His bare hands shaking in nervous anticipation, a young base jumper prepares to throw himself from the top of a 120-metre power pylon. As the hapless daredevil shuffles tentatively towards the edge of the platform, the anxiety on his face is clear, even in this grainy handheld footage, filmed by a friend. But little does he know that his fears are about to come true as he finally plucks up the courage to make the leap into the snowy abyss. Seconds into his fall it becomes clear that the man’s parachute has failed to open and he plummets towards the earth in Konakova, Russia. He hits the ground with a muffled thud and a puff of snow as his friend can only look down from above. The friend can only look on helplessly as he holds the camera over the precipice to see any signs of life on the floor below. Miraculously, the man survived the fall after the powdery snow cushions his fall. He was even able to walk again after three months after fracturing his vertebrae, pelvis and legs. This unnamed jumper can consider himself lucky after a spate of deaths have marred the perilous sport.