This is the breathtaking moment a German kayaker made the first-ever descent of an infamous 70-foot waterfall in Iceland.

The stunning POV video, which was captured on September 15, shows Adrien Mattern paddling out into the river to make his approach to the Markarfljótsgljúfur falls.

After a few seconds, he reaches the lip and over he goes, capturing for a moment the dizzying view from the top and then the insane freefall to the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

Mattern also set up a camera downstream to record the same run. This view reveals the sheer size of the falls and the enormity of his achievement.

"The falls have been scouted before by several groups of kayakers over the years but no one stepped up to the challenge," said Mattern.

"There is a super dangerous cave at the base of the falls, which you have to avoid at all costs in order to make it away from the cascade unscathed," he added.

"Once you run a rapid or waterfall and you reappear afterwards, the feeling after is so rewarding and priceless and makes all the scary times totally worth it, Mattern said.

"These are the moments when I feel fully alive and connected to the place I’m at and there is nothing on this world which can beat that feeling for me,” he said.

During a video-shooting for an upcoming tourism project in Iceland, Germanys leading and frontier-pushing extreme kayaker Adrian Mattern managed to first descent the impressive Markarfljótsgljúfur waterfall.
The falls have been scouted before by several groups of kayakers over the years but no one stepped up to the challenge.
After examining the falls for a solid time, the young German and his fellow kayaking partner Evan Garcia (who followed down the falls shortly after Adrian) the two decided to get changed, set up a safety system in case things go wrong and return to the falls, take a last inspection and make their final call.
Mattern decided to step up to the challenge and walked up to the flatwater above the waterfall, preparing to run this drop.
Adrian comes to the lip, places his stroke and flys of the 65-70-foot-tall waterfall.
Usually with a waterfall that size the kayaker would try to set his kayak up as vertical as possible in order to have minimum resistance when he impacts in order to prevent injuries. Mattern comes off with a big stroke and his kayak is falling fairly flat but shortly before impacting his kayak reconnects with a rock in the waterfall which sets him up for a perfect entry angle of his kayak.
A few seconds after he reappears on the left side of the falls, far away from the dangerous right side and claims a successful descent.
The extreme wide angle of the GoPro makes the fall look smaller and distorted, the downstream camera gives the full look of the rapid and its sheer size.