YANQING, China — They take off at 40 miles per hour, 200 feet above the ground, headed for a 71-degree ramp, then explode off it, flipping through the air a maximum of three times because any more could be fatal. Aerial skiing is probably the Olympic sport with the fewest moms able to watch in real time. But for its participants, the jumps are fun. The hard part might come as a surprise: Many of them are petrified of heights.
“Not a single jumper out here jumps without fear,” says Chris Lillis. “That's not a thing. That's a little misconception about it. People are like, ‘Aw, they‘re crazy people. How could you ever do that?’ I'd say where aerial skiers have a different state of mind is we're just really good at overcoming fear. Fear doesn’t necessarily affect me in the same way that it would the average person.”
Still, the sport might seem like an odd choice for someone who cannot look over the side of a bridge without becoming sick to his stomach, such as Justin Schoenefeld. But he does not see the conflict.
