FREERIDE: How did you come up with the idea of doing tricks in a floating mini skate park at a height of 700 metres?
Kriss Kyle: Corona! During the lockdown, I had time for crazy ideas. I wanted to do something that nobody had ever done before. When I went for a ride on my mountain bike and looked up at the sky, I started to fantasise: What would it be like to do tricks up there? I told my manager about the idea.
And he said you were crazy?
Completely crazy! Nevertheless, he told Red Bull about it. Experience shows that these guys are open to crazy ideas. They wanted to know if I was really serious.
Were you determined?
Yes, I was. But I wanted a special bowl. Not some run-of-the-mill thing, but a bowl with a curved wallride, a channel gap and a hip. We built it out of wood and then realised that the monster weighed over six tonnes.
Far too heavy for a balloon.
Much too heavy. I was originally thinking of a Chinook cargo helicopter. But I've jumped out of a helicopter before. That was in Dubai. For a stunt, I jumped onto a ramp on the Burj Al Arab skyscraper. The downwash from the rotor blades was so turbulent - I felt like I was jumping into a tornado. Impossible to do tricks in the bowl while the Chinook was churning up the air. That's how I ended up with a hot air balloon.
Can a balloon carry so much weight?
No. So we had to build one first. Six times the size of a conventional balloon. This balloon is now one of the largest hot air balloons in the world. It is 43 metres high. But it wasn't strong enough either.
And then?
The Bowl needed to slim down! We asked the Formula 1 engineers of the Oracle Red Bull Racing Team for advice. The dudes were on fire. They suggested laminating the Bowl out of carbon fibre like a Formula 1 racing car. No sooner said than done. It weighed just 1.2 tonnes.
That must be crazy expensive!
I think so too, but Red Bull won't let us look at their cards.
How do you practise tricks in a carbon fibre bowl?
Not on the ground. We hung the part on a crane. But it was terrible. The thing swayed and I got seasick. At that point, I wanted to cancel the project. But I kept practising and then it was time to wait!
Why wait?
We needed perfect weather for the event. Something like this only happens a few days a year in England. December was the time. The sticking point: it was freezing cold.
How cold?
Minus 7 and I was supposed to do front flips! Worse still, we had to refuel so much fuel to lift the load, so the flight time shrank to 35 minutes. So my tricks had to work. Because every time I fell, it would be: from the front please! As the team was filming from two helicopters, they would have to circle around the balloon. For me, that was an enormous pressure to perform. And it got even more intense.
How so?
Red Bull insisted that I wear a parachute. It weighed as much as a heavy rucksack. When I did a flair, I jumped forwards, but the parachute pulled backwards. Tricks that I can do in my sleep no longer worked. I can tell you: it was the hardest project of my life.
When I saw the parachute, I thought you were going to end up jumping down.
I would have liked to do that, but Red Bull wouldn't let me. Originally, I wanted to learn how to skydive, but there was no time for that. I'd rather do it without a parachute, because I suspected that all the spectators were just waiting for me to jump down at the end. But I wasn't allowed to do that either: too dangerous! My friends thought I should have just done it. But that's rubbish, because without knowing what you're doing, it's not only risky but also stupid.
Next time! Your balloon stunt was also incredibly successful.
Yes, crazy! 30 million likes on Insta alone. I've never had a response like that before. The stunt was shown on TV and I had to give umpteen interviews. It's funny, people are even talking to me in the supermarket now. Danny MacAskill and Fabio Wibmer were stoked and texted me messages straight away. That made me happy, because their videos are absolutely awesome.
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
