Kayaker Dane Jackson on Friday safely negotiated the 134-foot Salto del Maule waterfall in Chile to complete the second-tallest descent on record.
The death-defying feat was accomplished after five years of planning by a Tennessee-raised athlete widely regarded as one of the world’s best whitewater kayakers.
“This is what happens when obsession becomes reality…. I give you Salto Maule,” Jackson wrote Friday on Instagram.
The achievement is second only to the 189-foot descent by Montana kayaker Tyler Bradt in 2009 at Palouse Falls in southeast Washington State.
The Salto del Maule waterfall cascades dramatically and emphatically from a volcanic ridge along a sheer cliff, and conditions had to be perfect for Jackson to attempt what he considered to be a safe descent.
For the past five years Jackson, the son of Olympic paddler Eric Jackson, had been practicing on the Maule River with Chilean kayakers with the ultimate goal of conquering Salto del Maule.
A spokesman for Red Bull, which sponsors Jackson, said licensing details are still being worked out for a full-length video of the athlete’s remarkable plunge.
–Images are via Corey Rich/Red Bull Content Pool