Born Survivor and Wingsuit Flyer Jeb Corliss

Sandra and Sandy are back and today they welcome professional adventurer, Jeb Corliss, to the podcast for a truly fascinating conversation. Jeb has dedicated his life to BASE jumping, and wingsuit proximity flying, and our hosts begin by reviewing some of his impressive accomplishments in these areas. They also chat with Jeb about his childhood, how he became interested in skydiving and base jumping, and the mindset required for these activities. Jeb reveals that he lost his dreams during his teenage years, which led him to become depressed and suicidal, and details how he discovered his passion for base jumping which has been pursuing ever since. 

Together with our hosts, Jeb discusses how the drive to push boundaries and evolve our capabilities as human beings can be seen in these sports, with technology enabling us to do this at a much faster rate. He goes on to recount his adrenaline filled experiences as a base jumper and wingsuit pilot, and shares his passion for flying over landmarks and iconic objects, describing some of his most impressive feats, such as flying down both of the great pyramids in Egypt. He also explains the technical difficulties and challenges of these jumps and his love for photography and videography. Noting that his passion for these extreme sports has given him a unique perspective on life and a willingness to sacrifice everything for them, today’s special guest provides interesting insights not only into the logistics and challenges of these sports but also the existential revelations they can generate.

NOTE: this conversation contains in-depth discussion on suicidal ideation.

The Finer Details of this Episode:

• Jeb and some of his many accomplishments in the field
• His childhood and how he became interested in skydiving and base jumping
• The mindset required for skydiving and base jumping.
• The desire to push boundaries and evolve human capabilities
• The development of wingsuits
• Skydiving, training with a wingsuit, and base jumping
• Technology and its role in human evolution
• The evolution of rules and training programs for wingsuit flying and base jumping
• The technical difficulty of flying down the Great Pyramids in Egypt
• The challenges he faces during his jumps, and how he overcomes them
• Two thought processes that occur when tumbling towards solid granite at 120 mph
• Learning what is important in life

Quotes:

"If you can find happiness in your life doing anything else, do anything else."

"Adults are constantly—I think it's their job, obviously, to teach children about the world and what you can and cannot do. And I don't think they purposely step on dreams."

"I'm never nervous, because the moment you're nervous, you're done."

"I can feel my heart beating in my ears, and everything's like hyper-real, and it's just a very, very unique moment."

"My goal is to try to push the boundaries of what human beings are capable of doing. Right? It's like an evolutionary step."

"We just were figuring it out."

"It's really given me a life in a way that I can't even express. And it's made me a very happy person. And it's very special to me because I've gotten to see things from such a special way, and it's given me a life. I mean, it's given me my life."

"If for some reason, in the next whatever jumps, it gets taken from me, then it was worth it. It's all worth it, because I'm willing to sacrifice everything because it's given me everything."

"Everything just goes tunnel vision to my target."

"All of a sudden, it kind of boiled life down to what was important, which was time. That's all that mattered. Nothing else meant anything."

"And it was a fascinating thought process because I knew I couldn't make it. Like, there's no way you could hit ground at that speed and survive."

Links:

The Adrenaline Zone Homepage

The Adrenaline Zone on Instagram

The Adrenaline Zone on Twitter

The Adrenaline Zone on TikTok

Jeb's Homepage

Memoirs from the Edge