At a cliff’s edge, Tyler Ferullo prepares for his next freestyle jump. His face shows no fear and with a deep breath, he performs breathtaking aerial moves.
“I get nervous before almost every jump. But [that nervousness] helps me to lock in and stay focused,” says Ferullo, a junior tourism, hospitality and event management major.
Ferullo is a freestyle cliff jumper who travels nearly weekly performing jumps. At 14, Ferullo discovered freestyle trampolining, which became his entry into the sport. His experience with trampolining helped him learn flips and maneuvers to perform when he made the transition to cliff jumping, he says.
His first freestyle cliff jump was at Brownstone Adventure Park in Portland, Conn., and was only 10 feet.
Now four years into freestyle cliff jumping, his highest jump has been 102 feet at Abiqua Falls in Oregon.
“I’ve gotten to jump all across the country at waterfalls, quarries, bridges, river gorges and more,” he says.
His favorite location so far, was the Grotto in Vermont.
“[The Grotto] is a granite quarry with every height from 10 feet, all the way up to 112 feet,” Ferullo says.
Since he’s been perfecting his craft, he has learned how to perform several types of flips without any risk of injury.
The types of flips he often performs are floating out single backflips and gainers.
“My favorite complex move is called a Fliffus-Full. It’s essentially a triple flip that starts with a front-flip, followed by a front, half-flip, then going into a full backflip,” he says.
Although the preparation before jumps can be extensive, Ferullo says safety measures need to be taken to prevent any injuries or miscalculations.
Ferullo says he checks the water temperature to determine what he will be wearing.
“I’ll [usually] wear a bathing suit, but if the water is cold, I’ll wear a wetsuit,” Ferullo says. “I also wear earplugs and a mouthguard when I’m jumping from something pretty high.”
Traditionally, cliff jumpers will toss a rock into the water before their first jump. Ferullo says it helps jumpers envision the jump.
“[Throwing a rock] shows how much airtime you’ll have as well as the distance you need to jump out,” he says.
Ferullo describes freestyle cliff jumping as a fun hobby. But he also acknowledges the dangers that come with the sport.
“If you’re jumping from 90 feet, you’re entering the water at close to 50 mph. Landing poorly from that high can cause someone to get knocked out, drown, break bones or sustain internal damage,” he says.
Recalling one of the biggest accidents he has seen, Ferullo says his friend jumped from 106 feet and accidently knocked himself out.
“I was in the water with another guy [when it happened], and it was terrifying to say the least,” he says. “It’s really scary to think that he could’ve died that day, and that the same thing could happen to any of us if we aren’t careful.”
Although his family is nervous, Ferullo says they support him and his cliff jumping. His mother, Dawn Ferullo, says she has mixed emotions about his hobby.
“I worry about him constantly, but I also love that he has such an adventurous spirit,” she says. “I hope he [continues] to live a life full of adventure and maybe finds something else he loves that a little less extreme so I can finally sleep at night.”
As a mother, she does advise other parents who have children with dangerous hobbies to keep the lines of communication open. She also encourages parents to make sure their children are taking all the necessary safety precautions.
Apart from taking years to learn the safest techniques, one of the other struggles Ferullo’s faced as a cliff jumper is navigating jumping locations.
He says he does extensive research to find the most pristine spots that are also legal.
“Unfortunately, almost every cliff jumping location in the Northeast is illegal,” he says. “I’ve spent hours scouring Google for spots, following rivers on satellite view and looking at old internet forums. YouTube is also helpful when looking up the right keywords.”
The illegal locations in the state are what prompted him to begin travelling to other states for legal jumping locations.
Promoting his daring jumps on Instagram, Ferullo has gained an immense following of more than 100,000 followers.
Because of this large following, he has been able to land two endorsement deals. The first one with Dunkin’ Donuts in 2022, and his most-recent deal with a clothing company, Bearbottom clothing.
“[With] Dunkin’, it was a very specific [deal]. They’d have a set drink they wanted to feature or that I [needed to] showcase in a [Instagram] reel,” Ferullo says.
With Bearbottom clothing, Ferullo says he just needs to perform his cliff jumping for his posted content.
Ferullo posts new video clips daily, showcasing some of the best flips he performed that day.
One of his friends, Jonah Gesner, is often the man behind the camera recording Ferullo’s jumps.
“When filming a shot for Tyler, we always take time before to find the best possible angle,” Gesner says. “Once that is settled, I am always focused on doing whatever he needs to help him feel calm and ready to execute [each] jump.”
Gesner himself has been cliff jumping for three years with Ferullo. He says through jumping with him, and filming videos for him daily, he has seen Ferullo progress since his first jump.
“We were both training backyard trampoline tricks pretty heavily but seeing him evolve into one of the best cliff jumpers in the world was not something [he did] without countless hours of training,” Gesner says.
Ferullo has gained such a following that he was invited to Senderland, also known as “Dirtbag Disneyland.” He describes this event as an adult playground which features water slides, diving platforms, cranes to jump off, dirt bike tracks and much more.
“It’s owned by a guy named Paul who decided to build a waterpark in his front yard, and who also likes to party,” he says. “Twice a year, he works with a cliff jumper from Massachusetts, Matt Short, to host the Senderland event.”
Ferullo has also taken his abilities to various competitions over the years.
