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Hello -- This doesn't qualify as "BASE CRW History", but maybe it will help to generate other stories. In March of 2001, I was standing on a 310ft cliff with Dwain, Nik, and a few other jumpers. Nik was still cursing about the absolutely heinous climb that we made to get up there. I couldn't help but agree with him -- I had already decided that down-climbing was not an option should the winds not be favorable enough to jump. But as it was, winds were non-existant and good ol' Nik went off in his usual flailing style, hand-bag and all. Dwain was filming and over the next 10 minutes or so, all the other jumpers went until it was just Dwain and I standing there. Dwain looked over at me with the camera and said, you ready mate? I said sure, but it was my 222nd jump and I was wondering if he wanted to do a 2-way. Always being one for added excitement, Dwain's face lit up with excitement and he quickly put his camera away. We decided that we would launch at the same time, side-by-side and with about 25 ft between us. Dwain would do a go-and-throw and I would take a 1 1/2 second delay. (Disclaimer: this is not enough seperation should you have an off-heading, so don't try this at home!) Then Dwain said, you know mate, a 2-way on your 222nd jump....we should do a 2-stack after opening! Excellent, I replied. It was a ludicrous jump but actually quite normal by Aussie standards. With nothing more said, it was 3..2..1..C-ya. Both of us had perfect on-headings and like a dog in heat, Dwain moved right in. His feet just got to the topskin of my canopy when we were forced to abandon our efforts for 2 very late flares and subsequent hilarious landings. There's simply not much time on a 310ft freefall! Nik gave us an earful for our stupidity, and of course this made Dwain's smile even bigger. Time spent with the two of them is time well remembered. And I'm convinced that Valhalla is stronger with those two together once again... Bryan

Hi Mark -- Check out the "Getting into BASE" link at the top of this forum. It has very useful information and a ton of links where you can educate yourself on this sport. C-ya, Bryan

Hello -- I'll be in Santiago, Chile in a few weeks and would like to make some contacts if they're out there. Just wondering if there's a crew in the area... C-ya, Bryan

Hi Hookit -- The Texas crew has always been hospitality at it's finest. I'll never forget the last jump I made there... I landed and Zennie placed an ice cold Shiner Bock in my hand darn near before my canopy touched the ground.

I was getting ready to say the same thing. No hard and fast beer rules in this sport! (although I generally buy every jumper I know a beer -- especially ground crew) Congratulations on your first BASE jump and best wishes for many more! Bryan

Hi Space -- I'm with you. Here's how I go about it: If I don't know the person at all, I'll hunt around to see if someone can vouch for them. Not just that they jump, but also their attention to detail as well as their ethics. If someone I trust says they're good to go, then I'll put the mystery jumper in touch with other locals in the area they want to jump in (with the locals consent beforehand). When it comes to site specific detail, I'll only share details with someone that a) I know very well and can trust or b) if they come with a very solid, strong recommendation from an experienced jumper that I know very well. All in all, I completely agree with your response. You've been around the block several times and with the limited info you received, something appears to be astray. C-ya, Bryan

Well said Gardner! Hope to catch you at an exit point sometime... Bryan

Sweet! Sounds like a tiring but rewarding day. Heck, if I can do it, anyone can. (I'm as soft as they come) And besides, once you get a taste of a 7 second delay slider-up, you'll understand the need to climb to a 1,000ft. Congrats! Bryan

Sweet Faber! Go for it dude!!! It's tough to climb an antenna 4 times in a day -- even if it's just to 400ft. In my opinion, climbing to 400ft four times is harder than climbing a tall tower once to 1,600ft. The only time I ever did a "double" off an antenna (one in which you have to climb) was a climb to 717ft for a slider-up jump, and then a climb to 500ft for a slider-down jump. I was more tired after those 2 jumps then when I had climbed 1,700ft in one shot... At any rate, hope you get #4 in today. Keep us updated!

Somehow, Spence will still manage to find a 120ft object to jump, even if it's surrounded by tall cliffs. Reminds me of a phrase Adam from CR used when referring to Ea___ Ne__ near the campground at the famous Norwegian site. "Man drowns in Life Preserver Factory" Bryan

I made my first jump the "old-fashioned way". For 2 years, I read every single post on the BASE Board. (frequent posters back in those days were, Outrager, BASE 428, GoWayLow, Team Gargoyle, and even The Fox who came on-line a few years later) Then I moved to Northern California and consistently, but politely, asked the owner of the BASE Board if I could ground crew for him. Being the anal-retentive geek that I am, I showed up for my first ground crew with a backpack that contained my own radio, a first-aid kit, and refreshments for the jumpers. Once the jumpers saw that, and the fact that I would drop anything on a moment's notice to ground crew, I became quite popular as a ground crew guy. I soon had several groups that would call upon me for ground crew. I learned tons over the next 6 months. I hung out as much as possible with different groups of jumpers, soaking up every move they made and sorting out what I thought was right and wrong. My mentor eventually took me to sites that had never been jumped before, and he would walk me through the analysis of the site. I was learning a lot, and was very happy for it. When the phone rang early one evening in November, I had no idea that my life was about to change. "Hello" "Hi Bryan, this is Mick. We're going to ______ tonight" "Cool. You need me to ground crew?" "Nope, I was calling to see which one of my rigs you wanted to jump." At that precise moment, time stood still. At 3:30am that night, I made my first jump. 4 1/2 hours later, I was waiting on Consolidated Rigging's doorstep when Adam pulled into work and I ordered my first BASE rig. I had tasted BASE, and knew that I had to have more... Thanks Mick, it's been my life's greatest adventure. Bryan

Hi Clint -- I think it would be a lot of fun! One idea, which you may already be eluding to: have "team rounds" where you have a BASE jumper teamed up with a swooper. The swooper goes for distance while the BASE jumper goes for on-heading performance and accuracy. Their combined scores constitutes the team score. You could easily do 2 or 3 rounds of this... It's just one of many possibilities. For those skydivers out there who haven't had a chance to jump into a place like Mineral Bottom, go out and visit Skydive Moab...it's a beautiful place. C-ya, Bryan

Hang in there bro and try to stay in touch when you can! Something to think about: consider stopping in Europe on the way back home for a little R&R off some tall cliffs. I did so during my return from the sandbox a year ago, and spent 3 happy weeks getting current again off some wonderful objects. (thanks Tom!) You already have my email address. If you need anything while you're there, drop me a line and I'll make it happen. Take care, Bryan

Hello -- Just to add my two cents too, Continuum is a great BASE flick. Bottom line is that you if you don't have this video in your collection, you should! It is well worth the few bucks that it costs. Nice work Triax and I look forward to C2 down the road... Bryan

I have to agree with everyone's thoughts here on Flite Suit. I can't comment on their camera suit as mine is the Bomber Freefly suit -- but if it's just as durable, it will last a long time! Believe it or not, my Flite Suit (freefly suit) has 550 tandems on it, 200ish freefly jumps, 50 AFF jumps, and about 20 times in the washer and dryer. Nothing has come apart on it and it's just now starting to show signs of thinness in the material due to all the heavy use. With that said, there are a lot of quality manufacturers out there. But I know one thing for sure -- my Flite Suit sure is durable. (no, I'm not a sponsored jumper) Blue Skies, Bryan

Hi Steve -- I have just over a thousand jumps on a Spectre 170. And a handful of jumps on a Spectre 150 that I have in a dedicated 2nd rig for wingsuit flights. I think it's an awesome canopy for wingsuit flights! I can honestly say that a Spectre is one of the most forgiving parachutes out there during the opening sequence. Blue Skies, Bryan

Hi Dan -- Nice video -- thanks for the link! It appears that there was no slider used on the square. If this is correct, have you found it necessary to heavily reinforce the canopy and the suspension lines? (especially if the system is to be used over and over again) Thanks, Bryan

You've brought up a good point -- skydivers automatically think that higher altitudes bring safety. From an equipment standpoint only, a 2 second slider-down delay is much safer than a 4 second delay slider-up. Simply put, sliders introduce several variables into the equation, and the potential for malfunctions increases dramatically. Given the choice, I'd much rather see a beginner learning in a slider-down environment on a forgiving object vs. most higher-speed slider-up jumps. (there are some exceptions) C-ya, Bryan

Actually, I was thinking a copy of "Roadkill Cat" might be in order. Bryan

Hello -- I know #652 quite well. He is a great guy and I'm excited that he reached #1000. Congrats my friend! Why yes he does. I know of many different objects. GAP = Gravity Assisted Packing. I laughed when #652 told me about this. It's a term that he's playfully given a standing pro pack job. He simply performs a very neat standing pro-pack, lays it down, and then cacoons it for the container. Basically he avoids the re-dressing of the canopy once it is on the ground. As long as some basic concepts are adhered to, it's a quite acceptable pack job for a forgiving bridge. He's got over a thousand BASE jumps. He's also been skydiving for a very long time. Actually, he's probably one of the most current bridge jumpers in the world. For those of you who don't know #652, he's a very humble person. He doesn't strut around claiming his jump numbers, nor does he claim that he knows a lot. He's a very nice guy who simply enjoys hucking himself off a bridge. And yes, he does venture out to throw himself off other objects as well. He thinks things through. He evaluates everything. All in all, a pretty darn good jumper in my book. To sum it up, I'll quote something that #652 himself said to me earlier this year. With a grin on his face, he said, "You know Bryan....4 a day. Just like Vitamins."

Hello -- For voting purposes on this poll, I voted for Mesh Slider, although I do use a sail slider on occasion. Out of 500+ BASE jumps, I've only made 50 to 70 jumps at terminal-like speeds (8 seconds plus). I've made in the neighborhood of 200 sub-terminal slider-up jumps, and roughly 250 jumps slider-down. I own a Mojo 280, an Ace 280, and another Ace 280 with a composite ZP-topskin (zp on the front-third of the top skin). I also own a Tektite round, but that doesn't really apply to this discussion. On the Mojo, I always use a large-hole mesh slider. However, on both of my Aces, I occasionally use a sail slider when altitude and object-proximity permits. I've found that with my packing style, the Ace still opens up quickly with a sail-slider. So if I'm opening up relatively high (tossing the pilot-chute above 600ft), and I'm not super-close to the object, I'll use a sail slider to make the openings slightly more comfortable. (I'm soft) If I'm going to be close to the object at opening, or if I plan on pulling in the basement, I'll use a large-hole mesh slider every time. Disclaimer: Using a sail slider on a BASE jump is not standard practice in today's jumping environment. Many people use mesh sliders as it leads to consistently faster openings and may lead to better heading performance. C-ya, Bryan

Hello -- I spoke with a friend yesterday who is "in the know" on these matters. Nothing has changed at this site and everything is a-ok. C-ya, Bryan

Hello -- Congratulations! I'll never forget the first time I ventured out alone. Senses heightened -- every movement was so "in the moment". While certainly dangerous and not recommended for anyone, it provided me with some of the strongest memories of my BASE career. Even though that jump was almost 5 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday... I woke up suddenly and with a purpose. The full moon shone brightly through my bedroom window and I could tell that it wasn't going to let me fall back asleep. I rolled over and looked at the clock perched atop the old night-stand next to my bed. It was 1:15 in the morning. Without any planning or thought, I rolled out of bed and pulled on the clothes I had worn the day before. I walked over to my closet and grabbed my stash bag and then headed out the door. An hour later, I sat down on the steel-grate and let my legs dangle over the edge. The moon was lighting up the canyon in a way that I had never seen before. Soft light cast a glow that brought surreal definition to the canyon sides, lighting up every path and swatch of fir trees below. The river sparkled like a silver ribbon and as my eyes followed it downstream, it disappeared into eternity. I sat there for 30 minutes or so, not really thinking of anything in particular, my mind drifting aimlessly in a state of calmness that I had not previously known. Something inside told me it was time to go, so I stood up, tightened my legstraps, and gave myself a double look-over. As I placed my hands on the railing to climb over, I couldn't believe the sensitivity in every human cell that was softly touching the cold steel. As I leaned forward and into my launch, I relished in that magical nano-second where time stands still, knowing that even though you haven't physically left the object, you are 100% committed and cannot reverse the motion. It's one of the highlights of every jump I make. The feeling of accomplishment after a tip-toe landing confirmed everything that I knew BASE to be. As I slipped out of my clothes and back into bed, I grinned and slowly drifted back to sleep by the light of the moon that had woken me so suddenly just a few hours before. Britanny, welcome to one of the magical moments that BASE provides. And I'm smiling, knowing that for all of us, there are so many more to come. Bryan

Hello -- I recognize that rig from a trip to the potatoe State 2 1/2 years ago. (I have an incredibly good memory) It belongs/belonged to Buddman. Also confirmed by the embroidery on the mud-flaps. I'll research some old posts and find Budd's contact info...if anyone knows his contact info off-hand, beat me to it and drop him a line. Maybe he sold it to someone else and they had it stolen...either way, it sounds like it's hot, especially with the description of "Used Perigee II Skydiving Parachute for sale, no reserve" Hmmm... C-ya, Bryan

Hello -- For those interested, I have posted an accident report in the Incidents Forum regarding the recent accident in Mexico. Bryan