Treejumps

Another important note: Water skis are not designed to be taken into freefall and remain on the user's feet through opening shock. Imagine a nice Scott Slalom coming through the sun shade on your pontoon. They don't ask much of us in Twin Falls. Why would you guys blatently break the few rules and requests they ask of us. Answer: (Shane, we await your answer here) Its great and I'm jealous of having somone pay my way for fun and adventure. However, it seems that the lure of easy money and free jumps sure seems to fuck people up in the head becasue you would really have to be brain damaged to risk being the guy who got Perrine shut down. There really is no excuse for this behavior. I know, you guys are cooler than me, I mean you have a sponsor. Come back down to us mere mortal BASE jumper's level and think like you still cared about your fellow jumpers. For many folks, the legal stuff is all they have. Jump those water skis off something in Moab, and then we will really be impressed, and there will still be a little slice of heaven left in TF. Cya.

Nice article Jason. Keep up the good work! Tree

Blinc Magazine 1995 - 2003 (not sure on actual dates) R-I-P

Another brilliant move by that Pussy (cat) Felix. Exactly how small is it Felix that you must constantly promote yourself at the expense of shamelessly burning objects? I think that it is time for an international kitty hunt with the purpose of tarring & feathering. Does anyone have a 8 quart sauce pan that we can dip Felix in? Unbelievable.

According to this article, Tom A., Annie, Jeb, and several others are statistically dead. Where do they come up with 1 in 1000 jumps results in death? Of course if its true Yuri better quit jumping now before he hits 1000. Better safe than sorry. Cya.

If you are willing to ground crew, and to bring beer, liquor, and other party goodies, eventually your mentor will be too fucked up to jump, and you can take his (of her) packed rig and make the jump. This has worked very effectively for some of our newer jumpers. You won't even neeed to know how to pack with this method. Remember, bribes won't get you everywhere, but they will get you far. Cya.

I am glad to hear that no jumpers had anything to do with busting other jumpers. I spent all of summer 2001 in Kjerag and had a blast. Everyone was cool and we partied all the time. The cost for the Bus and boat rides worked out to about $7.00 a jump, and was well worth the high quality service. Not to mention, without Stein's family supporting Kjerag with the campground and White House, Kjerag would never have been very accessible and certainly would not have become one of the biggest international BASE meeting spots on Earth. I am still upset that the Norwegian police would waste their time going to Lysebotn to bust a few pot smokers. It sounds fishy, and certainly un-inviting. Sorry to all the Norgies for jumping to conclusions. I've met you all and really couldn't understand how this incident came to pass. Best wishes for continued success. Tree

YEs. You would have to pay to join the Norwegian Base Association. But its been that way for a while. Most experienced jumpers just blow off the demand but its probably just gotten worse. I enjoyed sepnding a summer in Kjerag, and all over Norway. Had a blast too. But if this story is correct I would not piss on their cliffs now.

Thanks for clearing this up for those quick to defend over agressive foreign pigs. Nobody said smoking was legal in Norway (hard to believe because the hash is coming out of the woodwork there). But the fact of the matter is that lots of people do smoke in Amsterdam (where it is legal), and then go to Norway to jump. The disturbing thing is that now what you carry around in your bloodstream is subject to investigation even if you have done nothing wrong. I would have given them a piss sample... for a taste test. Fuck Norway.

Base jumpers doing drugs in Kjerag? I am truly astounded. THere goes our international image! Never mind that half of all norwegians are unemployed, sucking a check off of the government, and partying daily. Lets get those tourist who come here to spend lots of money! We'll show them who's boss. What a bunch of bullshit. Lets say you smoked up the day or week before you left for Norway. You would have thc in your system at least a week and probably longer. The guys who got busted probably never smoked anything in Norway, yet those asshole police give them a ticket, for what? So much for any privacy rights in Norway. Fuck you royal family of Norway!

There is a huge debate in the incidents about yet another 300 jump wonder hooking it in on a highly loaded (2.1) Xbrace while attempting a swoop course with 5' gates. He may or not walk again. During a recent discussion about PST and how big it may or not become with the general public, the question came up about what if a spectating whuffo were to say "WOW, thats cool and I want to do that! Well, to start you would have to go through AFF, Cost: $1,500.00. THen you would need to buy your first set of gear Cost: at least $3000.00 (used. Then make a bare minimum of 500 jumps. Cost $10,000.00. Buy a couple more canopies during your transition Cost: $3000.00. Get some canopy control and swooping training. Cost: $1000.00. Make several hundred more jumps. Cost$6000.00. Travel around to some swoop comps and train in the Intermediate class: Cost: $2500.00. FInally, buy a brand new custom color and sized Xbrace: Cost $2000.00. Make a couiple hundred more jumps. Cost: $4000.00. Now, after all of that, assuming you had some natural talent, trained hard, learned all you could, have around 1,000 jumps and several years being around the sport (sorry, don't try to do this in one year no matter how much cash you have, time in sport is critical) you probably have what it takes to begin to compete at the lower levels of high performance canopy swooping. Total cost: $31,000.00. Cost to not be lifeflighted out of Perris with spinal cord injuries and maybe never walk again: Priceless If you try to short change this route you run the risk of being the next guy that everyone is sad about having known for a short time, and then you were gone. There really is no oher course. So do I think that PST will ever grow beyond what it is today? Its already smaller than last years tour. Participation is tiny and the number of folks qualified to do it currently number in the few hundreds, world wide. You make the call. But for all of the swooping minded beginners out there, you pay on way or another. My 2 cents. Tree

Mine flies great at that loading. Its a Xaos 21 120 and it opens great too. I recently lost 20lbs, so now its at 2.2, but still flies fine. Cya.

In all likelyhood yoiu tail pocket velcro is allowing line dump. Ther eis a nice easy mod to change the velcro for a better closure. I do them myself, but you are too far away. I can draw you a detail if you would like. At any rate, get your velcro changed on your tail pocket. Cya.

I've flown my VX at 2.43 and it lands straight in just fine. The first jump I put on it was straight in and it landed perfectly. I had a xfire 149 at 1.8 and it landed straight in perfectly. If you can't land your canopy well in no wind on a straight in approach, you are in WAY ABOVE YOUR HEAD! Nothing NEEDS to be hooked......but it is much more fun if you can do it well. Personally, I did 500 jumps using a 90 degree front riser final turn before I started to build up to 180s and beyond. I began that progression at 200 jumps, and threfore had 700 jumps before I started hooking it. I'm glad I did because now at 2000+ jumps I can swoop pretty well and I can get myself out of everything (so far) without breaking me. I typically teach young swoopers that if they can't do a front riser 90 and start dragging the ground without touching their toggles, and do it 10 out of 10 times, then they are not ready for anything more. "When you can snatch the pea from my hand then you will be ready Grasshopper"

Quote "Most people dont F_____g need a Xbraced canopy....A guy that does 300 jumps a year should not have one...much less a guy that only has 300 jumps total" Interesting that you would say this. I think that it has less to do with jumps per year and more to do with ego. I see people on xbrace canopies doing straight in approaches with their slider above their toggles and fully tightened chestraps and my only thought is that they could only be flying that canopy for ego. It certainly isn't for performance as evidenced by the approach and use of the canopy. If you're not into swooping why bother to fly a considerably more technical canopy that requires FULL attention at all times? Of well. perople will do what they want to, but I think we all agree on this stuff. I think you made a very good point about the percieved relative performance of canopies. Cya.

Nice work Daless. Was this on Sunday? WOuld have been worth hanging around for. Cya

I think that Faber's tone was consistent with the question being asked. Rubber band the bridle? In 6 years of BASE I've never heard anything like that. Where did you pick up that nugget of advice? I think that Faber was showing concern for you safety, or lack of it based on the info you provided. A rubber band on your bridle is black death! Find someone who knows what they're doing and spend some time jumping with them, and you will survive much longer. Cya.

So long as the hatchet doesn't end up buried in my forehead, consider it buried. This on line stuff has a way of getting out of hand because of the computer's impersonal nature. Of course we all goof around and razz each other now and then, but no its not meant to be a call to arms. We'll have to share a peace pipe if you make it Jersey this summer. Cya, Tree

I also agree that pins are easier to pack. If your pack job starts to expand while placing it into a velcro rig it could end up a wrestling match. With pins, trash pack all you want to, it will close on the first try. If anything, velcro forces one to pack more neatly, which for many people makes them more comfortable. BTW, if your PC comes out of the pouch when you are at 100' on an A above a field of solid ice, your pins will pop. This cant happen with velcro, so for beginners, velcro still makes good sense. Cya.

Awesome post Ray, You hit the nail squarely on the head. Johnny is OK by me, but I just can't resist an easy target. Anyone that goes fully "PUBLIC" like that is pretty much putting a target on themselves. In the end were all just a bunch of base jumpers, lunatics by any definition, and very much the same. There is really no one I wouldn't happily share an exit point with, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little funnin now and then. The simpleton thing is pretty funny too. Nothing like a little sefl deprecating humor. Again, great post. Cya.

Bad Bryan. Take this kind of trash to the bonfire were it will unfortunatly be lost in the thousands of similar gibberish posts that are DZ.com OK, that was funny as shit! Nice one.

Hey Tom, I figured you must have been out of town. Every once an a while we just gotta have a little fun.... at somebody's expense. At any rate "I think so-and-so is a dork", "he said-she said," and of course "you newbies have no idea what you're doing and you're all going to die", by the way "I'm the greatest". Keep up the good work! Cya

Whats up Gardner? Are you really at jump 420, or is that just some sort of joke? Seems like every jump is 420.

I think he meant Carl Boenish. He is the BASE creator by most definitions. All yee base followers kneel down before father Carl lest thee be smited with a 180 with a line over and line twists. Father Tom has spoken. Amen Now where is the reverend of No Cheap Beer when we need him?

I did my first base jump solo from a tall S, on borrowed gear I had never even seen unpacked. Aside from bruised feet from landing a Fury (220), it went great. A little scarry, but mostly just great fun. The next morning I kayaked the Upper Gauley river (Class V), and I was terrified for 5 hours straight. At the time I had paddled for about 5 years and had done some pretty difficult stuff, but nothing has ever been as scary as big water kayaking. I don't think I will ever be back at a place where I would put in on big class V rapids. That shit is terrifying! OK, rodeo is way crazy too. Cya. Keep me laguhing Skinflicka.