Ali Boulala was mesmerized by a set of stairs. The 25 cascading concrete steps – tucked away behind hotels and restaurants in Lyon, France – were a challenge waiting to be conquered.
“When I first saw the stairs, back in the year 2000, I thought they looked visually amazing,” Boulala recalls. “I looked at it and thought straight away: this is possible.”
Ali Boulala’s groundbreaking attempt at the Lyon stairs became the subject of a mini-documentary by Bayer. The corporate giant used Boulala’s “leap of faith” as a metaphor for taking daring risks, despite likely pain and failure.
Next year, the jump is scheduled for a feature-length documentary, The Scars of Ali Boulala.
Ali Boulala Takes On Lyon Stairs
For Boulala, the Lyon leap meant riding his skateboard at break-neck speed up to the edge of the staircase, popping up in an ollie to launch over the 25 concrete stairs, and landing at the bottom without wiping out.
Failure may have meant cracked bones, concussed brain matter, and permanent injury. But for Ali Boulala, the pain of not attempting the jump was worse than failure.
The Swedish-born skateboarder and all around wild man made a name for himself via wacky skateboarding antics. While other boarders demonstrated their skills in controlled environments like skateparks and half-pipes, Boulala became known for skating in obscure locations and experimenting with new tricks. He traveled the world with his skateboard in tow, expanding the minds of young skaters who saw Boulala as a pioneer of a new kind of skating.
The staircase in Lyon, however, was something different.
“Half the people there were like, ‘no, this is stupid, don’t try this, it’s not possible,’” Boulala remembers. His photographer, who stood at his side at the top of the staircase, encouraged him to try.
“He kept saying, ‘do it now, do it now.’ He tried to tell me there’s other people going to try it, and I just thought, that can’t be true,” Boulala laughs.
Daring to Attempt the Impossible
Who in their right mind, Boulala thought, would attempt something so crazy? No one on a skateboard had ever jumped a 25-step staircase.
But Boulala dropped his skateboard on the ground, placed his foot on the board, and took a deep breath. He began pushing. Gaining speed, he approached the edge of the staircase. It was crazy; it was stupid. He didn’t care. He popped up the back of his board and flew out over the stairs.
“And I just thought, oh my god, this is way bigger than I imagined, oh my god, oh my god, Im flying, and then — plow!”
He hit the ground with a hard crash, and the board snapped beneath his feet.
A New Generation Follows Boulala
Boulala returned a few months later to try it again. He attempted the jump multiple times, but was never able to roll away with a clean landing. He would have kept going, but a bad fall left both of his heels seriously injured, and Boulala had to recoup. During that time, he suffered a motorcycle crash, which left him in a coma for months. He was never able to skate again.
Thirteen years after Ali Boulala’s legendary attempt in Lyon, an American boarder who had grown up in awe of Boulala decided he would attempt the staircase. Aaron Homoki traveled with Boulala back to the famed staircase. In the presence of his idol, Homoki successfully landed the staircase jump after many attempts.
It was a moment that, in Boulala’s mind, made his own attempts and failure all worthwhile.
“You don’t just give up after ten times because you don’t do it,” Boulala concludes. “Sometimes it takes years until you land a trick, years. You have to fail so many times, and then you do it again, and again, and again, and finally you make it.”
Boulala adds, with a smile, “It’s pretty much the same with everything in life.”
This is the attitude that inspired filmmaker Max Eriksson to document Boulala’s legacy. Sisyfos Film Production will release the documentary in 2020.
