Man Skis Off Mont Blanc Cliff and Lives

Professional skier and B.A.S.E. jumper Matthias Giraud has successfully skied from the peak of Mont Blanc to a nearby cliff where “Ski-BASE-jumped” off, parachuting down above the mountainside to land perfectly on his skis on a lower slope.  

The jump, which took place at 9.45am on Monday after Giraud spent the weekend climbing Western Europe’s highest peak, carrying 20kg of base jumping gear, set a new record for the highest ski-BASE jump ever made.

“I skied the Mont Blanc north face and jumped off the serac next to the Roches Rouge at 4359m (14298ft) and landed on the Grand Plateau,” Giraud explained.

Known as “Super Frenchie” the 35 year old, who grew up skiing at St Gervais-les-Bains/Megeve, France but now lives in the US, has built a reputation for combining BASE jumping with skiing and completed several first descents and ski BASE jumps across the globe including the first ski BASE jump off the Matterhorn in Switzerland.

“The serac measures only 60m and with 30% less oxygen at that altitude, the parachute opens much slower which meant I had to go for the fastest parachute opening possible,” said Giraud.

BASE jumping, also sometimes written as B.A.S.E. jumping, is parachuting or wingsuit flying from a fixed structure or cliff. “BASE” is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: building, antenna, span, and earth (cliff). Due to the lower altitudes of the jumps, BASE jumping is significantly more dangerous than skydiving from a plane.

Giraud has previous completed jumps on the Matterhorn and Eiger.