Ivan Kristoff’s Innovation 

Since the company’s beginning, Ivan Kristoff  has set the pace for the rope acces industry, expanding the scope of vertical to aerial operations. Ivan was the first to rope access to space services and above the benchmark of + 500 meters on high rise buildings. Since then, has delivered innovative approach to work at extreme heights and sets new trends for the vertical and aerial rope access world. 

Ivan Kristoff is a Bulgarian and Canadian extreme rope access expert, specialized in vertical and aerial operations at extreme heights… As a multiple world record holder, Ivan’s goals go well beyond the simple realm of rope access. With a perfect combination of aesthetics, performance, films and exploration, Ivan practices his discipline like an art form and it has become his way of life. Now he is on a mission to create an Innovation Team – a group of people from all kinds of disciplines connected to the vertical and aerial rescue. For new projects that have not been tested in the real world, a Team of concept designers and artists will help visualize descriptive innovation that can be presented at the upcoming Innovation Forum.

With a team of experts and representatives of world’s leading companies I am working on key short terms and long term projects that will reshape for better the ER response to super high-rises.

As a pioneer in air rope access and exhibition partner of Dubai Helishow 2010, 2012 and 2014, Ivan has discussed with pilots and the Top of Mind safety and security experts that there is a need for improvements in the aerial rope rescue. While America has over hundred years’ experience of high-rise ER, the Middle East, Asia and Europe can benefit from that knowledge and shape new trends in the aviation industry.

From Zero to One

The new race for building cities is going vertical. Skyscrapers are reaching new heights. High-rises in the range up to 300 hundred meters off the ground were surpassed by super high-rises, reaching the 600 meter scale. Soon they were surpassed by the mega high-rises, above 600 meters off the ground. At this heights, the firemen and ER services have new challenges to deal with fires and high-rise rescue on the exterior walls of the tall structures. The arial rescue creates at extreme heights has its challenges with the High Reference for pilots, Venture effects and turbulences around the buildings. Especially the High risk/Low frequency effect that stops and justifies many ER services, government and private agency to train in extreme endeavour.

Now the world is looking to go as high as the domain of the Giga high-rises, up to 1 kilometer in the air. Today, mega builders and architects are racing to see who can build taller structures with dramatic architectural flare. The margin is set – ONE K UP, in Saudi Arabia.

Mayors and EMS personnel are uniquely positioned to explore bold solutions to vertical  challenges.

Vertical Solutions

Ivan Kristoff was the first person to to brake the benchmark of rope access work to space services by solving the over 27 years problems of fixing the inacceble areas of the World’s Tallest Building in 2003 by completing the very first remote access above 500 meters. This happened during the very first exterior repair of the CN TOWER  Antenna Mast, which is covered with some of the most powerful RF antennas and has no other like it anywhere in the world. Even today, the top of Burj Khalifa is not covered with such  RF transmitters with powerful radiation that can boil and living species nearby. This technology for TV, Radio broadcast and telecommunications is used in space. Ivan was chosen to be the first person to fix the problems on the world’s tallest building because of his reputation of solving problems and survived at places where others have not and creating the very first Highrise Emergency Aerial Response Techniques and Planning for aerial human extraction via helicopter. These techniques and heli operations in extreme conditions and harsh environment have been demonstrated in front of and with the participation of Mel Lastman, the Toronto Mayor of Toronto, Toronto Fire Department, Metro Toronto Police, Ontario Police and 911 EMS in Canada.

This tradition of partnering with mayors was transferred in Bulgaria with the Mayors of Sofia, Gorna Oriahovica, Bistrica and Svoge. Ivan Kristoff initially tested the i-teams approach through a multi-year investment in these endeavors with great results. In Sofia, the Capital of Bulgaria and in the region he invests in building an Institute for Vertical Access operatioNs and a Mountain Training Base and initiated the INNOVATION RESCUE FUND‏ that can help other mayors, government and non-profit organizations that support volunteer rescue initiatives

Innovators to the Rescue

Since 1997 Ivan Kristoff has selfininced his rope access aerial operations with private single and twin engine helicopter. He challenged pilots, Commanders of air crews and Air Forces to go above some of the limits stipulated in the manuals of helicopters, but have had together succeed in completing their missions and returned safely on the ground and above the water.

In 2002 with the Bulgarian Air Forces he set  two world records for helicopter ascending and descending on a rope from MI 17 military helicopter with lateral external hauling system. Same year with the Bulgarian Gendarmerie, he conducted a new method for human extraction on high-rise building in extreme conditions and real fire smoke and hostile environment from MI 17 police helicopter with central external hauling system. The flying crews had to deal with new challenges, met unforeseen forces of nature and human nature but dealt with it highly efficiently to avoid the aftermath of made made and natural disasters. That is why the outcome of this experience is to create a global standardization for such types of aerial operations with local amendments to touch procedures that can deal with local terrain and available aircraft and equipment. 

In the new Millennium, and recent partnership with the Dubai Helishow a global network of the Top of Minds organization and experts have created an International Vertical Access Network (IVAN) that shares its expertise and know how to work on innovative projects. These experience that has been generated in research, development, planning and execution has made very strong bonds with professionals and experts from around the world. That is why we have chosen the best people from various fields of operations to create the Innovation Team to deal with the new challenges and we plan to organize an Innovation Forum in Bulgaria to share our ideas and solutions to the world of vertical operations and aerial rescue.

Ivan Kristoff ‘s Extreme Wish is Gearing Up

Back in May, Ivan Kristoff captured on film the skydivers, who jumped in the open sky to commemorate the 70^th Anniversary of CSKA, one of the leading Bulgarian champions and football teams and landed in the National Stadium in Sofia. One of the highlights of that footage was the OneK Altitude Low Opening (OALO) insertion of skydivers at the height of OneK over Sofia, from the Bulgarian Air Force Eurocopter Gougar helicopter and SAR team from Airbase 24 Krumovo. The ProjectExtreme director Ivan Kristoff has served in the Bulgarian Army, has focused on the film’s stars, from the Bulgarian Air Forces.  He has been enlisted in the 25^th (Toronto) Medical Company, now renamed as the 25 (Toronto) Field Ambulance, of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve medical unit in Ontario.

The fb.com/ProjectExtreme will show the consequences of the mock Mission: Impossible Fallout‘s biggest stunts: Skydivers leaping out of a military helicopter at 1K meters. The footage you will see is completely bonkers, and solidified a theory many of us share – that Sofia is the place where extreme projects can take place in the air and there are people like Ivan who are both willing and eager to die for ProjectExtreme.

Over the weekend, ProjectExtreme will released a little featurette that comes pretty close to capturing the madness Kristoff witnessed that day. It’s truncated and doesn’t show off some of the more spoilery aspects of the sequence, but it goes a long way towards explaining just how the inauguration of the 70^th Anniversary of CSKA stunt was. Check it out:

New Enhancement to the SAR Tech body

Nowadays, in Search and Rescue. in the medical diagnosis, as well as in the recovery of victims, not to use the most modern technology is complete madness.