Cleared Hot Episode 254 - Jeb Corliss
Realism Over Optimism In Risk
- BASE jumping has no safe level; training only tilts odds in your favor but can't eliminate fatal risk.
- Jeb Corliss argues realism about mortality, not optimism, is the proper mindset for dangerous sports.
Acceptance Frees Peak Performance
- Accepting death can free you from fear and improve performance under lethal risk.
- Jeb links samurai combat acceptance to base-jumper mentality: accept worst-case, then optimize to avoid it.
Respect The Progression
- Don't shortcut progression: ask how few jumps you can do and you'll likely die sooner.
- Watch fatality footage and accept consequences before pursuing proximity or wingsuit flying.
In 20 + years, Jeb Corliss has made more than 2,000 jumps, from the likes of the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Falls in Venezuela, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and into a half-mile deep cave in China. He hasn’t simply leapt off and pulled his parachute, though. To add an extra layer of challenge, push the bounds of his ability, and further slice the razor slim margin for error, he has performed acrobatic maneuvers – twists, somersaults, and gainers – during freefall.
More recently he discovered the thrills and challenges of BASE-jumping with wingsuits, flying along some of the most stunning and dangerous mountain terrain. In the nearest approximation of human flight yet, wingsuits (which are more flying squirrel than bird or plane) allow the best pilots to trace the contours of cliffs, ridges, and mountainsides at high speed. All of which makes for an incredible spectacle: In July 2011, Corliss flew feet from the ground in the Swiss Alps, an event captured on camera and broadcast on ABC’s 20/20. Two months later, in September, Corliss swooped through an arch in the side of China’s iconic Tianmen Mountain, in front of a live television audience of millions.
Corliss’s stunts and his unyielding approach to life never fail to fascinate. He has been the subject of profiles published in The New York Times, Outside, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Air & Space, Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone. He has been featured on television in the United States and abroad, including 60 Minutes in Australia, ESPN’s E:60, Real Sports on HBO, Today, The Colbert Report, Good Morning America and Conan. Corliss has been featured in popular BASE documentaries such as A Year in the Life, Journey to the Center, Fearless, The Human Bird, Heavens Gate and The Flying Dagger to name a few. He also hosted the first season of Stunt Junkies on The Discovery Channel and was a technical advisor on the remake of Point Break. When he is not traveling the world, Corliss lives in Vista, California.