A group of northerners pulled off a stunt this summer involving a helicopter, jet ski, flyboard, treacherous cliffs, and a 17-metre waterfall. And they caught it all on camera.
While working in Hay River last year, Tanner Klochko said he came across McNallie Creek Falls and “knew exactly what to do right away.” He came up with a vision for riding his flyboard amid the breathtaking cliffs and falls.
After a year of work and preparation, Klochko and several friends “ended up going on pretty-much the most epic adventure of our life,” he told Cabin Radio.
On a late June day, the jet ski – in a giant net – was dropped into the creek by helicopter. Klochko and camera operators Kevin Klingbeil and Riel Stevenson-Burke clambered through forest and slippery rocks to join it.
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The result is an eight-minute video showcasing the adventure and Klochko’s flyboarding skills.
Flyboarding, invented in 2012, uses water jets to propel a board and boots connected to a jet ski through a long hose. Riders can fly up to 22 metres into the air or under the water.
“I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie,” Klochko said. “I’ve been doing this quite a while, so the lakes got boring.”
Klochko, a born-and-raised Yellowknifer, said he has been flyboarding for about six years after his dad, having seen a video on YouTube, encouraged Klochko and his stepbrother to try the sport. Yellowknifers may have spotted Klochko performing tricks on Great Slave Lake or Long Lake during the Folk on the Rocks music festival.
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Klochko now plans his own flyboarding business and hopes the video will showcase what the sport has to offer – at its most extreme – in the North.
Klochko said flyboarding is easy: as long as riders can stand, the water will push them up straight. But he acknowledged the equipment is expensive.
“It’s clean, awesome fun,” he said. “It’s something that you never forget doing.”
Next, Klochko said, his stepbrother wants to take his McNallie Creek Falls stunt to “the next level” and try slinging two jet skis into the water below mountains in Whitehorse.
