This photo looks terrifying on its own, but the story behind it only makes the image more harrowing. It was the penultimate photo Gareth Jones, a well-known base jumper, would ever post to Instagram. He would later fall to his death from the very same cliff.
Jones, a Cambridge graduate enjoying his latest daredevil expedition (his Instagram account is full of stunts including BASE jumping, speed flying, cliff-diving, rock climbing, and paragliding across Australia, Asia, and Europe), was dangling his legs over a nearly 300-foot drop off North Head Cliff in Manly, Sydney when he snapped the photo last Thursday.
Three days later, he returned to same cliff to take in the Sunday morning sunrise:
On Sunday morning, Jones got up early to watch the sun rise with his friends on the cliff. Onlookers spotted him climbing over the safety fence to get to the edge of the cliff minutes before he fell.
Jones’s Instagram account lives on as a tribute to his adventuresome life, with this quote from his profile speaking louder than any individual photo: “Risk- if you have but one opportunity….. make it count.”
(H/T The Daily Dot; Cambridge News)