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Extreme machine, Felix Baumgartner was born in Austria on the 20th of April 1969. He started skydiving in 1986 at the age of 17 and later joined the army for 5 years as tank driver, drill instructor and a military skydiver. Felix started BASE jumping in 1996 with his first jump on the iconic Bridge Day in West Virginia. He returned in 1997 and won the Bridge Day Championships with just 34 BASE jumps!

Soon Red Bull came knocking and Felix became a full-time sponsored athlete. Over the following years he racked up some of the most famous and extreme BASE jumps the sport has seen.  Who can forget the photos from his amazing Christ Redentor jump in Rio?  His Tapei 101 tower exploits, where he evaded security and made his way to the rooftop? Now, Felix is working on his next big thing.

Check out the exclusive interview with Felix below.

mountainfit: So Felix, what has kept you busy for the last year?

Felix: Currently we are working on one of our biggest projects ever being launched. It is meant to have his showdown in April 2009. Within the last two years we`ve been doing a lot of research, gathering together the right team was one of the biggest difficulties we had to face during this decade. We are dependent on an extraordinary team of scientists in order to achieve our goal. It was an immense effort regarding our usual business aside like foto shootings, interviews, B.A.S.E. jumps, lectures and presentations including of course a lot of travelling- fills your time schedule.

You have done so many jumps, do you have a favourite? Oman?  Rio?

Every jump that I have done so far captured something special for itself. But still, I would say the jump from the Christ Redentor statue was one of my biggest successes. It was the turning point of my career having pictures cursing around the world with me sitting on the top of this breathtaking Work of Art. This jump has transformed me from nobody into somebody, regarding media.

Your closest brush with heaven?

I am glad to be able to say that until this point of my career I´ve never had a very close brush with heaven. Of course you can have bad luck one day but if you take your profession serious you can avoid a lot of uncomfortable situations. I ´ve always spent a lot attention to good preparation, nature and it´s volatility. I reckon the biggest secret is to be able to call a jump off if it is necessary.

Are you a full-time professional athlete? What activities pay the rent for you?

Yes, since 1997 I am a full time professional athlete. I am lucky to be able t look back on a long time relationship with Red Bull being sponsored since 1988. I was member of the HSV skydivers club that was sponsored by Red Bull at that time. I happened to be sponsored personally since 1997 which turned out as the perfect fit and made me being able to make a living from my hobby.

Besides that I am running my own company, Aerial Stunts Worldwide, selling lots of footage media like print, TV, holding speeches, selling merchandise products, etc. – pays off!

Red Bull has been a sponsor for a while now. How is that relationship going?  What other partners would you like to mention?

I would like to mention GENERALI, a European Insurance Company, for whom I am doing commercials.

And also LAND ROVER, being a premium partner since two years supporting us with cars.

What sort of training do you do, in terms of physical conditioning?

For the last couple of years I`ve been working out in the gym in order to stay in shape. Since we are working on this huge project I´ve been referring to at the beginning, I have totally changed my trainings plan. I`ve changed from more or less Hypertrophy training to cardio, doing way more Resistance and Endurance Training as well as inter- and intramuscular training. We are working on my coordination not leaving mental training aside. It is a very intense training plan but definitely needed in order to avoid problems with external influences and physically difficult conditions.

What do you think of terrain-flying? Is it an area of BASE that you are interested in or would like to explore?

At this point I have already accomplished most of my ideas according B.A.S.E. Jumping. To be honest there are not so many things that can be done in order not to repeat the realised.

Who, of your fellow jumpers do you most admire or feel are helping develop the sport?

Patrick de Gayardon. He was famous for pushing the boundaries of skydiving. He was one of the first persons to develop the unique style of skysurfing, in which skydivers use a board to make aerobic maneuvers. He also made many famous stunts with his wing-suit referred to as. In 1998 Patrick died in Hawaii during a skydive using the wing-suit, while testing a new modification to his parachute container; his death is attributed to a rigging error which was part of the new modification.

Would you like to see BASE become more popular as a sport or are you happy that it is so niche?

I think it to be better if it doesn`t grow too big. It shouldn`t become a popular sport loosing it`s uniqueness and it`s special taste of calculable risk. Already a big scene has emerged since the beginning of this sport. My concern is more about safety. There are lots of people that don´t have the necessary respect for the danger that this sport bares. If it becomes too popular the number of accident will rise which will cast a bad light on the sport and people performing it.

I hear you have a big project coming up. Can you tell me anything about it at this point? Any hints or clues?

Well as already said in the beginning, we can look back on two years of consistent research. The project is still 100% confidential not having any topic releases until autumn/winter 2008. What might be interesting is the info that the big blast is planned for April 2009.

Anything else you would like to add Felix?

Finally, I want to express how thankful I am for the possibilities that the sport brings along. It´s about the total package- the people you meet, friends, family and many other things.

Once the principle of movement added, it endorses one thing without interruption to the next.

It is more than just a sport – it´s pure passion.

To keep up with Felix, head to his website here.

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