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Voila! Shane's Cliff

B.A.S.E jumper Matthias Giraud skis off Ajax Peak, claiming a first descent in the name of Shane McConkey, a fellow flight junkie

By Amy Maestas

Usually when Matthias Giraud is about to jump off a cliff, he uses a laser range finder - a somewhat complicated piece of equipment that shoots beams and requires a little bit of channeling Greek math geek Pythagoras. Imagine, if you will, the French-born Giraud atop a mountain peak, 40 pounds of gear weighting him down, shooting a laser in the air while chanting rationals and integers.
In most situations, Giraud's range finder would help him scope out the site - accurately and precisely measuring the height of the exit point of jumping off a mountain or some other static object. But April 6 on Ajax Mountain, Giraud scrapped the high-tech laser and the scientist and used rocks. That's right. Giraud picked up some rocks and threw them over the edge of the 12,779-foot peak that overlooks the tiny town of Telluride. Not to hasten a jump after a three-hour climb up the grassy ridge between Ingram and Savage basins, Giraud took stock of what he was about to do: a first B.A.S.E. jump off a foreboding mountain.
"I was trying to get a scale for this cliff. It was really hard to get an estimate. What was hard was that I knew it was safe enough, but I didn't know if the cliff was fully doable until I got there," Giraud said recently from his new home in Salt Lake City.
First jumps aren't foreign to Giraud, a 25-year-old graduate of Fort Lewis College in Durango and professional extreme skier. He said he's developed a "taste" for doing first jumps. He began B.A.S.E. jumping only about 1 � years ago, and skydiving three years ago. Yet already the adrenalin junkie has a handful of first B.A.S.E. jumps attched to his so-called resume. Besides Ajax, these include the south face of Engineer Mountain, north of Durango, Colo., and Mt. Hood in Oregon.
The inspiration for jumping off Ajax came from Giraud's friend Matt Skinner, a ski executive at Telluride Ski Resort. With only a little coaxing, Giraud set his plan in action. Atop the mountain there was thin air, which can delay the opening of a parachute, not much of a runway and limited sight distance. With the gnarly and rocky terrain below, Giraud said he quickly realized that in this jumping situation he had to be first a skier.
"You need to be able to ski chaotic terrain in this instance," he said. "I gave a 3, 2, 1, dropping and started skiing towards the edge. It was a bumpy ride but the excitement was at its top. The edge is getting closer and closer and last thing you know, you are flying through the air and you can see your shadow on the rocks several hundred of feet below you."
This jump kept Giraud in the air a bit longer. Because of the height and need for clearance, Giraud said he glided more than he flew. And the length of the air time was almost triple. Typically the jumps last only 15 to 30 seconds until he hits the ground. Off Ajax, he sailed for 1 minute and 15 seconds from takeoff to landing.
"I could see Telluride in the background. It's a unique moment and you feel really cool," he said.
Giraud's athleticism has earned him his own reputation. He has now appeared on the television news show Good Morning America twice - and national and international media are on his tail, following his nascent career that is likely to include many more "firsts" and much more of pushing the limits.
As much of a high Giraud received from the first B.A.S.E. jump from Ajax, he says the moment was bittersweet. He and his friends gathered atop the peak in Telluride only one day after the memorial service for extreme skier Shane McConkey, who died March 26 in a ski-B.A.S.E. accident in the Italian Dolomites. Giraud and McConkey were friends.
"Shane really showed us what could be done in this sports," Giraud said. That's why he named the jump off Ajax after his friend and someone who served as a mentor to extreme sports athletes.
"He was a super funny, really hilarious guy. I really felt like I needed to give something back to the man. That's why it's called ?Shane's Cliff.'"

AMY MAESTAS is a contributing editor of Inside/Outside Southwest magazine.