Take the plunge and conquer your fear of heights with this prolific duo of Norwegian 'death divers'

The two Norwegian men clear their runway, kicking away twigs and pebbles, pulling back tree branches. They approach the cliff’s edge, one throws a rock out towards the water, noting its trajectory as it falls 11 metres and splashes through the surface. He takes a few steps back as they initiate the countdown: “Three, two, one.” He runs full speed ahead and hurls himself off the cliff, twisting and turning through the air before landing with a massive splash. As he returns to the surface, there’s a huge grin on his face. He lets out a victorious yell.

This is death diving, or as they call it in Norway where the extreme sport finds its roots, Døds (it translates directly to “death”). “Everybody can relate to the pain of a belly flop and everybody can relate to a fear of heights,” says 23-year-old Truls Torp, who has been death diving since 2015. “If you add in some acrobatics in the middle, it’s really entertaining for anyone – it doesn’t matter if they care about the sport.”

Torp is joined by 24-year-old Kim André Knutsen; together the two Norwegians make up the #00Squad, recording and posting long-form YouTube videos that depict their far-flung travels and show-stopping dives (recently they’ve begun dabbling in skydiving, too) and all the hangs in between. Separately, they compete towards the world’s most prestigious death diving competition, the Døds Diving World Championship, held annually at the Frognerbadet pool in Oslo. Torp has claimed the world champ title twice while Knutsen has claimed it once.

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The duo met in a fittingly extreme fashion. Knutsen was visiting his family vacation home in Croatia when he got a life-shifting call. “My mom called me and said, ‘Yo, there’s this crazy Norwegian guy jumping on his belly’,” Knutsen recalls. He rushed directly to the nearby cliff face where his mother was. “The very first thing I see when I get there is Truls full-speed passing me, doing a Døds from seven and a half metres.”

Knutsen was mesmerised, not only by the action itself, but also by the hold it had over passersby. Every time Torp, who was preparing for an upcoming competition, threw himself off the make-shift platform, there were about 15 tourists, staring, filming, mouths agape. “Seeing that feedback from the crowd, I just wanted to be him,” says Knutsen. “So I made the goal that next year I’m going to come back here, but I’m going to be the guy that they’re watching.”

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How does one get into Døds? The trick is to start small, jumping from a height of two metres and slowly working your way up to the almighty 10-metre mark, which is competition height. In Knutsen’s case, it took “weeks, or maybe even months” to get there (ironically, he has a fear of heights). As for that perceived belly flop – divers enter the water in a shrimp position, hands and feet first, creating that signature splash. “If you get a big splash, that’s kind of the icing on the cake,” says Torp. In competition, dives are judged by their takeoff, their flight and their landing.

These days the duo have conquered impossible feats; they recently took on a 27-metre cliff in Côte d’Azur featuring a climb so perilous that the fall would kill them. Though they’re among the best in the world, they still experience a certain fear. “I think it’s healthy to be really scared sometimes,” says Torp. “But it’s such a boost – after you jump, a couple seconds later you’re the happiest you’ve been in half a year.” The thousands of views they receive on their channel, not to mention brand sponsorships (Torp recently did a dive wearing a bomber jacket by of-the-moment Danish brand (di)vision) and competition prize money, also serves as a nice incentive to keep diving.

The thrills of death diving aren’t without cost. While Torp and Knutsen have both been admittedly lucky (“Just small injuries here and there,” says Knutsen), some of their contemporaries haven’t. “We know people who have become paralysed,” says Knutsen. Even a well-executed dive comes with a major impact – they’re usually entering the water at about 60 to 75 kilometres per hour – and pain is par for the course. While the jump itself only takes a few moments, the preparation to ensure maximum safety is extensive; clearing the jump area, checking the water depth and current, tracking the fall trajectory. It’s all covered in the duo’s videos, a handy way to show admirers that Døds is more than just a leap of faith. Still, why take the risk? “We chase the feeling of coming up and really feeling alive,” says Torp, before adding a less romantic, refreshingly honest reason: “And the clip of course. I don’t know how many people would death dive if they couldn’t record it.”

While Torp and Knutsen spend their winters travelling to warmer climates in order to death dive year-round, the sport’s connection to their native Norway runs deep. “We were raised with skiing, mountains, hiking – we don’t have big cities. We aren’t going to the mall or clubbing. As much fun you want, you make it yourself. That’s the mentality we grew up with,” says Knutsen. “Plus, it’s very, available for everybody; you don’t need expensive gear to Døds, you just need swimming trunks and a friend.” Torp smiles and adds: “And some guts.”