Falling Damage (And Wintersday JP) Bug
I am experiencing the same issue. Either in the Wintersday JP or anywhere else, I have killed myself multiple times in the Silverwastes maze entrance that way. Falling damage can drain 100% of your health pool in a two-three seconds.
As far as I know, this is an old bug. Downhill/stairs kills you. I tend to jump down slopes and such, not run. I think it is mentioned somewhere in the wiki as well.
Instinct can be overridden. Just pause for half a second after jumping onto the candy cane, before you run. If half a second means you don’t finish the jp, you’re doing something else inefficiently/incorrectly elsewhere; it should not make/break the run for anyone.
Don’t jump onto the candy cane, dodge onto the circle and walk off it to the slope. Works for me at least ^^