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N 2 14 B. C ., during the Qin Dynasty, China’sfirst emperor commanded the constructionof the Great Wa ll to prevent enemies from ge t-ting into the country. Some two thousand yearsl a te r, Danny Way passed over China in a plane,l o o ked out the window and thought to him-

s e l f, He y, wouldn’t that be a good landmark to jump?¶ The answer, most would say, is no way. But skate-b o a rd i n g’s most innova t ive rider is determined to find new avenues to keep the sport pro g re ss iv eand, as he puts it, “inte re s t i n g .” On Ju l y 9, the 31-y e a r-old pro will attempt a great leap fo r wa rd overthe ancient structure. Ca rrying a speed up to 55mph, Way will ride down a 65-fo o t-high ra m p,soar 70 feet over a section of the wa ll and land

ONCE AGAIN TAKING HIS SPORTTO NEW HEIGHTS, SKAT E B OA R D E RDANNY WAY PLANS TO JUMPOVER THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

I

A3J U N E 2 7 , 2 0 0 5

RAMPIN’ UP In 2003 Way built the Me ga

Ramp with an eye to record-setting jumps.

WHERE THERE’S AWALL THERE’S A WAYWHERE THERE’S AWALL THERE’S A WAYONCE AGAIN TAKING HIS SPORTTO NEW HEIGHTS, SKAT E B OA R D E RDANNY WAY PLANS TO JUMPOVER THE GREAT WALL OF CHINAB Y Y I - W Y N Y E N P h o to g raph by Mi ke Blabac

s i g n e r, John (J. T.) Tyson, made a

trip to Be ijing and scouted their

p roposed site at Juy o n gguan Pa ss,

30 miles from the Fo r b i dden City.

After ge tting governmental clear-

ance, Way had to postpone the

stunt three times over two months

b e cause of production iss u e s. “I

had him booked on David Let-

terman after the last [scheduled]

j u m p, and the other guest wa s

Tom Cruise,” says Way’s publi-

cist, Valerie Mi c h a e l s. “You ca n

imagine how bummed out I wa s.”

The hype, though, guara n te e s

that thousands will show up at

Juy o n gguan Pa ss to wa tch Way.

The pass, a major tourist spot,

was once a crucial imperial mil-

itary post near China’s nort h e r n

b o rd e r. Way will have the sy n-

thetic take o ff ramp set up on one

side of the wa ll and the big- a i r

q u a rterpipe ere c ted in a sto n e

c o u rtya rd on the other side, below

a temple that stands atop the

wa ll. The $1.7 m i llion spectacle,

b a c ked by a priva te company, the

Ne va d a-based Global Vill a ge

on the other side, where he will

i m m e d i a tely go down a 40-fo o t-

high landing ra m p, then shoot

up a 30-fo o t-high quarte r p i p e .

If all goes as planned, Way, who’s

f rom Encinitas, Ca l i f., will set

t h ree Guinness World Re c o rd s —

for longest distance jumped,

highest air on a vert pipe and

f a s test speed—using the bigge s t

s k a te ramp ever built. “No

[ s k a ter] wants to do that. Ev e r y-

o n e’s sca red of dying,” says pro

v e rt rider Jason Ellis of the wa ll

j u m p. “You have to be f- - -- - -

c razy and have a lot of confi-

dence. Danny is a freaking mad-

man. But there’s no doubt in my

mind that he’ ll make it.”

To a skater who once jumped

35 feet out of a helicopter onto

a vert ra m p, the Great Wa ll

d o e s n’t seem such a fo r m i d ab l e

obstacle. “For Danny to jump the

G reat Wa ll, that’s nothing,” pro

v e rt rider Colin Mc Kay told SI

last year. “If he says it’s poss i-

ble, then it’s going to happen.” In

Fe b r u a r y, Way and his ramp de-

Media Gro u p, will be bro a d ca s t

l ive in China, Eu rope, Au s t ra l i a

and the U.S.

Although Way will be the fir s t

s k a ter to attempt the Great Wa ll ,

other aerialists have made it over

the landmark. In 1992 Ko Shou-

l i a n g, a celebra ted stuntman and

m a rtial arts star from Ta iwa n ,

made history when he beca m e

the first to clear the wa ll on a

m o to rcycle. Soaring 180 feet over

the wa ll 93 miles north of Be i-

jing ab o a rd a 250-cc bike, the

Chinese Evel Kn e ivel landed on

a giant foam pad. Afte r wa rd he

held a glass of champagne and

said, “I wish I had 10 ladies here

to celebra te with me.”

The fo llowing year British dare-

devil Eddie Ki dd promised that

his moto rcycle jump would be

even more spectacular. Mo re than

60,000 people gathered to wa tc h

Ki dd fly over a steeper and more

p re carious section of the wa ll in

Simatai, a mountainous re g i o n

75 miles nort hwest of Be ijing. He

gripped the handl e b a r s, landed

on a 100-foot ramp and cra s h e d

i n to a barrier of ca rdb o a rd boxes

at the end. Ki dd, who had jumped

over 10 buses in a Be ijing stadi-

um two days befo re, ca lled the

INTRO HERE Dummy text and

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STA RT

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DROP SHOT Way launchedhimself to a win in the Big Airevent at the 2004 X Ga m e s .

6 5 F E E T

2 8 F E E T

4 4 F E E T

3 1 7 F E E T

7 0 F E E T

1 0 0 F E E TBuilt by China’s first emperor in

2 1 4 B.C., the Great Wa l lruns for 1,500 miles

a c r o ss the country, asg ra n d an obstacle tod a r e d evils as it once

was to inva d e r s .

Danny Way plans to build a

g r e at ramp at the Great Wa l land on July 9ta ke off on a5 5-m p h run

t h at will carry him over asection of

the wall to setrecords for the

longest leap,highest air and

fastest speed in a s k ateboard jump.

THE GREAT LEAP FO RWARD

stunt “one of the most te rr i f y-

ing experiences I’ve had.”

Then the inevitable happened.

In 2002 a cyclist from Shaanxi

Province atte m p ted the wa ll on

his mountain bike. Wang Ji a

X i o n g, 30, cleared the cro ss i n g

at Ti a n j i n’s Hu a n g ya Pa ss, 55

miles northeast of Be ij i n g, but

tumbled from his bike in midair.

Wang fe ll more than 50 fe e t ,

landing headfirst, and died late r

that day.

Way won’t get a chance to te s t

the Great Wa ll ramp until he ge t s

to China. He has seen pro to ty p e s

and says he is confident that his

p re p a rations will result in a safe

landing. He has spent the past

two years practicing on the Me g a

Ra m p, a towering structure fe a-

turing a take o ff ramp and a land-

ing ramp set 55 feet apart and

another pair with a 75-foot gap.

The Mega Ra m p, which Way built

in Aguanga, Ca l i f., in 2003 as a

way to push the limits of skate-

b o a rd i n g, is not unlike the setup

h e’ ll use in China. “I’m going with

the accumulation of trial and

e rro r,” he says of his Great Wa ll

j u m p. “I don’t have engineers

or physics involved. This is knowl-

e d ge obtained by experience.”

When pro skaters first heard

about the Mega Ra m p, they

questioned Way’s sanity. “I to l d

him, ‘Yo u’re a freaking idiot,’ ”

E llis says. “It’s going to be a

big wa s te of money. Yo u’re go i n g

to chicken out.’ ”

In s tead, using the Mega Ra m p,

Way blew away the skate b o a rd-

ing world in June 2003 when, in

one continuous run, he set re c o rd s

for distance jumped (75 feet) and

height out of a vert pipe (23'5").

Last summer he took his big- a i r

show on the road at the X Ga m e s

in Los An ge l e s. As five other pro

riders in the event struggled to

m u s ter the cojones to clear the

7 5-foot gap, Way flew acro ss to

win the gold, hitting 44 mph and

b reaking his own distance re c o rd

by five feet in the pro c e ss.

“ D a n ny’s changing the world of

s k a te b o a rd i n g,” Mc Kay says. “He

has cre a ted the boundary of

w h a t’s believable and imaginab l e .”

With the Mega Ra m p, Way

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A6 s p o r t s i l l u st r a t e d

“ Danny is a FREAKING MADMAN,” says another skater of Way’splanned jump. “But there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll make it. ”

FROM THE TO P Way

(at the X Games) says

his records have come

from an “a c c u m u l at i o n

of trial and error. ”

has also fo rced skate b o a rding to

become more phys i cal and rig-

o ro u s. Little things that go wro n g

on an av e ra ge vert pipe can mean

big problems on the Mega Ra m p.

“The impact is brutal. The day

a fter you skate, you’re 10 times

s o rer than normal,” Ellis says.

“When you skate and land, you

can feel your skin melting

t h rough your shoes. When you

bail, it compre sses your back and

s to m a c h .” To tackle the Me g a

Ra m p, Way rides a board that is

t h ree inches longer and a half-

inch wider than ty p i cal decks.

“T h e re’s only so much g-fo rc e

that your legs can handl e ,” he

s ays. “T h e re’s a certain sweet

spot you have to hit. If there’s

too much, you’ ll buckle. If it’s

too little, you get lost on the

ra m p. It’s like riding a mountain.”

While most skaters bold

enough to ride the Mega Ra m p

fly over the gaps going stra i g h t ,

Way pre fers to do a 360 spin. “I

think it’s harder to keep your

b o a rd straight for 80 feet than

it is to spin for 80 feet. As far

as a 360 go e s, it keeps my board

s t ab i l i z e d ,” he explains.

In pushing his limits, Way has

t a ken a few beatings. He has un-

d e rgone eight knee surgeries in

the last five years; his left ACL

alone has been re c o n s t r u c te d

t h ree times. Knowing that his

body won’t hold up to the hits of

the big-air ramp fo re v e r, Way has

m e n to red several younger stars,

such as 15-y e a r-old Ly n-z Ad a m s

Hawkins and 11-y e a r-old Tay l o r

Smith, who both recently cleare d

the gap on the Mega Ra m p. “T h i s

is the new ge n e ration of kids com-

ing up. They’re going to be used

to seeing this stuff and not know

a ny diffe re n t ,” Way says.

Pe r h a p s, but in taking on the

wa ll, Way remains the pioneer.

He has chosen to jump in a spot

with sweeping hillsides and a

d ramatic thre e-t i e red pav i l i o n

in the background. “I just wa n t

to have a couple of photos fo r

my personal diary,” he says. “Ae s-

t h e t i ca ll y, the photos are go i n g

to be so cool. That’s enough right

t h e re to make it worth it.” ±