Grand Theft Auto Online: inside the Los Santos stunt scene

From death-defying parachute leaps to astonishing motorcycle jumps, Grand Theft Auto V has become the venue for a stunt show with millions of spectators

Reaching higher than any other geographic feature on the Grand Theft Auto landscape, Mount Chiliad is a towering icon of the series. Although instantly familiar to players of GTA: San Andreas and GTA V, it is shrouded in mystery - the volcanic contours and forgotten passes are even said to have played host to extraterrestrial beings and cryptid Bigfoot-like creatures. For dedicated explorers willing to venture beyond its miles of verdant evergreens, every knife-edged gully and sun-bleached coastal platform has its own story to tell.

For one player named Ash, the story began with an injury. After suffering a prolapsed disk in late 2013, she found herself almost completely immobile and unable to work. Desperate to ease the inevitable boredom, she started playing Grand Theft Auto V - the latest in the blockbusting series of open world crime adventures. Like every GTA title, the game presents players with a sand box-like world to freely explore, filled with towns, cities and vast areas of rolling countryside. To her it was an escape, a means of regaining some sense of mobility. A friend suggested she learn how to make videos of her adventures in the game and post them on YouTube. "I gave it a crack and ended up here," she says.