Pleasure, fear, death: Why do extreme athletes risk their lives? | DW Documentary

"High Sensation Seekers" are people that thrive on intense, exhilarating experiences. This includes, for example, throwing themselves off cliffs in wingsuits, or plunging down Alpine passes on their bellies.

But these activities can take an even more dangerous turn. At what point does the desire for 'thrills' turn into an addiction?

Extreme sportsmen and -women deliberately enter the so-called "marginal zone" of life again and again. These people are not tired of life. On the contrary: they face their fear of death to emerge stronger. They love the thrill and seek out the kind of intensely-positive emotional states in which time is elongated and happiness hormones flood the body.

But the price is high, especially in the extreme sport of base jumping. Here, one in 60 jumps ends in death. Wearing a special suit with sewn-in wings, the base jumpers plunge headfirst from rocky cliffs and hurtle in free flight along mountain slopes down towards the valley.

For years, 32-year-old Maximilian Werndl was part of the base jumping community. Six good friends lost their lives to the sport. Werndl eventually got out -- to save his own life.

Swiss national Geraldine Fasnacht also plunges down mountains in a wingsuit. The 39-year-old professional athlete has been doing it for 20 years without accident. Her husband Simon Wandeler is also a base jumper. They are now parents to a young son. He stays with his grandmother when his parents go jumping together, from their local mountain in Verbier. Fasnacht says she never takes an incalculable risk.
Base jumpers are not alone: Frenchman Jean-Yves Blondeau says he, too, has always dreamed of flying. But he lives out his dream differently. "I fly on the road." He shoots down Alpine passes belly-first, on rubber wheels, with carbon armor he designed himself.

#documentary #dwdocumentary #adreneline #extreme
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