“Meredith Anne Yayanos, I ABSOLUTELY FORBID IT.”
–My Dad (standard response whenever I expressed interest in skydiving, bungee-jumping, para-surfing, parkour, driving a motorcycle, skateboarding, driving without a seat belt, crossing the street against a red light, not washing my hands before dinner, forgetting to floss, etc) 1976 - ?
“Have you ever heard of proximity flying? Fascinating. I’m thinking of getting myself a wingsuit for my birthday. If you hear a loud, dull thud, you will know my jump from our roof was unsuccessful.”
–My Dad, 2009
My dad is getting quite XTREEM in his golden years, it would seem! He’s just about the last person I’d expect to get base-jumping links from. Nevertheless, pops just sent me this clip from the Matchstick-produced “action sports” documentary, Seven Sunny Days. It is, hands down, the most beautiful wingsuit footage I’ve ever seen. Instant adrenaline rush. Thank you, Doctor Yay!
Click below for more astounding “squirrel suit” clips from around the world.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I’m a flight junkie so all this has made me wonderfully tingly for years…imagine how addicting it must get though?
One has to start seeing the world in a whole different light after just 1 jump like that…it’s always been pretty amazing how it’s the “crazy” people like this who enjoy most of natures true majesty. They get to actually touch, see, and jump off things most of us only see in pics or IMAX films.
So, Mer, when will you be turning into a fly squirrel and how can we dear readers support this? We can do it like they do NASCAR and sponsor you with lil graphics all over your suit. After all REAL friends support ones desire to jump off very high places right? :D
January 12th, 2009 at 5:08 am
What’s the name of the backing track in the second clip down? It’s awfully familiar but I can’t put my finger on it?
January 12th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Coilhouse Staff should definatly skateboard.
Those videos are kind of breathtaking wow.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Dan: The song in the first half of that video is “In the House - In a Heartbeat”from John Murphy’s score to the film 28 Days Later.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Wow, that’s amazing! I didn’t know such a thing existed :)
January 12th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I will do this before I die.
I may die doing this, but it was this or the thing with the marmosets, and I figure crashing into a wall at 100 MPH while wearing your space-age flying suit is, well, just a neat way to go.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:41 am
That video has been around for a year or two now. Could never find a source from where it was from. Nice one!
Any idea what the second track is?
January 12th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
i watched that video at least 10 times. so amazing + so is norway!
January 12th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Dan, Ben, I’m pretty sure that’s actually the Godspeed! You Black Emperor track (edited) that was used in 28 Days Later.
“We can do it like they do NASCAR and sponsor you with lil graphics all over your suit. After all REAL friends support ones desire to jump off very high places right?”
Weeeee!!!! Tequila, you have no idea how bad I want to try this shit. I just worry I’m too slow and lumbering nowadays to keep from going splat Wile E. Coyote style against the side of a cliff! To be sure, the only thing that really kept me from “XTREEM” activity in my twenties was my parent’s abject terror at the mere thought of me risking my life (I’m an only child, they’d lose their only kid if I indeed went splat). But then they both retired and started traveling to exotic, often dangerous locales together…they’re pretty ballsy themselves, nowadays, and they’ve been a bit less protective since then. I WANNA DO IT!! :)
Elekrisiti, I hear Norway is one of the most majestic places on earth, and I can’t wait to visit.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Mer: The Godspeed piece in 28 Days Later is “East Hastings”, which is the song used in the abandoned London opening scene of the film. While the piece in the wingsuit video is indeed extremely reminiscent of Godspeed it is the John Murphy scored piece from the climax of the film.
The wikipedia page for the soundtrack notes that the two are commonly confused. I imagine this is partly because “East Hasting” isn’t on the soundtrack cd (for licensing reasons) leading people who know Godspeed had a piece in the film to believe that the Godspeed sounding “In the House - In a Heartbeat” was their contribution.
I was mildly obsessed with that song for a little while after seeing the film.
To keep this comment from being 100% off topic:
I’d love to do this but considering I’m a fairly clumsy person I think I’ll pass so as to avoid being a long narrow red smear on a piece of rock somewhere.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Oh shit. Holy Mother of God, that was awesome - I really want to do that!
January 12th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
@Ben: Wow, had me fooled! Murphy’s one talented ripoff artist!
January 12th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
First: All kinds of FUCK and YES.
Second: Parkour.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Ben, Mer,
That’s exactly it. Thanks very much for pinpointing it. The BBC is using it for some idents at the moment a well. Driving me nuts at finding it.
And Mer, I say go for it. :)
January 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I am dreaming.. but Im still awake, whats going on here??
Amazing, fucking amazing footage, Ive always wanted to try base jumping, I love free-fall rides at amusement parks, but Im sure it cant compare to the real thing. Almost got an adrenaline rush just watching!
January 14th, 2009 at 7:44 am
YES. SO MUCH YES. I think I would have to be in WAY better shape to do anything like that, but YES. A dream bloody come true. The rest of my day will be so boring compared to even just watching that.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I was totally stoked when I first saw this vid and looked into how to go about getting started.
Step 1) Minimum 200 standard sky dives to practice up on the gamut of your standard sky diving skills: clearing the plane/cliff when you jump, dealing with crosswinds, judging when to pull the rip cord, landing, not freaking out, yadda.
Kind of a long step one but would probably be a lot of fun in itself. Haven’t scheduled any sky dives yet but then I’ve been pretty busy lately.
Cheers
January 21st, 2009 at 6:58 am
Mer lives with her parents? ;)
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Noooo. Not since 1994. *blush*