CanuckInUSA

Since when has a B-Team member ever tried to hide their identity? Peterk sure isn't an alias and all you need to do is look at Rauk's profile and you'll know who it is (just as DexterBase and KMonster don't hide their identities). I'm beginning to think that the only enemy is ourselves here. WTF people? Why are some people in the BASE community so anal towards each other? People make mistakes and often (not always), they learn from those mistakes so as not to repeat them. It's called life experiences. So why do others choose not to forgive and forget? Shit are some people planning on taking their grudges with them to the graves? The person you've held a grudge against since last summer has been busy opening up new sites and keeping things reasonably quiet. Yes he may mention on here that he's been busy jumping, but he's not telling you where he's jumping, nor is he telling you when he's jumping. And besides, since when does he need to tell you of his activities? Since when have you become the authority here in town? Let's remember who the real enemy is. It's not the A-team, it's not the B-Team nor is it you or I (or any of the other CO jumpers). If Triax wants to hold a video night out, then let them. Yes I'm sure part of their motivation is to sell more of their products. But at the same time they are opening up the venue for others to show their videos. And you better believe that the B-Team has some first class quality footage to show if they choose to. But that will be up to them. Hopefully a copy of Radix will make it out there because yes, rumor has it that it is pretty bad ass. So let's start treating each other with a little respect. After all, we may need to depend on each other one day to save each other's lives and jumping off of fixed objects (and even jumping out of airplanes) is a pretty darn cool thing when you compare us jumpers to the rest of society. Peace Steve (a friend of the B-Team, but a friend of others as well). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Bummer dude ... something similar happened to me not long ago. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Check one of the Eloy memory threads. Iwan posted a link to his site which shows Alana and Justi jumping from the helicopter. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Canada defeated Russia 6-1 tonight to take the Men's World Junior Hockey Championship. More can be read about it here. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I jump at one of the nation's most expensive DZs. They charge $15 for a hop n' pop and $22 for full altitude. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

So what did happen? Did he just stay too long on his fronts, or something else? I was packing when it happened, but I didn't witness the accident due to the fact that I had my back turned to the landing area when he crashed. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I made 3 demo Phoenix-Fly tracking suit jumps while I was in Eloy during this year's Holiday Boogie. The Phoenix-Fly suit is really fun to fly and you can get near classic wingsuit like performance from it without the hassles of dealing with the suit post opening. I'll be ordering a Phoenix-Fly tracking suit very very soon. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

As a three year (dare I say) veteran of this boogie, Eloy was a good time. I renewed friendships with many and started some new ones as well. Plus I made some very fun memorialable jumps. I made 36 skydives in total: - 16 freefly jumps (including a couple of tube dives) - 9 wingsuit jumps. - 3 hybrid dives. - 2 tracking dives. - 3 jumps using a demo Phoenix-Fly tracking suit. - 2 helicopter jumps practicing sub-terminal gainers. - 1 high altitude hop n' pop where I bumped end cells with 4 different canopies. and in those 36 skydives, often I was able to rip a bad-ass swoop. But I wasn't as consistent as I would have liked to have been, I came out high a few times. Plus ... During the boogie I made 3 BASE jumps: - My 1st solo cliff jump in Moab on my way to Eloy. - My lowest freefall to date, a 270 foot antenna in AZ. - Another cliff jump with a friend in Moab on my way home. Good times this year, and yes the weather was much better this time around. Oh and I didn't go to bed earlier than 2 am every night I was there. Dang the free beer isn't really free. It does come with a price that you often need to pay the next day. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Thanks ... but I bet you say that to all the Canadians you meet. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

A couple of weekends ago I was skiing with my Gatorz and had no problems with them at all. But I wasn't really working up a sweat crashing like most knuckle draggers do ... oooh that was a low blow wasn't it. So I guess the answer really depends on the individual using them, what kind of a skier/boarder they are and what sort of WX conditions they encounter. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hmmm ... where to begin? Well I'm home safe and sound and I had a great time in Eloy. I'm sorry if I didn't introduce myself to all those who didn't know me there, but what can you do (you might have met me as Steve and not CanuckInUSA). I did many great/fun jumps including two very fun jumps with Justi the originator of this thread and got some good swoops in when I could. I know some people were more active with their jumping than I was (could being hungover every morning have something to do with this), but most of the jumps that I did get in were of the high quality variety. - I did 36 skydives while I was in Eloy and I feel current again flying my Crossfire2 canopy. I went into the boogie current with BASE jumping, but I hadn't skydived in the 6 weeks prior to Eloy, so needless to say I was a tad uncurrent when it comes to swooping before the boogie began. - Plus I did 3 BASE jumps during my absence from Denver. One of those jumps was off of a 270 foot antenna (my new lowest freefall jump). But I also soloed a cliff in Moab and jumped the same cliff with a friend this morning before hitting the roads. - Finally I got a speeding ticket going 90 in a 75 area following my friend Oscar on the way home after our morning jump in Moab (Oscar also got a ticket). Lesson learned? Let your friends speed ahead even if it means losing them. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Amen. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Today someone started up a thread in the Bonfire area of DZ.COM concerning a sick loved one and how they were worried that today could be this loved ones last day on earth due to the fact that they were going in for surgery. I thought about responding to that thread, but decided to start this one here instead. What I am about to say is controversial to some (hence the reason why I bring it here), but I feel that a dialogue should be started anyway. I wonder if this person really has a grip on the fact that their loved one (who is very very old) will die. Maybe not today, but they will die, as will this person who started that thread, myself and all of you reading this thread. No amount of prayers will change this. We are born to the fate that we will die one day. No one gets out alive. And the sooner people come to grips with this reality, the sooner they can get on with their lives. It amazes me the number of people who think they can control their destinies. If only I do this, and do that, then I will live to be a old person. Ballony I say. Anyone of us could be killed or come down with a terminal disease today or tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or years from now. So stop trying to control your death and live life. I feel I can talk about death in this way concerning a dying relative as my father is on death's door himself as I write this. Several years ago he was diagnosed with throat cancer and things have just gotten worse and worse. Recently he developed leukemia and if you can believe it, only a few short weeks ago he broke his femur walking ... I repeat ... walking down the street. To my sister, this is all horrible as she feels he's too young to die (he's 75) and she is one of these types of people I speak of who thinks they can control their own death and thinks it's horrible that he will die. For some reason, she wants him to hang on for months and even years and I sit in the opposite corner and say, if it was me, fuck that, pull the plug. What kind of life can my father expect to live from now until his death? I shitty painful, bed ridden death (his femur will never heal). He lives in agony day after day. What kind of life is that? Not one I wish to live that's for sure. So stop thinking that you can control your life as you can't. And get out there and live each day to it's fullest. Be happy for what you have and don't forget, you can't take it with you. "He who dies with the most toys, still dies" Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I respect your view, but do not agree. Although I have minimal experience skydiving, I would compare skiing and snowboarding to freeflying and belly down RW. I enjoy both "two-planking" and "shredding", with very different sensations. I'm not so sure I would compare shredders and two-plankers to freeflying and RW (unless of course you're saying that skiing is like freeflying which I know is going to piss off a bunch of people because shredding is thought of as the youthful expression discipline). The reason why I say this is because while two-planks are harder to control (once one gets over the initial learning curve of the two), skiing is way more versatile than snowboarding. How many shredders can honestly say that they can take their shredding to all parts of the mountain. And I'm not talking about resorts with nothing but groomed runs and bump runs. I'm talking about the back-bowls, couloirs and glade runs of major resorts. With all honesty you hardly ever see snowboarders on good bump runs and if they are on them, all they are doing is side slipping the run and destroying the continuity of the bumps. And how many snowboards can be seen on true double black diamond couloirs (like one finds in Blackcombe, Jacksons Hole and/or the east bowl of A-Basin when it's open). Yes there are a handful of talented extreme snowboarders in the world, but they are few and far between. So to say that skiing is obsolete just goes to show how little one uses the entire mountain of a major resort. Plus how many patrollers use boards while they are working? They don't because it's impossible to get the job done on a board. There will always be a place for two-plankers and shredders on the mountains and we just need to respect and admire the capabilities of both tools. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Ah yes the good ole Fischer C4 210s. I too at one point of my long skiing career was on a pair of C4 210s. They were good at the time, but far too heavy compared to what's available today. Then in the late 80s and 90s I downsized to some Ross'y 198s (of course back then longer skis could go faster, they were just harder to control in the bumps and trees). The parabolic shaped skis which are available in todays world are leaps and bounds above anything performance-wise which was available in yester-year. My current skis are a pair of Dynastar 186s and they rock. I can ski comfortably black and double black diamond couloirs (here in the west where the real mountains are), in the trees, in the moguls, in crud and can still take them down the groomers of all steepness on snow or ice (assuming my edges are tunned) like a magic carpet ride. Of course the most important equipment component in two-planking is and has always been the boots, how they fit and what sort of flex characteristics they have. In fact one wonders how many people neglected this and suffered because of it. You don't need poles to ski (as a former pro ski patroller I learned to ski with snow fences, shovels, medical gear and other things in my hands), and you can be skiing on skis with poor bases and no outside edge. But if your foot doesn't feel like it's part of the ski, you're behind the 8-ball. As am I. I just live the lifestyle of a 20-something year old. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There was this really funny TV commercial from the 90s (I can't remember if it was a gum commercial or a car commercial) where snowboarders were referred to as Shredders and the skiers were Two Plankers. And it kind of makes sense. The Shredders kind of skid down the mountains while Two Plankers is self explainatory. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

No argument here. That's what I'm saying as well. I just worked too hard to get to where I am on skiing to start over. But I have tried running with friend (me on skis, them on boards) and they wanted to stay away from moguls, runs with chopped up crud (what happens when a powder field gets used) and the really steep stuff. All they wanted to do was stay on the groomies or go to some open bowls. Then again, they we only intermediate boarders. But at the same time, I've thrashed myself in the glades of Steamboat while some boarders with less experience had an easier time than I did. It's all good. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The goal of anyone playing on the mountains should be to have fun and not hurt themselves. And it shouldn't matter if they're skiing or snowboarding. I feel that skiing is more versatile than snowboarding and get to more (difficult) sections of the mountains (like moguls, chutes and bowls which require traversing), it is easier on a pair of skis. And this is why I continue to ski and not bother buying a board. But I also feel that one can start doing the more difficult runs faster in their snowboarding careers than they would if they were skiing. Being able to ski on blacks and (true) double blacks diamond runs takes years and years of skiing whereas it can be done faster by anyone with a shred of athletiscm on a snowboard. I love being in the mountains. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Tell you what. Let's go do a black (nah make it a double black) diamond run (and for shits and giggles let's do it in the trees). I'll be on the snowboard (I've never snowboarded in my life) and you'll be on skis. Then tell me which one is harder to master. To say that snowboarding is harder than skiing tells us how little you know about the two. I don't mean to put you down. But you just don't know what you're talking about. Once again, I don't have anything against shredders. But to get to blacks and double blacks on two blanks takes more time and effort in the sport than it does for a shredder. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

This was a major pet peeve of mine when I patroller up at Lake Louise in Alberta (a resort just as big if not bigger than Vail). There was always some couple who said to themselves at the end of the day "jeez dear, when haven't been to the top yet". And as anyone who's been to Louise knows, the summit of the mountain (only accessible via a poma lift) is expert only terrain. So when joe bloe intermediate skier is stuck at the top of the mountain snow plowing down, they mess up the entire sweep (something patrollers do at the end of the day, to sweep the entire mountain to ensure that no one is left behind) and many times we the patrol would be finishing sweep in the dark. Grrrr ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Not that I like it myself, but don't forget that the downhill skier (or boarder) has the right of way. It's up the uphill skier (or boarder) who wants to pass this person that is responsible to avoid the potential collision. As far as skycat's comments about using people who've stopped on the slopes as pylons, I do that all the time. After all, it's not everyday that gates are setup and as someone who's done a little racing, it's always fun to run gates (or people). I tend to ski on the very side of the trails where there is better snow and less traffic. I do run the risk of screwing up and skiing into a tree. But in the 28 or so years that I have been skiing, I've yet to do this. In closing I have no problems with boarders. I was a volunteer ski patroller for three years and a pro patroller for another year and never really had major issues with them. They do what they do, and I do what I do. It's all good. I don't like to be on their blind side, but when I do find myself there, you'll always see me banging my poles together to make a noise so that they know I'm about to pass them. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yup. Not 100% sure when I'll be arriving, but I'm thinking that it'll be sometime on the 24th through to the 1st or 2nd. But I'm still waiting to figure a thing out or two here locally first. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

A long time ago I sent Pixie a check for a slot in one of the team trailers. But I have no idea which one I'm in. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

By the way (I could be mistaken), but I don't think Eloy will accept personal checks for jump tickets and they will charge you extra for using a credit card. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yes this is yet another in a series of horrible incidents and it sucks that anybody regardless of their nationality has died. The problem is, is that this is not an isolated incident and it will only continue. Has it ever occured to you that maybe you've got the roles reversed here? Maybe the angy lion is the Iraqi insurgents and the people who angered them was GWB and his crownies? Or are you just too patriotic to recognize that this was an unjust war that GWB started? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over