KEY POINTS:
This madman recently set a world record by skiing off a 78m cliff in the United States. Luckily there was a good dump of snow at the bottom because, instead of landing on his skis, he landed head-first and lived to tell the tale. His cliff jump features in new extreme sports feature film, Off the Grid, by ski and sports film guru Warren Miller, which screens in Auckland this week.
Simple question first. Why did you jump off a 78m cliff and land on your head? That's 24 storeys. Are you mad?
Because it was there. For fun. I thought it would be really cool to see someone else do the jump. I never really thought I'd do it. But last winter when I was in Grand Targhee the conditions were perfect - it had snowed about 4.6m in a month and I thought it [would be] safe to do it. It was a now-or-never scenario.
Some call you a madman, some a star athlete. What do you call yourself?
A thrillseeker whose career has been based on ever-increasing cliff jumps. Although I may appear to be a madman, lots of planning, skill and precise calculation is involved. That's how I've managed to have an injury-free career.
Do you think it is possible to land on your skis from that height? You need to land as though you were kicking back in a lounge chair watching TV. Being mentally relaxed is probably the most important thing. That was my key focus. With the depth of the snow I was jumping into, landing on my shoulders was not a primary concern. Although, having said that, I'd have preferred to have landed on my bum.
What sort of things do you have to assess before attempting a jump like that?
You just keep building up, stepping it up each time. You've gotta crawl before you walk. I don't advise anyone to try the sort of jumps you see in Off the Grid. The guys are all professionals and study the cliffs for weeks, months and sometimes years.
I understand you took a few years to assess the conditions around that cliff, but was part of that time building up the courage to do it? I waited eight years and I honestly didn't think I would go back and do it. I worked my way up over that period doing ever-increasing bigger jumps, getting comfortable with my judgement, and then I happened to be in Wyoming at the right time. With jumps like that, you get to the top and you either do it or you ski away. I did it, but it's not a cliff I'm rushing to get back to. To cut a long story short, I did have to work up my courage and wait for there to be enough snow.
If you could divide it up, how much of each would courage, skill and luck come into play on things that you do?
Hopefully, luck only plays a really small role. Obviously you need to be courageous and/or crazy, but most importantly it takes patience waiting for the snow to build up, skill and practice. You need to know how much snow you need for each jump, trajectory, speed at which to approach the cliff and put all three together to get it right.
Tell us about Off the Grid. Why should we go and see it?
Off the Grid shows the best winter action sports athletes doing their thing for the best cinematographers with the longest history in snow action sports film-making. All the top guys want to get on a Warren Miller shoot. This year, the film goes to Kashmir; in Alaska an amputee and a sitskier - a paraplegic - carve up some lines; and of course there's the footage of my world record jump.
* Off the Grid screens at the Civic in Auckland tomorrow at 6.30pm and 9.15pm and Sunday at 5pm
