tfelber

Yeah but it would be really nice if you could turn it to face the jumper...That way you could shoot video of yourself... Or what if you used velcro so you could face it any direction...Man I just keep coming up with these great ideas...

It's actually never been done anywhere. It's all a bunch of stuff made up by us internet bozos that are bored with our jobs but still have to come to work. We sit arround our cubes fabbing video and posting with made up, misspelled names like magot, trying to start an electron fight. So all you folks rambling on about how it was or is, fess up. It's never been done, you've never done it, and you've never seen it done, period. Is geesh with a 'g' or a 'j'? "Drove off in a Porsche" and people say skydiving is becoming a white collar sport...

You'll still be pretty sore and a good brisk opening will have you crying for mum.

Money and things it can buy!

It's not a big deal...just had it done myself. One mistake was enough for me, but he is really a great kid. No jumping for you this weekend though. Get a bag of frozen peas and a few good movies and relax for a couple of days or you can pretend it's nothing and be sore for a week.

So it is...

In that photo it looks like he is going handheld???

I can't really answer your question because I don't talk about work or what others do when I'm jumping. It really doesn't matter to me. In the weekday world it seems people think they are better if they do this and drive this...blah, blah, blah, but truthfully I couldn't tell you what most of the skydivers I know drive to the DZ. I know what canopies they jump, whether they FF or RW or both, whether the swoop or land out, but what they do professionally is not of much interest. I get asked what I do when I travel around and end up at a new DZ and most times the conversation doesn't go much further than that.

So what the hell do you expect me to do with that???

BASE jumping sun up and or sundown or sun up to sundown if you choose, but then you'll miss all the fun at the DZ. What about the Rave in the canyon??? or beer night at the Brewery??? "If you get too drunk just sleep out in your car...I love this bar." - TK

You can be detained for ANY reason at ANY time. Read the Homeland Security Act. You can be "arrested" and your property "searched or seized" if THEY "believe that a violation has been committed." All in the name of protecting us from terrorism. Ha snaybody even heard of a plot to blow up Yosemite??? FKN Stupid!!! edited to add... You can also be detained without charge...

The guy I was talking about going HH from 170' was throwing his PC upward and leaving just as it reached bridle stretch. He was getting about 3-5 seconds of canopy time. As for size, I was told over the phone while at the base of a certain 350' freestander that bigger is always better! Of course I'm sure that doesn't always hold true but for 350' this guy sounded pretty certain!

To me opening the flap, I also jump a DP, is just to hopefully eliminate one more point that could delay the opening. That said I jump a 240' often HH, 46, closed flap, pins all the way in. No problems yet. I've also been static line of a 172' cliff that scared the shit out of me both times and the guy I was jumping with was going HH with a 52...and he did it 10 or 12 times without much of an issue.

I don't think about it like that at all. I don't think most the people I know think about it like that. I just go out to have fun and feel the edge. Nothing morbid in that.

I log my jumps for two reasons; one is to keep track of my friends and the jumps I've made with them, the other is I plot the jumps over time to see the pattern of my jumping. Right now it looks kind of like a stair case where I'll do a number of jumps then not jump for a while, then do several more jumps, etc. It would be interesting to go back and review what the reason for the intermissions. I do the same for skydiving. It would be interesting to overlay the two graphs to see how they coincide...l

You've got some very good points Michael that generally people don't comprehend. It's not about accepting your mortality. I believe everyone knows than can and will die. I think people really need to understand THEY CAN DIE ON THIS JUMP! It can and will happen. People tend to rationalize away this very permanent outcome far too often. You hear yourselves and other saying things like: "Yeah, but that person shouldn't have been doing that jump, in that weather, with that gear, from that object..." "Well he was really pushing the edge." "But I don't do jumps like that." "He didn't consider the consequences of an offheading." and on and on... It's human nature. It's how we continue through life when hit by one catastrophic event after another. But in BASE it is not safe to rationalize in this manner. When I think about my son BASE jumping, he's only five but I still think about it, I consider all the following: I can't wait for him to have the experience. I don't really want him to try it. I can't imagine if he got hurt or killed. I don't want to teach him. I'm the only one I would want teaching him. I don't want to teach anyone. I don't even encourage people to BASE jump. I think people should be discouraged from BASE jumping. I sure want to be there when he does it. and on and on... I don't criticize Dave for teaching he son. I think he did a very good job of minimizing the risk and informing his son of the possible consequences. I don't believe Dave will let his son go jumping without him present, but kids are people too and they will do what they do. When you have responsibility for that person there is a whole other set of things to consider. If you can't deal with the reality of the injury/death present in this sport than don't do it! If you think "That won't happen to me/them" then it's definitely time to reassess the situation. It only takes once! Have fun, live fulfilled, but never lose sight of the possible consequences.

I think a lot of it has to do with how dangerous you think BASE really is and why you think that. I think, if you trust your son to make descent decisions under close supervision then learning to BASE at 16 isn't a real issue. My biggest concern would be that they go off on their own, showing off for friends, and do something they wouldn't do otherwise... If my son was into roadracing, as I was, I would have the same concerns. On a closed course, managed event it's one thing, but in the mountains with his friends on a two lane road is entirely different. Yet, that is how I started roadracing. I would not encourage my son to BASE jump, but if it's something he wants to do and his head is on straight, I would be right there beside him holding his PC myself. BTW, 841 is a skydiving instructor and experienced BASE jumper. I think he would have a pretty good idea of his own level of competence...

That second picture is remarkable! It would be cool to be on the ground filming from that vantage point...

I had met up with a crazy Aussie and some others at a boogie. One of the guys was going to jump from a balloon using a BASE rig. I had my camera and we chased the balloon and watched him jump. He gets to the ground and is literally shaking. He says “I got the whole Elvis thing going on.” Speaking of his legs shaking. “You’ve got to try this!” “The hell I do!” Late one night/early one morning, at the bonfire, this guy and another find my Aussie friend and I and ask us to drive them to this tower they found so he could do his first BASE jump. I said “Hell yeah!” and off we went. The aero chart says the tower is 1400’, but we had no idea what to expect. We’re racing around the boonies trying to align the aero chart with the street map and find this tower before the sun comes up. We’re finding towers, but aren’t real sure which is which. Suddenly we look on the horizon and there it is! Unmistakable! If you’ve ever driven up on a 1400’ tower in the dark with the marker lights flashing, you know what I mean. There’s a gate at the entrance, but it’s not locked. We drive down a path to the base of the tower and get out of the car. Looking up at the tower, I can feel the adrenaline flowing and I’m not even jumping. We wandered around a bit checking out the possible landing areas, winds, fences, etc. The wind is blowing straight down one of the segments between the guy wires away from the tower, the problem is the field on that side is planted with corn. The guy that jumped from the balloon immediately says he’s not jumping. I tell them “Land in the corn!” My Aussie friend tells me to shutup and let them decide what to do. Apparently the other guy has quite a few BASE jumps and is sort of mentoring the balloon guy. I keep telling them “Just land in the corn!” Finally the other guy says to the balloon guy “Lend me your rig I’m going to climb it.” “If I go in just cover up my body and leave.” And with that he heads up the antenna. At about 100’ yells down that the winds are blowing right in his face and he’s going to climb down. At this point I know it’s his life and his call. While we drive back to the DZ, the two guys in the back fall asleep. For me the excitement is too much. I’m hooked. The following year I arrive at the boogie, having done a FJC at the Perrine and done a couple of other jumps, set on jumping that tower. Finally, near the end of the boogie three friends and I, one of them was the guy who climbed down the previous year, climbed that tower and jumped it, in broad daylight!

Since we're all claim staking: I grew up in New Mexico, I live in Arizona, I have offices in North Dakota, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. I've lived in Dallas, New York, and Soutern California. I spend a lot of time in Moab and my wife has family in Seattle and Denver. Please stay off my objects without permission. Please call me in advance before even considering jumping in these areas. Those of you who know you are my friends, and you know who you are, are free to jump MY objects whenever you please. An invitation to enjoy the fun is always appreciated. BTW, if I spend any more time in the MSP airport I will be claiming that area as mine also...

That's not a BASE picture, that's just two guys standing on top of something... You must wear a rig for it to be called a BASE jump!

Is that your retro look or what??? By the way do you mind if I jump your new object???

I've been off some low stuff, but not on a mx bike or frefalling the exit with a compressed air deployment system. It was pretty ballsy and he had to deal with a 90 right with no clearance. It was a smart move to go for the toggles rather than the risers. Otherwise he would have clipped the ledge, from the camera angle. He could have found a much safer exit point, but it was pretty impressive. I've seen Greenie go off a 170 footer hand held and I still think that was pretty ballsy. If you've seen the video you can tell he's definitely considering the possible outcomes.

you name dropper! How are you doing Chris?

I have no conclusive evidence, but at the Turkey Boogie last year about twenty of us went off of a tall cliff where we had to fly over a dwelling towards the main road. Most people were landing about 1/2 way to 2/3 the distance between the house and the road. I said on top I was going to land at my vehicle parked on the road and that is what I did. I was jumping a vented Flik!