jalisco

Well, that picture's got me jonesin'

So, say, a cracked rib doesn't count? like, if one got up, got everything in the stuff sack, climbed the fence, went home and then didn't get an x-ray or anything for a couple of days?

I think it's an important distinction. You look down at the parking lot and it's hard not to think of yourself as being that high up. And, really, if you do get canopy in time and on-heading, you do have that much more time to get on your toggles and set up for landing, right? Right... ..."if"...

So shouldn't the subject line read: ?

The arches in Arches NP aren't the only ones -- I believe there are some on nearby BLM land, too. The shots I have seen of Clint and an arch were taken there as I recall. Of course, I don't recall seeing the one in Parachutist you refer to...

Aired again this morning, I noticed

Absolutely... and rescuers should demand your credit-card/bank-account number and leave you lying/hanging there if your balance is insufficient.

With all of us talking amongst ourselves, reinforcing certain views of the NPS, its really easy to lose sight of what John Q Public might think of the NPS. I know I grew up going to National Parks and internalizing a certain respect for the rangers, who "protect our national treasures". These magnificent rock faces and meadows are "national treasures", right? And the NPS has to figure out how to protect theses "national treasures" and still make them available for the enjoyment of 300,000,000 people (in the US alone), not to mention future generations. Even if we got perfectly informed and unbiased media coverage (which we, of course, won't), who do you supose John Q Public will, on average, sympathize with? Do we really want to court the "tyranny of the majority"? This should not be a popularity contest. Obviously enough, BASE jumping is not fundamentally any more at odds with the purpose of the parks than any other outdoor activity (climbing, hang gliding, etc.). Thus the NPS ban is an unreasonable limit on civil liberties (you legal types correct my terminology). We should make a coordinated effort (ref. ABP) to convince those charged with preserving (not just our parks but also) our freedoms of this, exhausting any and all legal/civil/political avenues. Of course, with "extreme sports" media coverage, BASE is slowly creeping into the conciousness of the general population. So perhaps a media battle could be won at some point. I'm just betting we're not quite there yet.

Civil Disobedience only works when all attempts working through the system have failed. I'll reiterate - tray first to make a legal "protest jump." The NPS has far less slack in declining it as an exercise of the First Amendment than in not allowing a "fun jump." So, in other words, once everybody gets organized here, try first to apply for a permit to make the protest jump, and leave the "non-permitted" version as a possible response if we exhaust our legal options?

me too!

Maybe this would help...

Lucky for you, Tom -- I hear, as long as it's not too much shorter, they generally prefer the extra width...

Interesting for sure. But not super useful for BASE... Well -- let experience, caution and your WDI guide you for sure -- but it could be useful to see if maybe a cross-wind corner might be preferable to the leeward corner (in light winds, of course).

Calvin would be so proud...

but what a jump...

Ok, so, like, everybody talks about the positive effects of the vent on an inflated pc...

Aw, who needs steering lines, anyway -- you've always got rear risers...

Would this be true if you rode a helicopter which took off from and then landed in the park? After a 10 sec, 10ft flight? Perhaps the argument is that a canopy flight is like any other aircraft flight -- once you're in flight, you've effectively "left" the park... On the other hand, apparently, we must always keep at least one apendage on the ground at all times. "Chlidren?! No running or jumping in the park!! Go outside if you want to do that..."

Yes, but that's just the name of the lake into which the legal jump occurred...

I didn't vote, because there wasn't anything in between "won't talk to me" and "fine after a week". A little after I started skydiving, I showed off my new (used) rig to the folks. In demonstrating how it worked, I pulled out the pilot chute, and Mom freaked -- as if I might be doing something that might mess up the magic that made it open when I needed it. Ok, so, so much for details... After I got into fixed objects, she asked me if there was anything I wouldn't do. I had just read an article about Golden Gate Bridge jumpers (without rigs, that is) and how the place is such a big draw for depressed romantics that the cops watch it pretty diligently, so I blurted out that I wouldn't jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. I was vaguely amused to find that that seemed to reassure her. She justed wanted to know that I had a limit, and it didn't really seem to matter so much exactly where the limit was. She wanted to know that I wasn't going to just keep taking bigger and bigger risks until it bit me. Of course immediately after I said it, I got to wondering...

heal fast

Just to clarify here -- I think Jaap s-folded his bridle onto the lower half of the fully extended mesh, and then folded the mesh in half -- that is, by flipping the lower half of the mesh and the s-folded bridle over together, bringing the attachment point up towards the gathered skirt, and thus sandwiching the s-folded bridle. Jimmy, your picture looks to me like it starts with what I was taught -- i.e., folding the mesh in half first and then s-folding the bridle on top of that, and then cocooning the mesh around (laterally) the s-folded bridle -- with some additional bridle s-folded on top of the mesh cocoon a little lower (so it's not in the "pud"). yes? no?

Actually, I think you and the reporter probably agree. The very next sentence seems to suggest that possibility: ...second that! There's a big difference between "the majority of women[/men]" and those you might actually be interested in

I'm so confused. If my dbs is set so that I have almost no forward speed, and I jump in a head-wind, shouldn't I expect to back up, just by virtue of being blown by the head-wind? Might I also expect that the deploying canopy might be blown backwards more than me prior to full inflation, leading to some rock-back and maybe a little back-surge during the rock-back?