Men's Journal

By Dacus Thompson

Seven weeks after Pedro Oliva nosed over Brazil’s Salto Belo Falls, a monster at 127 feet, American Tyler Bradt plunged a preposterous 186 feet over Washington’s Palouse Falls (one foot higher than Niagara), on April 21. Bradt had owned the kayak drop record — a now-paltry 107 feet over Canada’s Alexandra Falls — before it was eclipsed last winter by a mere foot, a record that was then shattered by Oliva’s feat in March. But Bradt had already set his sights on an even more dramatic mark. As a film crew watched, he took a tight line on the right side of the falls and, thanks to the water’s churning aeration, made a surprisingly soft landing, narrowly avoiding getting pulled into caves on either side. The only casualty: a broken paddle.

Watch the video of Bradt’s plunge: