NickD 1 #1 August 10, 2003 After years of battles with the NPS regarding BASE jumping in National Parks there's the beginnings of compromise in the wind. I believe it’s only a matter of time now before a jumper with a BASE rig slung over a shoulder will be able to stand in line for lunch along with the climbers, hikers, and campers of Yosemite Valley. On another front there is Lake Powell and the renewed calls for the dismantling of the Dam that formed it. In August of 1869 an explorer named John Wesley Powell journeys through the Glen Canyon area on the Colorado river and reports back east that he’s found what he calls a, "vertical desert.” There are sheer walls a thousand feet high everywhere you look. In 1956 the Glen Canyon Dam is built (a big government make-work project) and over the next ten years what is now Lake Powell is formed. Nowadays because of the drought conditions in the west Lake Powell is about as low as it’s ever been and the famous, “bath tub ring,” is as big as I’ve ever seen it. The lower water levels are beginning to uncover archeological sites that are intriguing to scientists and may tell the story of humans who lived in this area thousands of years ago. Some environmentalists are calling for the draining of the lake in order to restore the balance of the ecosystem down river. Removing the water from Lake Powell would uncover a BASE wonderland. It would add as much as 500-feet to cliffs that are already very jumpable. A place where you can spend a year and never do the same cliff twice. There are two power generation plants that feed off the lake. One is owned by a national consortium of power companies and the other by the U.S. Government. Both these plants would cease operation if the water was drained. The town of Page is naturally against any changes in Lake Powell as the lake is the only reason the town exists. They live off tourist dollars (buy your supplies before getting there) but it’s a relatively new town that began as a place to house the Dam workers in the late fifties. Locals fear Page becoming a ghost town if the lake is drained. However, towns do come and go, and that’s the way of things. Keeping the Colorado river bottled up is a poor excuse to keep a small tourist trap going. I’m not smart enough to know which side is right (the, “Keep the Lake” side makes very dire predictions of water shortages and other catastrophes occurring if the Glen Canyon Dam is removed) but from a purely BASE view, I say, pull the plug. Nick BASE 194 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andy2 0 #2 August 10, 2003 pull it! nice post --------------------------------------------- let my inspiration flow, in token rhyme suggesting rhythm... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
QuickDraw 0 #3 August 10, 2003 Maybe we can 'activate' 617 Squadron again. -- Hope you don't die. -- I'm fucking winning Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freakydiver 0 #4 August 11, 2003 Maybe you just need to come hang out on my boat in Lake Powell -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." -- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
