Canadian cliff diver Molly Carlson has taken her sport into icy new territory, becoming the first known woman in the world to dive from an iceberg.
The Montreal-based diver completed the roughly 15-metre, or 50-foot, plunge from an iceberg off the coast of Twillingate, Newfoundland, into the North Atlantic Ocean back in June.
Carlson told Global News on Monday that the feat took months of preparation and required her to first learn how to ice climb before searching for an iceberg that was safe enough for the dive.
She said icebergs can be at risk of rolling, adding that part of the one she jumped from broke off moments after her dive.
“After I jumped off, it started breaking on the backside. So the timing was insane. If we were on there for five more minutes, who knows what this story could have been like.”
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Footage of the achievement was shared online by project lead Red Bull Canada last week. Carlson has since gained more than one million followers on Instagram.
Carlson said the project was about more than completing a world-first. She wanted it to represent her experience with extreme anxiety and show other women that fear does not have to prevent them from accomplishing extraordinary things.
“I struggle a lot with my mental health,” Carlson said. “For me, it was important to pick a project that not only was challenging and beautiful and intense, but also did something to represent what’s on the inside.”
Carlson compared that experience to an iceberg, most of which sits below the water’s surface.
“Everyone kind of sits 10 per cent above the surface, the highlight reels, the perfect everything, but deep down we are all human. We’re all scared. We all have emotions. We all have fear,” she said.
“Knowing that fear doesn’t get the final say was really special to me.”
“I truly want women to know that they could go out and do brave things too, no matter how insane they might sound.”
Carlson is now turning her attention to what she jokes is her next “iceberg”: the ring on her finger.
She is planning her wedding to fellow cliff diver Aidan Heslop after the couple announced their engagement earlier this month.
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