Extreme athlete Max Kuszaj, a former Western State College student, compares sky diving, BASE jumping and ski-BASE jumping:

"Sky diving is kind of like laying on an air mattress in a pool. You have no sensation of ground rush. You're so high; everything is so far away. It feels like you're on a big air bed.

"When you BASE jump — even off the Royal Gorge — you get that instant ground rush.

"A lot of people think ski-BASE jumping is easier and safer than BASE jumping. I completely disagree. When you BASE jump, you just want to fall to Earth — like sky diving. But in ski-BASE jumping, you want to be in a stand — standing in air. Like you're skiing. You have all that weight at the bottom of your feet.

"You have to be able to ski and BASE jump. You can be skiing for 10 seconds before you go off the cliff; sometimes as fast as 45 to 50 mph. You have to get as far away from the cliff as possible — maybe 60 feet in distance and 100 feet vertically.

"Then you're on the sheer face. You have 3 or so seconds, 250 feet, before your canopy opens. I prefer to do a big front flip — it's the safest trick. People do double back flips, quadruple back flips. But a front flip allows you to dive away from the cliff and puts your skis in front of you. Your parachute is on your back, so your skis are out of the way; they're in front of you.

"Once your canopy opens, it's all good. Flying around is fun — just as much fun as skiing off a cliff. Most BASE jumping injuries happen when you're landing. People land really fast and they tumble. Landing is a lot easier with skis and on snow."