By one way or another I’m sure you’ve heard by now of wingsuits, also known as squirrel suits or bat suits. After a recent surge in wingsuit activity, the team here at Father Nature Outdoors has decided to dive in for a deeper look into this ridiculously adrenaline-charged activity.
Wingsuits first caught our eye when the extreme sports professional Jon DeVore released this video of himself soaring through the mountains in Monterrey, Mexico (Surprisingly, this is not the same Jon DeVore as the father of FNO founder Chris DeVore). We were just a tad impressed when we saw them gliding feet away from rock faces with nothing to control them but a little extra fabric between their inner arms and outer legs.
Wingsuits first caught our eye when the extreme sports professional Jon DeVore released this video of himself soaring through the mountains in Monterrey, Mexico (Surprisingly, this is not the same Jon DeVore as the father of FNO founder Chris DeVore). We were just a tad impressed when we saw them gliding feet away from rock faces with nothing to control them but a little extra fabric between their inner arms and outer legs.
We’ll now things have got just a little more extreme. As of 2012 there is a new league, sponsored by none other than Red Bull known as the WWL, World Wingsuit League. Despite the fact there seems to be nothing Red Bull will not sponsor, the league has drawn a lot of attention and rightfully so.
What does it entail? Nothing more than jumping 5000+ foot cliff in China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and navigating your way to a landing pad 2,600 feet below. The following diagram from Outside Magazine gives you a little more perspective.
What does it entail? Nothing more than jumping 5000+ foot cliff in China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and navigating your way to a landing pad 2,600 feet below. The following diagram from Outside Magazine gives you a little more perspective.
1. Jump
2. 90 degree turn around a tennis court size platform at 120mph
3. Fly under cables and a tramway. Failure to do so, well….most likely death
4. Finally open parachute and land on some solid ground
Seems simple enough right? Well it was for South African Julian Boulle who completed the 3/4 mile race in just over 23 seconds for the win.
How does one even get started in a sport like this? The only activities we can think of is skydiving and base-jumping , but this makes those two look like a bunny slope. For that reason we at FNO take our hats off to WWL, one of TIME magazines best inventions of the year 2012.
2. 90 degree turn around a tennis court size platform at 120mph
3. Fly under cables and a tramway. Failure to do so, well….most likely death
4. Finally open parachute and land on some solid ground
Seems simple enough right? Well it was for South African Julian Boulle who completed the 3/4 mile race in just over 23 seconds for the win.
How does one even get started in a sport like this? The only activities we can think of is skydiving and base-jumping , but this makes those two look like a bunny slope. For that reason we at FNO take our hats off to WWL, one of TIME magazines best inventions of the year 2012.
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