Perched perilously on a bench, 100 metres up a 35-degree slope, wearing just a pair of oversize skis and a suit, the skier waits for a sign from their coach.
That coach is waiting for the wind conditions to be just right for optimum flying.
The skier is readying themselves for take-off.
With a downward swipe of their coach's hand, the skier lets go of the bench and lets gravity take them.
The Winter Olympics is full of adrenaline-filled sports but there are few that are more spectacular or death defying than the large hill ski jump event.
In Beijing, this exhilarating spectacle is paired with a venue that can only be described as awe-inspiring.
A huge, flying-saucer-shaped observation deck — from which the Great Wall of China is visible from across the valley – appears to hover above the two jumps, cased in a sinuous metallic shell that flows down the side of the mountain.
Designed by Zhang Li — the same man who designed the Big Air at Shougang — the Snow Ruyi, as it is known, is simply spectacular and a fitting venue to showcase the best athletes in the world.
Dwarfed by the scale of the structure around them – and the hill they are sitting precariously at the summit of — the men and women surrender themselves to gravity and fly 130 metres down the hill, one after another like a procession of wingless birds.
Seeing it for the first time, you can't help but have your breath taken away.
It might be more accurate to say the athletes glide than fly, but they certainly soar down the mountain with a gracefulness that belies the danger that any wrong move could impart.
Each jumper has around 90m to build up speed down the ramp, crouching with their arms behind them, disappearing from the view of those in the grandstand before launching themselves off the end in an explosion of energy.
At the qualification of the men's large hill competition on Saturday night, the sizable crowd in the permanent 6,000-seat arena at the foot of the mountain audibly gasped at each competitor's efforts, cooing when the jumper slapped his skis into the packed snow, guided as to the success of the jump by a green laser strip of light that showed where each jumper needed to land to take the lead.
Conditions were perfect, a slight updraft helping the slight men to be carried down past the calculation line — a mark after which extra points are given, landing with one foot in front of the other with arms wide apart to correct for any wobbling upon impact.
Through the air, the jumpers hold an extraordinary position, leaning forward to the extent that they are flying head-first, with their oversize skis splayed out either side of them.
The best of the athletes barely move from that position throughout their entire flight, while others are forced to correct themselves with gradual movements of their arms, in position by their sides.
Those movements need to be delicate, because any rapid flailing could spell disaster.
Ski jumping, which has been a part of the Games since 1924 in Chamonix – with women first appearing in 2014 — features a daring mix of bravery and skill.
Just ask Norwegian gold medallist Daniel Andre Tande.
Just 11 months ago at the World Championships last March, Tande overcorrected when practising on the large hill at Planica in Slovenia.
He fell and spent four days in a coma after suffering multiple brain haemorrhages, a punctured lung and a broken collarbone that has needed 10 screws to stabilise.
He was back on Friday, qualifying 28th for Saturday night's final after flying for 120.5m.
That was far behind the longest jump of the night, a 136.5m effort from the ROC's Danil Sadreev, although after accounting for the position at which he took off from – constantly adjusted to ensure parity in changing conditions – and marks taken off for his wind, that leap was only good enough for fifth spot.
Marius Lindvik took top honours with his 135m, a 136.4-point effort to claim some confidence heading into the two-jump final.
"It was a pretty good jump," he said after.
"I managed to fix the position a bit. Then the jump is much better.
"In the first training, I was a bit too low and compressed, and it's really hard to push in the right direction on the take-off."
He will be one of the favourites, along with normal hill (where the calculation line is at 95 metres, not 125 like the large hill) gold medallist Ryoyu Kobayashi, who also claimed the prestigious Four Hills tournament earlier this year and Kamil Stoch of Poland, who is looking for a third successive Olympic large hill gold medal.
"But only the best can win."
