Thrill-seeker base jumps from top of Europe's tallest rollercoaster
Moment British thrill-seeker base jumped from 367ft from top of Europe’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster – as he is handed suspended sentence for breaking into the theme park in Spain
- Urban free climber George King-Thompson punished again for BASE jump stunt
- 22-year old thrill-seeker illegally scaled Spain’s tallest rollercoaster in Europe
- He and his friend who filmed it were fined £400 by a court in Barcelona
- Previously King-Thompson served time in jail for climbing the Shard in London
Urban free climber George King-Thompson has been handed a four-month suspended prison sentence in Spain for BASE jumping from Europe’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster.
The 22-year-old admitted to breaking into the Port Aventura theme park on the Costa Dorada before it opened and parachuting off the top of Red Force, which is 367 feet high with a maximum speed of 112mph.
The thrill-seeker, jailed for scaling The Shard in London in 2019, was handed his punishment by a court in Barcelona after admitting to an offence of breaking and entering into an establishment open to the public.
An 18-year-old Spaniard who filmed the stunt also received the same penalty in a speedy trial at Barcelona’s Court of Instruction Number Four.
The pair, who were fined €480 (£406), have been warned they will be jailed if they reoffend in Spain in the next two years.
From the top, George leapt off the top of Red Force rollercoaster and opened a parachute
Once he landed he was apparently swarmed by police and security who arrested him and put him in a cell for two days
George poses for a selfie from the top of the Shard in London in 2019, one of the tallest buildings in Europe
‘BASE’ is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna, (referring to radio masts), spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs).
King-Thompson, from Oxford, confirmed he had landed himself in hot water in a social media post alongside footage of his 6am July 4 stunt.
Admitting he was ‘very loco’, he said: ‘Once I landed I got swarmed by security/police… with no opportunity to run I decided to lay like a star fish on my back looking up at the sky from where I had fallen… laughing hysterically whilst all the authorities formed a semi circle around me looking down at me trying to work out what to do with this strange Englishman.
‘They then slapped me in the cells for 48 hours and handed me a 2 year suspended prison sentence…. which means no more climbs in Spain for 2 years!
‘Estoy muy loco!’ which translates as ‘I am very crazy’.
The daredevil landed himself with a six-month term in Pentonville Prison for breaching a court order for illegally climbing The Shard, the tallest building in the UK and the seventh-tallest building in Europe.
He went on to scale the 36-storey Stratosphere Tower building in Stratford, east London, after spending 12 weeks in Pentonville, admitting he decided to risk his life again while he was still behind bars.
Free-solo climber George King climbed to the top of the residential Unex Tower, in Stratford east London, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021
King stands at the top of the Stratosphere Tower building, a 36-storey residential tower block in Stratford, east London. Picture date: Tuesday August 3, 2021
King, who is from Oxford, scaling The Shard in 2019, one of the tallest buildings in Europe, which landed him in HMP Pentonville
British skyscraper climber George King (L) chats with French skyscraper climber Alain Robert as he leaves HM Prison Pentonville in north London on January 10, 2020
King gestures cheerfully to supporters and will-wishers as he gets out of jail in north London on January 10, 2020,
The August 3 2021 climb, which began at sunrise around 5.30am and took him just 30 minutes, marked his 10th skyscraper ascent and his second in the UK.
Nine days later he climbed the 305 feet Unex Tower, also in Stratford, without ropes in just 10 minutes.
Mr King-Thompson, who shares his feats on his Instagram as @shardclimber and also posted his Port Aventura theme park climb on YouTube, has also scaled Barcelona’s 38-storey skyscraper Torre Glories without ropes.
Speaking after his latest Spanish feat, he wrote on his Instagram: ‘I have wanted to climb this structure since 17…. But I made a pact to myself that I was going to wait until BASE before getting it under my belt. Patience is a beautiful thing… I’m glad I waited.’
BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground.
Participants exit from a fixed object such as a cliff, and after an optional freefall delay, deploy a parachute to slow their descent and land.
In contrast to other forms of parachuting, such as skydiving from airplanes, BASE jumps are performed from fixed objects which are generally at much lower altitudes, and BASE jumpers only carry one parachute.
BASE jumping is widely considered to be one of the most dangerous extreme sports.
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