Video: BASE Jumping + Ledge Gymnastics. What Could Go Wrong?

"Hey guys, I've got an idea. Let's get a BASE jumper who is also a gymnast to do a bunch of flips around a high bar before he goes careening off of a nearly 4,000-foot cliff—and then use it as publicity. I can't think of a single thing that could go wrong with that!"

Now, that may just be how we imagine the conversation surrounding this stunt, but let's get real—this was a very, very bad idea. So, when BASE jumper/gymnast  Richard Henriksen agreed to do just that for the NRK television network in Norway, is anyone surprised that something did, in fact, go horribly wrong?

Henriksen makes one complete turn around the bar affixed to the edge of a cliff before the bar crumples—sending the father of five tumbling into the abyss.

Thanks to some mad BASE jumping skills—and a helluva lot of luck—Henriksen managed to live through the ordeal, narrowly avoiding the rock face, deploying his chute and, presumably, saving the consciences of several TV execs on his way down.