Hot air and high jumps – Red Bull’s latest stunt

By Lucy Mitchell on Monday, April 17, 2023

Red Bull is known for sponsoring extreme sports, stunts and games. In 2012, Red Bull organized the highest sky dive ever, where the Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped 24 miles above the Earth’s surface. From annual cliff diving competitions to high-speed downhill ice-skating, Red Bull have done it all – and have now taken it to a new heights (literally).

Kriss Kyle, a professional BMX rider from Scotland, decided to take Red Bull up on a challenge which involved riding his BMX bike while suspended over the West Country, in a hot air balloon at over 2,000 feet above ground. This spectacle saw Kyle climb down from the hot air balloon basket into a skatepark bowl below, then do tricks such as backflips on his bike, all while in the sub-zero atmosphere. The bowl had very little railings as can be seen below, and so mistakes were not an option.

Kyle explains his rationale for doing the stunt: “I’ve been dreaming of this project for so long, but the height factor has always felt like a massive weight on my mind. I’ve had to push past my fears several times before on Red Bull projects, but nothing has compared to this. Having to climb over the edge of the basket to get down to the skatepark underneath was such a crazy experience. At 2,100FT you’re so high up it almost doesn’t feel real anymore. When I eventually got up there I walked up to the edge and looked down to see if I could handle it, I looked around and saw all my friends hanging out the helicopter, and I thought how did BMX-ing get me here?”