Burj Khalifa: New World Record BASE Jump – Video Just Released!
Burj Khalifa is a BASE jumper’s dream! It is the tallest building, tower, skyscraper or whatever you want to call it in the whole world!
Located in Dubai, BASE jumpers have leapt from the heights of Burj Khalifa before. But, in what might also be a world record for biggest One-Uppers, Frenchmen, Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen added a special little launch deck to the very tippy-top spire of the the Burj Khalifa to set a new highest ever BASE jumping world record!
BASE is an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth. You add jumping onto it, and a parachute, and a whole new invigorating pastime for thrill-seekers was born!
While exciting, thrilling, exhilarating and an activity many find quite fun, BASE jumping also includes high risks and has lead to its share of tragedy.
Anyway, what these kids are doing these days is mind boggling and it’s difficult to figure out what they’re going to do next. Go over Niagara Falls on an oar? Unicycle down Mount Everest whilst juggling? Jump off a hot air balloon from up in space? What? Someone already did that? Okay, fine, but the point is, these guys made this Burj Khalifa jump quite a spectacle, even if it was just another couple hundred meters higher than the guys that did it before.
And what is this Red Bull? It must be some sort of protective brand of clothing or something because many of these daring adventure seekers always seem to have Red Bull written all over their clothes, helmets and equipment.
But back to the Burj Khalifa, the two Frenchman jumped off their launch deck attached to the Burj Khalifa spire Monday between 6 and 9am. In fact, it must’ve been so much fun, they did it twice!
While BASE jumping is pretty much the same as standard skydiving, it does involve more risk because of potentially catching an unfortunate wind draft and smacking into the cliff or building or antennae off which the BASE jumper jumped. The takeoff point is also generally much lower so leaves less time to deal with parachute malfunctions or to deploy the emergency chute.
All of which seems to make a case for the Lowest BASE Jump World Record being more dangerous and impressive.
Regardless, this highest BASE jumping feat was fantastic and took the two French dare devils a year to get ready, with the help of SkyDive Dubai. Jumping in the morning to avoid strong winds that can swirl the tower, and wearing wing-suits to help them steer clear of any potential obstacles, also helped mitigate dangers of the jump.
“We didn’t leave any room for error. We planned everything. For sure we were scared at first but we transformed that fear into power to achieve our goal,” Reffet told Gulf News.
Said Fugen, “We feel happy for breaking the world record, but it wasn’t the main goal. We’ve been dreaming about base jumping from this special place, this unique place for three years now.”
So, Bravo, Gentlemen! And, as the old saying goes, “A Video is worth 10, 000 words”, so without further adieu here’s the Burj Khalifa BASE jump World Record video, just released today!
