I came to my native city by aircraft to meet with my parents, and just after it had landed, I got a call from my friends. They asked me if I wanted to join them and go to Bashkiria to do some jumps off the cliff Mambet, which height is about 130 meters high. "Of course I do!", I said because I hadn't jumped so much time for a long time. We had started on the 2nd of January.
We were riding across the winter forest and enjoying the landscapes. We spent more time on the road, less civilization was around us. Eventually, even mobile phone signals dropped. We rented a cottage in the village near the cliff and asked the locals to escort us to Mambet (about 12 km away). After a night in the hot habitation, we met up with the local guide, who prepared a couple of horses and sleds. It was a very refreshing hike because it was about –15 degrees by Celsius.
Finally, we got to the destination and started hanging the ropes. It had taken about 2 hours to climb up. Mountain was amazing and safe enough for basejumping. The only concern was that nobody would help you in case of an injury and the hospital was at least 3 hours away. The weather was calm (no wind, ideal conditions for jump), so I had to do it.
I performed 2 jumps on that day and returned back to the house. After parachute was packed for tomorrow, I fell asleep. The next day, I was a bit shocked by the temperature, that decreased down to –30. It was unbearably cold to be in the sled. After one jump I felt relaxed and decided to perform a running start. It was my first running takeoff, and I felt a lot of new emotions. Fortunately, a cameraman took a series of photos at the exact moment of that jump. The stunt had been done successfully, I was so excited that I suggested to my friends to jump 3-way (see at the end of the video).
Finally, I performed 5 jumps for 2 days, it was an unforgettable trip, and I still like to rewatch some videos, taken there. Probably, it was the funniest Christmas holiday I ever had.
