This is the first ever Red Bull Sky Gate, so needless to say they’re still figuring it out. But even taking that into account… what the hell is going on here? Even as an urban downhill, this is a rather sketchy course.
The event happened May 23 through 24 of this year, at Tianmen Mountain National Park in Zhangjiajie of China’s Hunan Province. And the questionable layout aside, it made for one beautiful backdrop.
But back to the course, Andrew Taylor offered us a more granular breakdown of the beginning portion: “We’re at the top of 997 steps… it’s pretty hectic, super steep 50-grade (percentage) down the starts so things are going to get interesting.”
Yes, that is a suuuper steep grade.
Right before you hit a nice little stretch in between this set of stairs and another.
Kelly McGarry was among those present and experienced the course from up close and way too personal.
The video description reads: “Things took a turn for the worse in China. Kelly McGarry gets into trouble trying to slow down for one of the massive stair hucks at the Tianmenshan Red Bull event, and ends up taking a massive huck to flat and detonating on impact. From Kelly himself: ‘Hey team thanks for the messages, I’m all good, munched my foot a bit and got two cuts on arm totalling 7 stitches. Brakes cooked and pulled to the bar half way down course ( 1000 ft of 50 degree stairs + 97 kg bloke at race pace) …was on a runaway train …Scary moment for sure. Stoked to be ok. Cheers.'”
We’re glad he is doing well and overall the event appears to have been a success, so good on everyone involved. That being said, we’re still a little confused as to how this event came about, and there seems to be almost no information surrounding it aside from these videos.
