narcimund

300 is a lot, but in Idaho you can get base jumpers together at a legal span EVERY day. Last Memorial Day I didn't count but it looked like 70 - 100 jumpers. This weekend there were at least 25 - 30 including two broad daylight first jump courses with 4 students each. Next weekend (Labor Day) is another great opportunity. Will there be 100? I hope so! And there are no Ashcroftian background checks in Idaho. But at Bridge Day you're a terrorist until proven otherwise. (Since when do terrorists base jump? And why?) First Class Citizen Twice Over

This weekend, a couple of dozen base jumpers converged for some fun at that big 486' span in the west. You know which span I mean: the one that shows up in newspapers and television shows and commercial base videos, the one perfect for daytime first jump courses, the one serviced by a friendly riverboat to ferry us to the park or (occasionally) to rescue us from accidental or tragic water landings. I mean the bridge which features prominently in nearly every base jumper's career including two who married there last month with reporters and TV crews in attendance. The span in a city that gives BASE discounts on hotel rooms and free beer in the bars. It's just like the one in the east, except this one is has a better landing area and is legal the OTHER 364 days of the year... ... for now. Yesterday as I was walking around the visitor's center, answering tourists' questions about those wacky jumpers, I heard sudden loud, continuous car horn honking from the bridge. I looked up and saw a jumper standing on the guard rail, in broad daylight, visible from one end of the bridge to the other. The cars were going nuts with their horns until the jumper hopped off theatrically. Now, if you've been to this bridge you probably know there's a gentleman's agreement with the police: Don't distract the traffic and they won't bother us. Don, the man who runs the tour boat rides, lobbies the city, county, and state police, the chamber of commerce, and the Idaho traffic department to maintain the openness of this one fantastic object for us. Against the authoritarian demands of the safety nazis, he has managed to keep this object open for years. The authorities have only one request: Don't stand on the rail because it distracts the drivers. Just do this one thing for everyone else's safety and have fun. So today, imagine my surprise when two hotshots preparing to jump pointed at Don's boat waiting below and said, "I hate that boat being there." I turned and asked them why? I'm thinking Don's boat is nice if you want a ride instead of a sweaty hike. I'm thinking Don is there ready to pull critically injured jumpers out if they go in (which he has done several times over the years). I'm thinking Don's boat makes water landings possible which is the only thing that keeps some injured jumpers in the sport. I'm thinking until my ankle stabilizes I might make some water jumps myself. The punk said, "I don't want to get yelled at for standing on the rail." I figured this was a simple misunderstanding, so I corrected him. "It's not him. It's the cops. They ask us to stay off the rail for traffic safety. Don's just trying to keep the bridge open for the sport." "He doesn't give a shit about the sport. He's just protecting his BUSINESS!" said the snot nosed shit. (Now, you might wonder if this piece of crap jumper had a single brain cell firing. He should know protecting Don's business IS protecting the sport. But no, this self-centered simpleton thinks burning the whole object is better for the SPORT than Don's business.) Just before completely giving up, I tried once more: "And do you give a shit about the sport?" "Oh man, it doesn't matter. I didn't see any cops." No, you didn't see them, you arrogant turd, but everyone for 1/2 a mile sure saw you and heard the traffic commotion, and you can be SURE word gets around quickly in this little town that's been so welcoming so far. This guy is almost intentionally trying to burn this object. Even El Capitan was legal once, back before thoughtless shitheads like him trashed it and turned the Park Service into a police force aimed directly against BASE. -- By the way, Don asked me to spread the word. Next weekend (Labor Day) he's running raffles for free gear, meals, and hotel rooms. He's getting the business community involved for a huge celebration of BASE. He's putting on a massive barbecue for all the jumpers. Everyone's invited to come pump out jumps, impress the cheering crowds of tourists, charm the old ladies running the Visitor's Center, and have a great time. If nobody ruins it first. First Class Citizen Twice Over

You can log your dinner in your plane jumper book if you like. Or your sexual exploits. In case you didn't notice, you BOUGHT the thing and you can do anything you like with it. You can jump off the curb and log it as a skydive. Or as a base jump. It's your book and you can rub poop on the pages if you like. There are no rules because it's your property! Base jumpers scorn skydivers because they trade their personal initiative for organization and rules. Sometimes even base jumpers do the same thing. Personally, I log my base jumps in the same book as my skydives. Who's to tell me not to? First Class Citizen Twice Over

If the primary characteristic that makes base significantly different from skydiving is the potential for object strike, then this is base. The cable can be struck and it can collapse your canopy. It can kill you. So it makes no nevermind what anyone calls your jump, but you'd better respect this object with base-like standards of gear, packing, and body position. (An interesting question is also how high this thing is. If it's 3000' that's more skydive-like. If it's 250', I'm going to laugh at anyone who insists it's a skydive.) First Class Citizen Twice Over

Darn. We're leaving for TF this afternoon. Does this mean we have to make the 8-hour drive there and back two weeks in a row? First Class Citizen Twice Over

I just bought a copy on Ebay. If you still need it, I can copy it for you when it arrives. First Class Citizen Twice Over

That's a scary exit. You have to clear the edge of the building, then the edge of the cliff. Your tracking had better be excellent. Of course if this structure were on a natural land bridge, you'd get BASE in one. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I'm really impressed. That description sounds very much like my first cliff jump a couple of weeks ago. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Didn't you say you had yours pierced? First Class Citizen Twice Over

Flaring would be tricky... First Class Citizen Twice Over

As a newcomer to base I have absolutely nothing worthwhile to say about your predicament, but I want to say you sure to know how to write. So my advice is that you should do whatever puts you in the most personal conflict. Write more. And jump if you feel like it. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Hey, I'm up for surprises. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Pictures, man! Pictures. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Someone is DEFINITELY obsessed. First Class Citizen Twice Over

JJ, Thanks again! You gave good advice and absorbed some of my overflowing fear. And you were patient when I took forever to get off. Here's a picture of the exit we just picked up: First Class Citizen Twice Over

What an astounding exaggeration. It's NOT true that "everybody" loses control, nor that the conversations are always heated, nor that everyone gets wildly emotional. Personally, I think many people WISH conversations about these topics became more dramatic and find any excuse to declare them extreme. They're looking for vicarious excitement everywhere. One person expresses a contrary opinion and suddenly "Everybody is losing control! ARGHGHGHGH!" It's really just not that bad. People are, for the most part, extremely reasonable. Sorry to burst your bubble. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Consider the extreme case: opening at light speed in a vaccuum. Think about it. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Methinks "whocares" is likely "polesmoker" from the base forum. Off-topic redirections onto knee-jerk homophobia with an undercurrent of instantaneous anger. Definitely the same personality type, probably the same guy. Hope he gets some help. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Today, like Bilbo sneaking one tiny ring from the dragon, I tweaked the nose of an ancient malevolence. I stole a ride off his forehead then soared away in my comical little craft as his severity shot daggers and blew flames at me, but I was already out of range. Despite his hundred thousand years and trillions of tons, the nine hundred foot rock was impotent to reach out and smite me. I laughed at him, played a trick, and got away. I also scared myself more than I've ever been scared before. I'm still scared 8 hours later, safely in my home, full of celebratory steak and wine. I will have nightmares of seeing that cliff reach out to grab my feet as I fell past his overhang. I still feel his eyes burning into my back as I sailed away to a safe landing, him willing my nasty death so he could save face. I will always remember the power of voicing the first number of my exit count. That power launched me into an unstoppable sequence of events which must result in either my messy death ... ... or ... ... my first "E"! First Class Citizen Twice Over

As anyone who's spent time in gay chat rooms knows, everyone is 8.5 inches online. When you get them home, you find out they meant centimeters, or they measured from the anus, or they accidently broke the first 3 inches off their ruler before they measured. Or, as I used to say back then, 98% of all guys are between 5" and 7". And the remaining 75% are above average. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Of course it's slanted. It's nonsense propaganda from the visciously anti-gay lunatic fringe. And I was mentioning it with a major sarcastic twist which I assume becomes clear in the next paragraph. If you quoted the same nonsense sarcastically, it would not be gay bashing. If you falsely claimed it was true to cause others to be anti-gay, it would be. I don't have a lot of opinion or concern about it. I neither think the world will come to an end nor that young gay students will massively benefit. It's a silly novelty that will probably be a nice place for them to learn. Personally, I think the world should have more silly novelties. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Totally right! It's in the brochure we hand out at grade schools: First Class Citizen Twice Over

Trango is a 6,237 foot wall in Pakistan that's been jumped. See the commercial video "Base Climb". First Class Citizen Twice Over

All homosexuals are massively promiscuous. Everybody knows that. It's one of the primary arguments for the immorality of homosexuals and against allowing gay people to marry. Except I fit (easily) within the least promiscuous category. So does my lover of nearly 5 years. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Hey, I resemble that remark. Leave me out of this. I'm calling my congressmen to demand they support a constitutional amendment prohibiting marriage between lefthanded redheads. First Class Citizen Twice Over