A base jumper has had a lucky escape after the high bar he launched off snapped, sending him over the edge of a 1,200m cliff.

Richard Henriksen, a surgeon, who was performing the stunt for a television show at the time, likes to do gymnastics before jumping from cliffs in western Norway.

He was meant to somersault on a high bar on the edge of a mountain before the attempt, however, events took a shocking turn when the apparatus broke while Henriksen was mid-swing.

Fortunately, the father-of-five just missed hitting the rock face and retained his composure in time to open his parachute.

"That night after seeing the video, I was putting the kids to bed reading and singing for them, I realised that it could well have been that the children had been without a dad," he admitted afterwards.