After a jump from Cape Town’s Table Mountain this morning, and while filming for . The 35-year-old fell roughly 200 feet, releasing his emergency chute just after hitting the side of the mountain called . Reports from South Africa say that he has entered surgery.
To explain the incident, ϳԹ’s called another experienced wingsuit pilot, Miles Daisher, at 41, the elder statesman of the Red Bull Air Force. Watch carefully in the video. The impact occurs right at 18 seconds. A split second later, you hear the cameraman shout “Whoa!”
Daisher: It looked to me like his foot or legs hit the rocks [of the intermediate ledge that he was trying to clear]. He skipped off the ledge and was thrown into a series of violent flips. And he just pulled [his chute] immediately. It’s hard to tell from the video, but it looks like he managed to get a chute over his head. That’s the most important thing you can do. I’m just glad to see he’s alive. I know he was was planning some really gnarly stuff—and this might have actually saved him.
When a hospital spokesperson was asked how he was doing, she relayed the message he gave her before going under the knife.
“I saw him in the emergency room and asked whether I could release details of his condition,” says Michelle Norris of Christiaan Barnaard Hospital. “He smiled at me and said ‘Tell them I feel the best I ever have’.”
To read more about Corliss, check out “The Fall Guy,” by Mike Roberts.
–Joe Spring