BASE jumper leaps off a mountain by night with only a flare to guide him
When it comes to daredevil sports, BASE jumping is right up there with the most death-defying. Indeed, some call it the world's deadliest sport. So, imagine adding an extra layer of danger! Well, that was the stunt pulled by Norwegian skydiver Andreas Haland Hemli, when he leaped off a clifftop above the village of Loen in Norway with a flaming torch attached to his wingsuit.
Watch the video to see a fearless skydiver light up the night sky like a superhero.
The idea for the jump came from the song, Fallen Angel, recorded by the Norwegian singer, Tix. The song, which was a finalist in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, talks about struggling with depression. However, Hemli and his team somehow found inspiration in the downbeat sentiment, prompting them to attempt an awe-inspiring stunt.
The skydiver is well accustomed to pushing the envelope. In his day job, Hemli helps run the Skydive Voss parachute club. It's the largest parachute club in Norway and supervises more than 30,000 jumps per year. He also documents his various BASE jumping exploits on his Instagram account.
BASE is an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth. The sport essentially involves parachuting off various tall, fixed objects, whether natural or manufactured.
Many BASE jumpers, Hemli included, opt to slow their descent by wearing a wingsuit, also known as a squirrel suit because of its resemblance to the skin of a flying squirrel. The webbed suits enable the jumpers to ride the airways by spreadeagling their arms and legs, allowing them to glide for a while before opening their chutes.
To increase the thrill, BASE jumpers, or pilots as they like to be known, will often up the ante with what's called "proximity flying." That involves steering themselves as close as possible to a rock face, treetops, or even the ground, to enhance the sensation of speed and flight. But of course, that's not recommended for rookies as it leaves no margin for error.
Though people had attempted one-off jumps from fixed objects in the 1960s and early 70s, modern BASE jumping was invented in 1978 by American cinematographer, Carl Boenish. Together with four friends, he made the first-ever official BASE jump off the 3,000 feet vertical cliff known as El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California.
Boenish was one of the first to modify a standard jumpsuit into the wingsuits that are popular among jumpers today. Sadly, he was killed in a BASE jumping accident in 1984 while attempting to leap off the Troll Wall in Norway, Europe's tallest vertical rock face.
BASE jumping is prohibited in many U.S. states and other countries around the world. And make no mistake, it's a hazardous sport. A recent study of more than 20,000 jumps by The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery found that the incidence of injury or death while BASE jumping is 43 times higher than that caused by jumping out of a plane. It's estimated that 448 people died in BASE jumping accidents between 1981 and 2022.
That said, an estimated 1,000 thrill-seekers participate in the sport every year, leaping from various obstacles, including buildings, wind turbines, antennas, bridges, cliffs, and mountains. Indeed, the current world record for the highest BASE jump was set in the Himalayas.
In 2013, legendary daredevil, Valery Rozov, took a leap of faith off Mount Everest. The Russian was in freefall for ninety seconds from a height of 23,687 feet, reaching a top flying speed of 125mph. On that occasion, he landed safely on a glacier. But in 2017, his luck ran out when he was killed during a BASE jump off the Ama Dablam mountain in Nepal.
Relatively speaking, Hemli's jump was a little less daunting as the cliffs around Loen are just over 3,000 feet tall. But he did up the danger level by attaching signal flares to his feet to help illuminate the snow-covered valley as he took off in the near darkness.
During his flight, the intrepid skydiver was seen hurtling through the night sky like some kind of Marvel superhero. Beside him, fellow BASE jumper and award-winning videographer, Espen Fadnes, captured his every daring move on camera.
After their parachutes opened, the BASE jumpers eventually landed safely in the valley below to a wild welcome from their supporters.
