Cliff Jumping

At a little café just outside the walls, there was a good spot for cliff jumping. A few kids had discovered it before we got there, and we promptly ripped off our clothes and joined in the fun. There was a big rock jutting out from the patio, and the water was plenty deep as long as you jumped out enough to clear the rocks. The drop was between 40 and 45 feet. I can measure altitude with my watch. I know I’m a dork.

I’ve never jumped cliffs before and it was such a rush! I didn’t hesitate, I just ripped off my clothes as soon as we got there and jumped. It looked easy but man do you get going fast! I smacked my tailbone really good and for two weeks after this I was not able to sit in a chair. It still hurts, but it is getting better. I decided to skip X-rays as I figured it would be in my future children’s best interest not to have a bunch of radiation shot at my pelvic region. A bunch of people on the ship had also racked their tailbones jumping off the cliff, so this was fairly common.

There was another ledge a ways up that was around 55 feet. My ass was all messed up so I didn’t do it, but there were a few that did. A guy named Fritz from CU Boulder did a flip off of it. That guy has some serious rocks. I don’t care who you are, somebody flipping off a cliff that high commands respect!

Bad things started happening when girls started going for it. The first girl didn’t jump out very far and missed the rocks by just a few feet. One girl broke an ankle and another got seriously injured and had to be flown to Austria for back surgery. Thankfully she is going to be alright and is walking around already.

Cliff jumping is a burly sport. It was tons of fun, but the consequences are big if you mess up!