If there’s one thing the popularity of GoPro cameras have given mankind, it’s the ability to enjoy near-death experiences from a safe and comfortable remote vantage point. Like Erik Roner, who was kind enough to strap a couple of GoPros on as he drove a snowmobile off the edge of a cliff so we can all experience what it’s like to almost end our lives prematurely.
Thankfully, Eric, an experienced base jumper, was wearing a parachute and safely survived the plunge. His ride, of course, didn’t.
But that’s OK. The stunt actually had a bittersweet side to it, since the snowmobile Roner was riding belonged to his late friend and fellow extreme athlete, Shane McConkey, who died in a skiing accident in 2009. And while McConkey’s snowmobile will never be ridden again, the snowmobile’s extreme retirement party was a particularly apropos way to further memorialise a legend of extreme sports.