I Competed Against The World’s Best Cliff Jumpers!

This is one of the best cliff jumpers in the world. And this is me. Okay, that's not totally fair. Over the years, I've done some decent stuff, but compared to what you're about to see, I'm definitely average. My love for cliff jumping began at 14 years old when one summer, my friends and I cluelessly started jumping into shallow, sketchy rivers here in Kansas. We were intrigued from watching videos online, but there was nothing like that where we grew up. We built some makeshift spots here at home over the years and got to jump while on a few family vacations, but actually getting to cliff jump was never a regular thing. Fast forward to a year ago, I found myself attending a cliff jumping event, and for the first time ever, I met others that shared this very overlooked interest. A lot of them were so committed to the lifestyle that they actually lived out of remodeled vans, constantly traveling from jumping spot to jumping spot. Yeah, that's probably why they're all better than me, but hey, I live in Kansas, there's no cliffs, we have to make our own fun here, okay? And that's why I'm about to open a trampoline gym. Nice segue. For real though, don't miss my next upload because it's going to be the reveal of the finished gym. Anyways, for this year's cliff cruise, I convinced my roommates to join me, so we packed up our stuff and hit the road for a 10-hour drive. We got to the cliffs by the next morning, and immediately, things were off to a fantastic start. It floats though, right? Yeah. We can't lose that GoPro, dude. Hey, can you just try to depth check again and maybe your foot will touch it or something? Yeah, can you go under? I can try, yeah. All right, I'm going to come down. No, my GoPro's f***ing gone, no! Thankfully, while my camera was getting these sick wildlife shots at the bottom of the Colorado River, I ran into some of my cliff jumping idols and they agreed to help me search for it. Whoever's the best swimmer can have the good ones. Let's go. Yo, I hope one of these guys find it because I don't think I'm good enough to find it. I wish we had more f***ing goggles, bro. Yeah. Yeah, found it. Yeah, buddy. Let's go! I heard a little bit of cheering when I was about to hit the surface. I love you, my new best friend. Now that all was well again, it was time to visit some of the smaller cliffs for some warm-up jumps and the ride we got there was kind of the coolest converted van ever, no pun intended. This is the dopest ice cream truck I've ever seen. He's actually got the flavor. No, get out. He actually has ice cream. He's got the ice cream. I'm going to attempt my first triple backflip off the cliff. Four, three, two, one. Yeah! Let's go! My man. There's something about the energy of just being around these cool-ass people that makes me want to just try harder and harder stuff. Like, if I was here alone, there's no way I would have just done that. Like, I just wouldn't have. Want me to do a belly flop up here for your video? Are you sure, though? I don't want you to just like... I mean, I'm not going to get knocked out. It's just going to hurt really f***ing bad. You're a psycho, dude. Oh, God. No! That hurt me to watch, man. We're all trying not to do that. He's like, hey, I'll do that for your video. After Santi had absolutely wrecked himself and Andrew did a 360 death dive with the same rotten fish I had almost landed on earlier, it was time for a short break from the antics to do something a bit more useful. Now is the cleanup portion of the event because all the spots these guys go to, they pick up a bunch of trash on their way out to keep the spots clean because most people do not. So it's pretty dope. We're going to help out and get some trash. Welcome to the 2022 Cliff Cruise. You guys excited? The reason we do this event, number one reason, is to keep Mother Nature looking sexy, right? What's up? Pick up trash. Let's do this. Guys, this is Brooke. She's my trash cleanup partner and we're catching the dub. All right, so here's the trash. We're just going to get in there, take out a bag, sprinkle it in ours. Cash prize. They're hiding. This place surprisingly is not that dirty. It's actually shocking. Whoa, here's a piece of trash. Get him in the bag. Yeah, nevermind. There is no shortage of trash. I mean, they're not here probably 35 minutes. That is what we're looking at. Once our time was up, everyone met back at camp to compare trash and it was kind of close between a few of them. But when we saw this dude's legs, we knew who was about to get the cash prize. Dude's been at it for days, I think. He's been stashing his trash here. I think Jody has it, right? Here you are, my friend. I can't forget the buoy. We did a few more jumps as it was getting dark before the party started and I usually wouldn't film at something like this, but I had to once I learned about their annual game called Bite the Box. Uh, yeah, you literally just lean over and bite a cardboard box. The box gets smaller and smaller after each bite and the winner is whoever can pick up the last piece without falling over. Keep it low! So, uh, although me and the boys joined the nomad lifestyle today, we didn't really because we're staying in an Airbnb a little bit down the road. We don't have a camper, then what can I say? No, the reality is we didn't want to go buy a tent or something because it's hot as hell out there. Even tonight, it's like in the 80s. The next day was competition day. We woke up late but arrived just before the first of the two was starting and as I was trying to find a spot to film the mini tramp competition, Ryan Bean, aka the man widely recognized as the best freestyle cliff jumper of all time, told me that I should sign up. At first, I laughed because I thought there was no chance of me winning. But after a bit more convincing, I caved. So I guess now I'm competing. Oh god. Can you tell I'm nervous? I'm very nervous. This guy is not nervous. It's like a 35 foot cliff. You add a trampoline. I've jumped off it twice, but uh, it's starting now. So here we go. The competition had three rounds. So for the first one, I played it pretty safe just doing a double front flip with a 180 twist. This got me sevens from the judges, which wasn't bad, but I knew I was going to have to step it up. For round two, I did a 180 front flip to 360 back flip midair, a trick I had never attempted before, which got me all eights from the judges. And for round three, I decided I was going to try another new flip, this time a triple. My heart was racing from imagining messing up, especially in front of everyone and their cameras, but my mind was already made up. It was slightly over-rotated, but I was super relieved to have pulled it off. And the trick got me a final score of eight and a half from the judges. So when it was time for the winners to be announced and given their prizes, I walked up to receive absolutely nothing. Oh, you guys thought I actually had a chance of placing? Yeah, no. Okay, on a serious note, I'm pretty proud of myself for getting that far out of my comfort zone and competing. But yeah, these other guys, they were just too gnarly. Oh, my man, got it. Have they announced the winner yet? Ryan, he got 10s across the board. Did you see his last one? F*** you again, Ryan. I bet it feels good, dude. Yeah, that felt nice. Well, I'm just glad I did the trick I wanted. It's over, and now I can enjoy the rest of the day. Yeah, sick, bro. Let's go. My man killed it. Thank you, boys, for filming that s***. Yeah, surprisingly, everything went well, and no one got put on the stretcher. Well, one guy came close. His name is Seaman. Not even kidding. Right now, you're probably thinking Seaman is just some wild middle-aged drunk with a high pain tolerance and no real skill, but that couldn't be further from the truth. You see, he's actually really good, just at a different type of diving. If you've never heard of depth diving, it's where jumpers fall parallel to the water as if they're about to belly flop, but close in at the very last second to break through the surface. I guess I haven't dialed in the technique because they said it's not supposed to hurt, and yeah, it does. Depth diving, or DUDS, is fairly unheard of here in the United States, but in Norway, where it originated, they've had world championship competitions since 2008. And this year, some of the top Norwegians, including Seaman, flew out to show everyone just how it's done. Good luck to all of you absolutely insane people. The depth diving competition is about to start, and this is where things get real. As it turns out, the only person crazy enough to throw a triple gainer depth dive was, of course, Ryan Bean. He came in first yet again, and even cooler, was awarded a spot to compete in the next world championships in Norway. So Ryan, congrats, but I'm still mad. Okay, we all know who really should have won. As the event was coming to an end and the sun was setting, the boys and I hit our last jump of the trip and then just soaked in the rest of the time we had left to spend with everyone. At last year's event, I didn't know who 99% of these people were when I showed up. I had road tripped alone and arrived pretty nervous, but everyone was super cool, inviting, and instantly made me feel welcome. Like other trips I've found to be the most memorable, there was definitely a bit of anxiety to be overcome. But if there's one thing I've learned from the friends I've met here, it's that going outside of your comfort zone is just a prerequisite for some of the greatest of life's experiences. That's why the very next weekend, I came back to hang out and hit a couple more spots with everyone. And I guess at this point, I just become a little bit too confident in my abilities. Is that technically a sofa? Did I win? No, no. On one. Three, two, one, send it. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. On send it or on go? On send it. Three, two, one, send it. Sorry, boys. Alrighty, thank you guys so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to watch the next one, Trampoline Park Reveal. I've been working on it for over a year. Subscribe, ring the bell if you want. And yeah, peace out.