snowmobile, even.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:32 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by loquacious at 1:05 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by loquacious at 1:09 PM on April 11, 2010

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.)
posted by loquacious at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 1:27 PM on April 11, 2010

If Tony Hawk thinks you're cool, you are cool.
posted by longsleeves at 1:45 PM on April 11, 2010

The guy that jumped on the Vegas Arc de Triomphe jumped an 85 meter wide canal in Greece last week.
posted by charles kaapjes at 2:10 PM on April 11, 2010

I'm as impressed by the canal as I am by the jump. That sucker is deep. Apparently the US Army Corp helped.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:24 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by storybored at 2:43 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by dabitch at 3:04 PM on April 11, 2010

Huh, so apparently my grandfather knew Kittinger and worked on this project with him.
posted by empath at 3:09 PM on April 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

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?
posted by flaterik at 4:03 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by bwg at 4:26 PM on April 11, 2010

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
posted by unregistered_animagus at 5:14 PM on April 11, 2010

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] .

posted by DU at 6:40 PM on April 11, 2010

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.
posted by honey-barbara at 6:53 PM on April 11, 2010

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?
posted by tellurian at 7:34 PM on April 11, 2010

Forget Red Bull - this is homebrew jumping - and a great site btw: http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/02/09/jump-from-the-house/
posted by FidelDonson at 2:33 AM on April 12, 2010