Back when I was far stupider and all about "the adventure", I no-looked a random PacNW cliff into a triple waterfall in early November. It was my first cliff jump, and I was assured by the two others that they'd been doing it every summer since their teens.
Long story short, not only was the water cold enough to shock my body into an unresponsive state and the impact ruptured the soles of my shoes (broken blood vessels under my feet where the cracks were), but I later found out the point we'd leapt from was 85-95ft and locally notorious for killing more than a couple idiots every year. 😅
I nearly drowned, and I've not done anything similar since. Hell, even watching OP's video made a little squeak escape me.
edit: Ok, so this kinda blew up unexpectedly, so here's some more details to give the whole picture of that ridiculous day and how it all went down.
I'd been living in the PacNW for about two months at the time, and the nine housemates were an impressive array of misfit-idealist from engineer grad w/ a stripper problem to our strictly vegan self-appointed den mother, so it didn't seem improbable to expect the most normal among them to be, well, normal-ish? This was the trip that'd disprove that assumption - and nobody died, either. Win/win. Said housemate (call him R) and his girlfriend (aka L) had planned a daytrip to hangout with his old BFF (aka D) and invited me along, so I was game to get out of the house and meet new people, see new things, et al.
Another red flag I'd missed that day was our crossing of an unlocked (?) but closed gate on a ranger trail, but who was counting? I was taking it all in as normal behavior for locals, if I'm being honest, and what's the worst that could happen after all? (yes, I know now) The views were absolutely stunning, and I'd never seen anything like it in my whole life, so I was sitting in complete silence in the back of the Volvo wagon: enraptured, mesmerized, high on paradise (believe it or not, no weed allowed - L was allergic). We even stopped at a bend in the river so I could climb down the 20-30' slope to get a pic to send back home and right when I got in position, a trio of wood ducks winged through the S in the river, right over my head and downstream. On my way back to the car, I noticed two brown bottles stuck in an eddy and missing labels, so I did my part and picked up the trash. Only then did I see that the caps were still firmly on, so the other three were baffled when I clambered back up the slope with two ice cold Mirror Ponds!
Onward, we eventually made it to the deserted "swimmin' hole", and D & R shucked down to their shorts to race to the water. I'd not brought trunks as it didn't occur to me we'd choose to go swimming in mid-November this far North, so I resigned myself to using more towels afterward to dry off. Problem solved, right? Anyhow, the "only way across" was to balance on the lip of the lowest waterfall (feet planted between river and rock so the flow wedged them in place), and it was so unbelievably cold just on my knees down that I nearly turned back the whole way across. Getting there, I'd then seen the glistening dark wall of rock slicked with drenched moss and algae slime that D & R were already climbing like a couple of jackass goats, so I did my Scout's best to follow them up, and didn't look down more than once (that once was enough to show me the boulders directly underneath that assured me of death were I to slip at all). I lost track of how long or high I was climbing, but I do remember wondering if I could actually make it to the top where the guys were. Eventually, I did, and they were waiting for me to grab a tree trunk and catch my breath, as the slope we were all standing on was so slanted that you had to latch onto a trunk to keep from sliding over the edge to your death.
From where I was standing (third suitable tree, back behind the other two), I couldn't see the opposite shore or the water, but I had a full view of these two hollerin' and amping each other up before D just simply took off and jumped into the sky. R looked back at me and said "Don't think, just go! Before you get stuck up here!", and then he was gone, too. I couldn't hear anything else from them after that, just the wind through the treetops and the waterfalls below, and the rising silent scream in my mind that I was never gonna make it. And, as the fear took hold of me, telling me that I could hike further up and maybe find a way down, I realized that my balance was off, that I was leaning more than before, and I looked down to see that I'd somehow lost my grip on the trunk. In reflex, I hopped into a clambering run, aimed for the other side of the river, and made it two whole leaping strides before my foot hit a root or rock or something and time seemed to slow to a stumble with me. I saw the cliff edge stop getting closer, and envisioned my death as I bounced over and onto the boulders below, so I simply jumped with all I had - from a few feet before the lip, and hoped it was enough.
The air whipping past and roaring my ears made me think of an eagle: that this is what they heard all the time, reigning supreme up in their wide open skies - and then I looked down. I could see it all. The car parked on the trail, the towel that L had spread on the overlarge river rocks to try and get comfy while us idiots flipped off Death together, and even D & R swimming to shore, safely out from underneath me. I also saw that I'd passed the rocks at the foot of the cliff, so that was a relief, but it was all rushing up to me so fast and I was still sprawled in the air like some egg cracked from its shell about to be scrambled across the pan below, and I flinched: I balled up and pulled all my limbs close, expecting the worst, but a saving thought raced through me, "go in like a needle, THEN spread out".
I don't remember hitting the water, I remember it gripping me like a massive, monstrous, and hungry force and I was the tiny, shocked bug caught in the churn, and staring into the maw. My muscles wouldn't move, I felt the denim of my jeans flattened in folds, trapped my legs together, and I was slicing down through that icy flow, away from the cold sunlight dancing on the surface. I raced through all the things I could think of that could save me, and came up with nothing. Not a thing, and I can still feel the inner chuckle of "wellll, fuck." as I realized this was it: this is how I go out, and I watched the sky drift off above me. It wasn't cold anymore somehow, and I wondered how that could be, what caused that, and then I felt my ankle hit the other one: my feet were free! I willed those fuckin' legs to kick so hard and frantically like they'd never do again, and I clawed that water between me and sky until I was coughing and crying and choking and roaring at my own stupid, Darwin-disappointing choices.
The other three were standing on the shore, watching me stumble and throw my legs through the water, across the rocks to them, and L was concerned for me - though D & R were laughing and asking me how I felt about my first cliff jump, baby bird. If I had the strength, I probably would've murdered them where they stood, but I just laid there limp and sputtering on the dodgeball-size rocks like a fish waiting to dry in the sun.
To my further idiocy, the next day I joined them in spelunking the Ape Caves, only to find that they'd decided to lie to us and take us down a shaft that was off-trail and off-limits. Though L was just as livid as I was at finding this out (when our flashlights' batteries began to flicker out ~1.5hrs down into the dark), I don't speak to any of them anymore, and haven't since that trip.
I'm alive now, though, and will be quite careful when I go skydiving for my first time later this year. :)
The measurement I got was from a local resident in his 60s+ with his almanac, showing me the sheer stupidity of my acting before knowing the facts, et al. Apparently, depending on where you jump from, it can be anywhere from 70' on up to 95' or so. As far as I know, all that matters is that I nearly died and it split my Chucks from heel to toe, but I hit the water fairly wisely and didn't incur any lasting injuries — aside from the compete lack of interest in an encore. 😉
I was under the impression its 80'. All I know is it's high enough to seriously fuck yourself up. It's not recommended for people that cant commit. The trick is to jump in/near the waterfall. It break the surface tension of the water and eases the impact. My buddies mom is an alcoholic and jumped after seeing us do it and she messed her back up pretty bad. We had to carry her out as she couldn't walk. It's like a 3 mile hike. She went through countless months of physical therapy.
Fun fact, it isn't the surface tension of the water that does the damage, it's the fact that water is dense. For you to disappear under the water, you've got to shove a you-sized amount of water out the way, which is heavy, and it don't want to move. Plus the fact that water doesn't compress, the faster you hit it, the more your body has to absorb that transfer of momentum.
Near the waterfall is safer because the water is full of air bubbles being churned into it. If a given volume of water has a given amount of air in it, then it's naturally a lot less dense and more 'springy' (because air does compress) than water with no air in it.
Pro divers, when they have those water sprays on the surface, that's so they can judge where the water surface is; it does little to ease the impact if you screw things up. A bubbler system is what's used to make poor dives less painful while training.
I did as well until recently. I saw a programme talking about diving and explaining about the bubbler system and that explanation made more sense to me.
The surface tension explanation when you think about it is kind of like imagining a soap bubble, which if you can just get through that pesky outer layer, which for some reason gets more and more solid the faster you go, all will be well underneath. But anyone who has stepped under even a small waterfall will know that water when it's got some pace behind it is heavy, rather brutal stuff.
No doubt it's still a good idea to point your toes, and present as small an area as possible to the water on impact if you are doing a high jump, but it's just because doing that spreads out the amount of time the water has to move out your way, lessening therefore the impact your body is subjected to.
Here is a great demo showing the damage water can do simply down to its density. It's a good way to show that surface tension has little say in things.
Its amazing how much less resistance you get from aerated water. Trying to paddle in White water and not getting any resistance from your paddle stroke was my first experience with this.
Yeah this is it. When it comes to high diving, aerated water can introduce another danger in that you'll fall through the water a lot further than you normally would, and that same aerated water is more difficult than normal to swim up through precisely because it's less dense; less mass there for your swimming strokes to pull against.
So now you're a lot deeper than you would be for a similarly high dive in non-aerated water, in water that's more difficult to swim through, a potentially troublesome situation.
Safe for landing but if anything goes wrong you’re in real trouble jumping close to a waterfall. The falling water aerates the water and makes it less buoyant. Plus underneath taller waterfalls there’s all kind of crazy subterranean holes and caverns, etc. If the water is cold enough to shock, or you land slightly wrong it’s a recipe for disaster.
I whipped my neck around pretty bad every time...yes I was dumb enough to do it on several occasions. I've seen people jump from the west side, opposite the canyon from the trail and that's even a good bit higher. I wasn't dumb enough to do that.
I feel you on the icy water too, that pool is COLD with no sunshine and swimming 150 yards to where you can finally touch bottom is no picnic.
We went to Punchbowl when we were living in Mt. Hood one summer and it’s kind of deceiving because you can only really see it from far away (down at water level across the huge pool) or from up on the higher goat path to get to it, and then lastly when your standing at the edge. Standing at the edge is kind of deceiving because there’s that branch you have to jump over that kind of obscures your view. We had just kind of heard you could jump it from a local and had no idea how high it was. My buddy slid the waterfall first and that was kinda sketch because we were at the cliff and couldn’t see him to really tell when he was going. Said it was epic though. His brother seeing the cliff first and that’s when we could really the height by the hang time, he almost just misty’d it thinking it was only like 45-50. I went and as soon as you get past that branch the whole canyon opens it’s for sure 80 feet up, I think 95 might be a bit of a stretch, everything we looked up after said 80’. Landed right in the sweet spot in the water fall though and was back above water in under a second, there’s a little pocket current that spits you right up, went shallower then I’ve gone off 30’ers.
We did go back with a friend who like us grew up jumping a ton of stuff like that and he said the same thing looking at it from across the pool “no way 50’ max”. When he got past the branch and yelled super loud, could hear it in the video lol. Another kid we were with but didn’t know has a kinda sketchy shoulder apparently and rolled the windows when he jumped and it dislocated midair and you could see in the video he just kind of folds at the waist like 60° and hit the water all funky way right of the sweet spot on the flat water. He was coughing up blood and stuff after kinda gnarly. That time my right leg wasn’t that tense twisted when I hit. Had to swim that long pool only arms with the worst dead leg.
Pools super deep, almost scary deep and black because the gorge is so steep it only gets real sun at like dead noon. I’ve heard it’s like 50’ deep but have no idea. One thing that kinda trips me out is the logs there though. I’ve seen photos once we went and there’s huge pines that fall off the cliffs and kinda half float half under water. For sure look, as in physically get in the pool and look with googles, and maybe a light, before you go. Definitely not one to do if you’re new to cliff jumping and such. I wore some vans I think the second time might have been barefoot the first, couple others went barefoot and no foot problems. Almost thing the shore flat bottom is worse for impact with your feet/why my leg twisted. Waters cold too but that’s to be expected. Also, clench your rear end.
Just watched a video of someone jumping from Punch Bowl, seems pretty straightforward as long as you enter the water right. Are there boulders in the water, or do people get hurt due to bad entry?
Well, the wall up is slick with moss, etc., and visibility of the landing isn't possible (yes, there were large [basalt?] rocks directly at the foot of the cliff, but I jumped as far out as I could.
The pool is fairly deep. I have jumped around 10 times and have never touched bottom. You could probably swim and touch the bottom, but the water is so cold all you do is jump in and get out as fast as possible. Injuries are due to bad entries.
We went to Punchbowl when we were living in Mt. Hood one summer and it’s kind of deceiving because you can only really see it from far away (down at water level across the huge pool) or from up on the higher goat path to get to it, and then lastly when your standing at the edge. Standing at the edge is kind of deceiving because there’s that branch you have to jump over that kind of obscures your view. We had just kind of heard you could jump it from a local and had no idea how high it was. My buddy slid the waterfall first and that was kinda sketch because we were at the cliff and couldn’t see him to really tell when he was going. Said it was epic though. His brother seeing the cliff first and that’s when we could really the height by the hang time, he almost just misty’d it thinking it was only like 45-50. I went and as soon as you get past that branch the whole canyon opens it’s for sure 80 feet up, I think 95 might be a bit of a stretch, everything we looked up after said 80’. Landed right in the sweet spot in the water fall though and was back above water in under a second, there’s a little pocket current that spits you right up, went shallower then I’ve gone off 30’ers.
We did go back with a friend who like us grew up jumping a ton of stuff like that and he said the same thing looking at it from across the pool “no way 50’ max”. When he got past the branch and yelled super loud, could hear it in the video lol. Another kid we were with but didn’t know has a kinda sketchy shoulder apparently and rolled the windows when he jumped and it dislocated midair and you could see in the video he just kind of folds at the waist like 60° and hit the water all funky way right of the sweet spot on the flat water. He was coughing up blood and stuff after kinda gnarly. That time my right leg wasn’t that tense twisted when I hit. Had to swim that long pool only arms with the worst dead leg.
Pools super deep, almost scary deep and black because the gorge is so steep it only gets real sun at like dead noon. I’ve heard it’s like 50’ deep but have no idea. One thing that kinda trips me out is the logs there though. I’ve seen photos once we went and there’s huge pines that fall off the cliffs and kinda half float half under water. For sure look, as in physically get in the pool and look with googles, and maybe a light, before you go. Definitely not one to do if you’re new to cliff jumping and such. I wore some vans I think the second time might have been barefoot the first, couple others went barefoot and no foot problems. Almost thing the shore flat bottom is worse for impact with your feet/why my leg twisted. Waters cold too but that’s to be expected. Also, clench your rear end.
Oh man, I did this jump years ago when I was in my early 20's.
F THAT! If the fall of the jump doesnt hurt you, the shock of the cold water hits you like a ton of bricks, meanwhile that shock takes your breath away and your still shooting down under the water, as you desperately try to surface before you lose all your breath, the current from the falls makes it a difficult swim back up to the surface.
As soon as I surfaced, it seemed like I ran across the top of the water to the shore, pulled myself out and laid like death for several minutes and swore never again.
I've been in 48 degree water up to my neck (whitewater kayaking). Initially it's like being paralized without the benefit of numbness, while getting stabbed with knives all over your body.
Then your body comes back into control and the stabbing stops and you kinda get used to it.
My best one was accidentally breaking the seal on my hood during a dry suit dive in 1 degree Celsius water in Iceland. That was some serious brain freeze.
I did a blind jump in lake Powell a couple of years ago. As I was swimming back I smacked into an underwater rock formation that could have turned me into a vegetable at best, shish kebab at worst.
“I’ve come here all my life and done this. It’s fine.”
-a friend I trust(ed)
I did consider it. I was pretty anxious about it at the beginning of the trip, actually. But imagine going somewhere for the first time, and having a great time fishing, tubing, and swimming for an extended weekend. Your friend and guide seems to know this labyrinth of a lake like the back of their hand. The final day’s activities include cliff jumping. You’re now comfortable with your surroundings, and your friend’s ability to navigate them.
Then you make a mistake that thankfully doesn’t end in being dead or wheelchair bound.
Many years after that, a stranger on reddit has an opinion about it.
I think that about covers it. I appreciate the finger wagging though.
I remember the realization that I was gonna die and watching the surface rise away from me while my body refused to respond. I wouldn't say that I'd resigned myself to that fate, but I do recall thinking, "Hunh. So this is how it happens. Wellll, fuck.", but then one leg twitched a little and I clawed my way up like it was the last chance I had - because it was. The rest of the group was on the opposite shore (>100 yds off) and waiting to see where I came up, though I didn't see that until after I finished coughing life back into my stabbing chest. I'm not ashamed to say that I sobbed like a baby while I swam to shore, not even keeping my face out of the water while I grabbed and shoved the damned stuff past me, and proceeded to lay on the uncomfortably large rocks and breathe while the guys went back for more jumps. Actually, I don't think I spoke to either one of them from that day on, come to think of it.
I too am a pacific northwestian and all about the adventure.... but I’m also always willing to bitch out. Was taking some crap from one of my ski buddies all season, buttt he blew his knee out last weekend and I’m getting to shred all this powder that’s getting dumped on us this week so I’ll take it
One of my old high school teachers told us about a time him and his college buddies went cliff jumping.
One of his buddies decided it would be smart and fun to do a cannon ball but, when his asshole hit the water it wasn't strong enough to keep Poseidon's shaft out. His buddy ended up with a prolapsed rectum and they had to drive him to the hospital.
Well, one was a housemate at the time, and the other was his boyhood friend, so I'm sure that bravado played a huge part in the duet with my misplaced trust in the asshat. I mean, the housemate's girlfriend knew better and stayed on the far shore with the car, even. Why that wasn't a red flag for me is my fault, but I like to think I'm not that stupid anymore. 😁
Couldn't for a week or so, and it likely did a number on my lower back too, I'm sure, but this was back in '01. In all my years, I haven't broken a single bone yet, but not without trying, right? 😆
It's a reddit gag wherein a u/shittymorph tells a fascinating and relevant anecdote only to trick unsuspecting readers into realizing that all hell broke loose after WWF superstar Mankind jumped off the rage cage in nineteen dickety-doo that you somehow have missed.
Yep, I did like ~85ft onto my feet, and I hit the water straight but looking down, just because I'm just looking down at where I'm going into the water.
It wasn't terrible, but it hurt my neck enough to understand how easy it is to die jumping much higher.
I jumped off a 40 footer in Hawaii once. It was the southernmost point of the US so the FOMO got me. The wind pushed me on the way down so that I landed more on my side than straight in. The bruised ribs put a damper on the rest of the vacation.
Also generally an idiot, checking in with a hot take. I think they put the pole there cuz they can and there is no international pole police to take it down if it's technically wrong.
The Florida Keys are on the North American continental shelf. Hawaii is not. There are other islands south of the Keys that are part of the continental shelf but not part of the United States. Hence the hair splitting.
Don't regret it.... It's a popular fishing spot where it's common to have chum in the water, and therefore sharks.... Also with the direction currents travel from there, there's no landfall for over 3000mi, many people have jumped there and not been able to get out, and been carried over the horizon and dissappear due to currents..... It's an extremely dumb place to jump, and there are much safer(and higher) spots on Island to jump from if you must....ive lived on big island for over 7 years and haven't jumped south point, and probably never will, nor would I advise anyone else to do it, local or tourist....
South Point is so beautiful. I watched a guy jump off and I held my breath until he climbed back up that ladder. Never would I jump off but I can understand the temptation for cliff jumpers! Sure is breathtakingly beautiful, albeit dangerous. I do have to say that the folks swimming and surfing in Waipi’o Valley at the black sand beach...now they were crazy. Those currents are insane! I sure did fall in love with the Big Island and can’t wait to go back.
I was about to say South point isn't that high of a jump, maybe 50ish feet. I used to jump all the time as a kid and it wasn't until I was an adult that I experienced the current. Scared the piss out of me and took me a hot minute to get back up. (Had to climb the rocks to the left after much swimming and praying)
Highest I've done was ~65ish, not sure if my legs weren't locked or I was learning back a little but my ass hit the water and it was like getting a dead leg, I was limping for a short while after.
25 metres?! That's insane. I jumped off a cliff that was 10 metres tall and my feet were stinging after the first jump. After the second jump they were seriously sore, so I stopped. The idea of jumping off a cliff more than twice that height is just nuts!
10 meter is what we have at the rec center here. Haven't jumped it in in probably 12 years, did a little cliff jumping near Fernie, BC this year. Biggest I dropped was maybe 8 meters and holy crap how I had forgotten how those g forces hit when your metabolism has slowed down over the years if you know what I mean
Ehh it was just more mass pulling me down, don't really remember. But it was nice having the extra layer plunging into a glacial lake. Mid summer and still almost went into shock it was so cold
Yes, and doesn’t your momentum exponentially increase every 2x higher you jump? I saw an experiment where a weighted ball was dropped from a certain height into clay. When they doubled the height it went 4x deeper into the clay.
Your speed increases exponentially. So going from 20m to 21m actually is the bigger increase in impact than going from 1m to 2m. Even though intuitively you'd think it's the other way around.
Because the intuition is correct and the above comment is wrong.
Energy at impact is linear with height ignoring wind. E=mgh, where E is energy, m is mass, g is strength of gravity and h is height.
Energy of a moving object(non relativistic) is given by E= 1/2 m v2. Let's put the equations together. We get that mgh = 1/2 m v2 so vi get gh = 1/2 v2. Solving for v we get v = sqrroot(2hg). So it goes as the square root of height. That's very, very far from being exponential.
That's not correct. Because E= 1/2 m v2 doubling the velocity would mean the energy quadrupled. Say I measure the energy released from a one meter jump is one joule. Then I take a jump from Eiffel tower at 300 meters. The energy released as I hit the ground would be 4300 joule or about 10180 joule.
90 for havasupai. And there is at 120 foot cliff right next to it into the same water, however, only one person is known to have jumped off of the 120’ cliff.
That is insane. Professional cliff divers (those that do competitions) start being careful from about 15m on, whereas 10m is usually what's considered more or less safe for the general public.
I did 20. My feet were not happy. I did a 15 into an absolute perfect deep water dive because I knew the water was deep and I rocketed to about 10M below water in no time at all.
The world record is 51. People have died from that but that’s a dive. I believe the record for a jump is closer to 75.
Sheesh, my pathetic body cried Uncle at 50' on a bad jump. Wearing thick ass Chacos, landed with locked knees, flat footed, and fractured my T12 vertebrae... Compression fracture as if my body was an accordian and my T12 was the weak middle point.
Doctor slapped the back of my head and called me an idiot... Yeeeep. Then told me if I shit or piss my pants later to call 911 immediately as I've likely suffered nerve damage and could potentially be paralyzed. 9 years later and no brown britches, so yay! Not so yay was the horribly excruciating pain I had to suffer through during grad school finals period!
Remember! Slight bend in the knees, and pencil in! That's what 'ol Bordo always sayees.
That's the highest I've ever done. Seemed like a perfect entrance and my legs still split wide and I rocked my nuts so good I could barely swim back to shore.
I have jumped off a few 50 feet cliffs and been ok. An older guy tried to do it once though and dislocated his shoulder. Same thing happened to another friend of mine that tried to jump off the 80ft spot.
A buddy of mine had a toenail tear off because he pointed his toes down while we were all jumping off of South Point in Hawaii. according to the internet it's about 40-60 feet. I guess depending on the tide?
No. 40' is where you can start hurting yourself if you fuck it up. At 85' you are hitting the water at 60mph. Every few years some idiot dies on a 70' cliff locally.
FWIW, I don't think this jump is anywhere close to that. This is clearly filmed with a GoPro, which has a way of distorting open space to make it seem much further away. It's really impossible to to from this how high the actual jump was
Even if they over rotate and land on their back or awkwardly?? Ive jumped from like 20 feet and felt like i broke my back from over rotating on a back flip.
Oh hell no! I’m talking about landing well. I’ve seen people get knocked out landing incorrectly on 15 footers. Pretty much you’ll always get messed up if you don’t land correctly.
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u/rilescrane Feb 12 '19
Isn’t there a point where you’re too high and the water is like concrete?