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How to Jump Off of a Hotel in Las Vegas (For Fun)

Note: This article is for thrill-seekers, adrenaline junkies, and other wild and crazy people. If you found this page because you struggling, please know that help is available. You can speak with somebody right now in the United States (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) by calling the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; simply dial 988 on your phone. You can also send an SMS message to 988. This is available in both English and Spanish. If it’s an emergency, please dial 911 immediately or go to your nearest emergency room so that a medical professional can give you information about your circumstances.

While most of us are content to enjoy our Las Vegas hotels from the inside–you know, with climate control, comfortable seats, and a minimum of vertigo–somebody figured out a way to make jumping off of a hotel in Vegas a thing that you can pay to do.

Watch It: A Video of a Guy Who Jumped Off of a Las Vegas Hotel (For Fun)

You don’t believe us? That’s okay, you can watch people do this on YouTube.

For example, watch this guy. He’s named Taylor Bybee, and he jumped off of a Vegas hotel back in 2017. He’s pretty young here; he looks like a teenager. He even says “oh my gosh” while he’s hurtling through the air towards the ground instead of swearing like a sailor (which is partly why we chose his video over others).

In the above video, Taylor jumped off of Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas–the 108th floor, 829 feet above the Vegas Strip, to be exact. And he filmed it with a rented GoPro Wristcam so we can join him without soiling ourselves.

Taylor did not do this daring jump on his own. He’s not Ethan Hunt, and this isn’t a Mission Impossible movie.

The way to do this is called “SkyJump.”

At the time we’re writing this article, the deranged activity of SkyJumping holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest commercial decelerator descent. (That’s a fancy way of saying that you don’t free fall; they control the speed as you go down so that it’s not over in three or four seconds. In other words, you don’t bungee jump off of the top of a Vegas hotel.)

Read About It: An Interview with Someone Who Recently Jumped Off of a Las Vegas Hotel (For Fun)

Siobhan Healey, a daring 30-something adrenaline enthusiast from San Diego, California, was kind enough to share her recent experience.

Is the Las Vegas SkyJump scary?

The lead up is a lot scarier than the real thing–but that would definitely depend on who you are as a human. If you are terrified of falling and seeing the ground come closer and closer to you as you do it, then it might be a lot scarier. If you are the sort of person who trusts rigging, then you are in for a really good time.

How would you compare the SkyJump to SkyDiving?

The SkyJump is a little bit slower than skydiving.

And if you skydive, you’ve likely done it as a tandem situation. So it’s lovely not to have another person on your back when you do the SkyJump.

How would you compare the SkyJump to a really scary roller coaster?

It’s similar! I was recently on a roller coaster that literally dangled you at a 96-degree angle, where it looks like you’re about to slam face-down into something.

I was the first person in the day to do the SkyJump so I didn’t see anyone else [jump first], which added its own element of fear. I didn’t know what to expect; I felt like I was the testing person in that scenario.

When you’re on a roller coaster you typically see other people doing it first, so you know other people have been okay.

Obviously you know other people have been okay when you’re jumping off a building that is set up to be jump off of, but when you’re the first person of the day it’s a little scarier. That added an additional element of fear.

Compared to a roller coaster I would say it was 30% scarier.

How safe did you feel the Stratosphere SkyJump was?

As a rock climber who understands the concept of redundancy, harnessing, and rigging, I felt it was 100% completely safe. The redundancy [of the systems in the SkyJump] was something that was a big reassurance. My equipment and harness were checked three times by three different people and also by myself. I also got to witness my partner rigged up in the same manner that I was and see him in 360 degrees of safety.

They were using a type of auto-lock carabiner, and I think my only question would have been how often they change out the actual carabiner. I did kind of think about that. But I checked it visually for load stress and saw none. Not that there’s a rope going through it, but yeah.

Basically I had the opportunity to visually inspect somebody else’s harness and assume mine was in equally good shape and my harness was checked by three people so I assumed I was not going to fall out of the apparatus.

What does SkyJump feel like?

The best way to describe the SkyJump is that it is more or less a vertical zip line. I was initially a little bit sad because when you first jump out, the mechanism that drops you seems to calibrate for your body weight and there’s a slight stall. You jump, and it catches you. And you probably fall at about 10 miles per hour for the first two or three feet. You’re thinking: “This is total BS, I thought I was jumping off a building!” But then it really picks up and you start to think: “This is like skydiving, this is amazing”.

Do you want to do the SkyJump again?

Yes, why not? I would do it back-to-back 10 times in a row if I could. In fact, if there were a way for you to jump off, get slowly pulled up to the top, and then get let down again… [laughs] oh man, so much the better.

What was your favorite thing about the Las Vegas SkyJump?

[Laughs] The jumping off the building part.

Any words of advice to someone who is thinking that they want to jump off of a building in Las Vegas?

In regards to the fear factor, if anybody reading this article were to take something away: It’s probably a little less scary than you think it is. It feels totally safe, and you’re going to have a really good time!

Do It: Go to SkyJump Las Vegas

If you’re enough of a thrill-seeker to want to do this, head over to https://thestrat.com/attractions/skyjump in another tab for the latest details. Check out their hours and pricing information, frequently asked questions, safety rules, and restrictions.

Beware that the jumps do rely on the weather. Equally of interest is that on special days/times, they offer something called a “Liquid Courage Happy Hour,” which means that you get a discount for jumping off of a perfectly good building in addition to a shot of liquid courage at the bar downstairs. (And yes, they have non-alcoholic drinks for minors.)

Media credits: AI-generated images of Elvis (or Elvis lookalikes) jumping off a hotel in harnesses copyright VegasNews.com. YouTube video courtesy of the content creator. Photo of Siobhan courtesy of Siobhan.

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