Anniken Binz – Tougher than most

Her friends would characterize her as quite extreme, in the way that if she puts her mind to something she goes through with it. She practises a lot until she makes it, lives extremely healthy in periods, studies hard, and parties hard when she parties. She does things extreme in short periods, explores, completes and moves on.

The first jump

She was a model for Elite Models in Milan Italy, and had always been fascinated with parachuting. When she got the opportunity in Italy, she went for it. Little did she know that this was going to be her big passion. She took a parachuting class and did her first real jump in 1996, she was hooked! She was the only girl in the parachuting environment, and she felt very lonely. She bought her own equipment the very same day she got her licence, but she didn’t do much jumping the next few years.

Face of the year 1994

There was a lot of studying and working abroad. Already when she was fourteen she started working as a model. When she was seventeen she won the Norwegian face of the year. When she finished her studies she went to Paris to model.

Got out

She was really depressed in Paris. It wasn’t for her, and found out that freedom was more important than money and carrier. So she packed her bags and went on a motorcycle trip in South Africa. Then she went to Ecuador where she worked as an assistant teacher for homeless children.
After that she travelled for a year and got a few jumps in Venezuela. She then went to Oslo to study social anthropology and society geography.

Scary and fantastic

One day a friend called and told her she was doing a base jump and asked if she wanted to join. Anniken was ready and of they went. It was scary and insanely wonderful. The feeling you get flying of a mountain top is indescribable. Everything went as planned and she landed safe on the ground after a fantastic adrenalin kick.

A broken ankle was a wakeup call

She was prioritizing education, travelling and her boyfriend, so there wasn’t much jumping. The base jumping environment was pretty hardcore. There were tough guys doing this sport and not much room for girls. But she loved everything around the jumps, and it was a lot less pricy than jumping from a plane. In 2003 she broke her ankle quite complicated during a parachuting jump, and was passive for months. This was a wake up call. She suddenly understood how important it is to be physically active through the jumping and that this is what she wanted to prioritize.

Safety first

Her family doesn’t accept her love for jumping, and that of course bothers her. But she is very strict with the safety when she’s jumping, and she always stays within her limits. The conditions have to be optimal, and everything is according to the book. She mostly jumps from high places which are safer because you get further from the mountain when the parachute opens. When she’s jumping from buildings and towers she is extra strict with safety. She loves her life and her family and doesn’t see herself dying in a jumping accident. She wakes up every morning happy – because she is doing something she loves that gives her a perspective on life and death, and because she has the freedom to do so.