TomAiello

I strongly disagree. People who are virgins to the sport tend to freeze up and allow the canopy to fly all the way over until they impact the side of the canyon. How lucky are we all that the guy who did that was relatively unscathed? What if he had a 90 left instead of a 90 right, and ended up with a cliff strike, helicopter rescue, or fatality? Let me be totally clear: This irresponsible, reckless, and extremely dangerous approach to BASE is wrong on both a human morality and a BASE ethics level. Selling it to people who don't know any better by telling them that it is "so safe a bag of dogfood could do it" is misleading to the point of criminal liability. I am stunned that after several mishaps, one of which landed the uneducated jumper in the Intensive Care Unit, anyone would even consider continuing to do this. To market this on a commercial level while intentionally misleading people as to the risks involved is so wrong that it defies verbal description. I believe we've already covered this, but I do not find your crowd's idea of "humor" and "hilarity" to be even remotely amusing. Hurting human beings is not my idea of a funny joke, but it seems to be the height of humor in your minds. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ray and Ron are _very_ different. And now, I'm going to get to spend the next 30 or 40 minutes of my time reviewing this thread, and trying to sort it out... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Dale, I'll send you an email with the web site address. You just need to put the serial number into the database on the web site. If anyone has the web site handy, feel free to post the link. Otherwise I'll dig it up. Nice jumping with you this week. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There is much previous discussion on this forum, including comments from the builder of the catapult, in which he discussed commercial licensing and opening it up for others to jump. Let's keep the discussion in the original thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Why would you/we want to get more youth into BASE? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. I recommend S folding the round in your hand, because otherwise it's so long that it's likely to get out of control. As an interesting historical point, one of the earliest recorded BASE jumps (John Tranum, 1931) was an unpacked round jump from a low bridge. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd recommend using a setup that is legal in your country. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Super 8 is favored by many jumpers for the reasonable prices, better quality than Motel 6, and fitness room to pack in. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I was in the same US hospital as you--but I was there for 2 months. My insurance (thankfully, I had very good health insurance at that time) paid out quite a large chunk of change. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just a reminder that I will begin selecting applicants tomorrow. Both the quality and quantity of applications has been greater than in for previous courses, so it's definitely to your advantage to apply by the end of the day tomorrow if you want to come. I will notify all applicants directly, and will not post admissions decisions in this thread. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A wise man once told me that the jump wasn't over until you were at home drinking a beer. Ah, that's the key... many skydivers worry about the extreme scarcity of freefall, going from 2 minutes to 2 seconds, but this more than makes up for it, since the jump lasts for hours. indeed, the hike out should not be taken for granted. In the context in which I received the advice, it wasn't a hike so much as a high speed pursuit. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A wise man once told me that the jump wasn't over until you were at home drinking a beer. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A bit off topic, but if you watch the old Masters of Stone climbing videos, you can see some footage of the late, great Dan Osman riding a skate board down a natural slab and rope jumping off the cliff at the end. He didn't build anything (in that area, the sloping stone is pretty much a natural ramp) and it wasn't a BASE jump (unless you count the PC attached to the skate board to slow it down), but it's along the same lines. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

(a) That doesn't identify the site. "Identify" in this context means providing a way for someone who is not familiar with the site to locate it easily (by google search, for example). When I wrote "please do not post photos identifying sites" I had 2 very commonly re-posted photos in mind, both of which contained signs with words that could easily be entered into Google to locate the site. (b) The legality (or illegality) of a jump is irrelevant to the considerations of site naming on open forums, which primarily have to do with physical safety and accident prevention. You can read a more detailed explanation here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There was no process. It's just always been legal. In Idaho, it usually doesn't occur to people to just ban things for no reason, so there was no precedent for not allowing it. I can give you some rundown on the legal situation surrounding jumping if you want. Let me know. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As mentioned above, Vertigo merged with Basic Research to create Apex BASE. Jimmy and Marta are actually here now teaching a course. The Apex instruction is all done out of the Moab office, so you'll pretty much get the Vertigo course when you sign up for the Apex one. I have yet to see an Apex course that did not have either Jimmy or Marta running it. The following BASE training programs provide instruction here in Twin Falls. I'm not 100% sure about the ABA. I know they've brought students here in the past, but I don't know what future plans exist. I've slightly changed the email addresses to protect folks from spam harvest programs. I've hyperlinked the web sites, if you want to check them out. My (current--it keeps changing) personal list of BASE training providers is attached to this post. That includes the programs that aren't teaching locally (Twin Falls). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that's a nugget. I also think it's one of the wisest ways I've heard this situation described. All we can really do is influence the parachute. Control? Not so much... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm going to agree with Collin here. There are many different paths to take in BASE. I happen to think that one oriented toward safety is the "best". That judgement is, of course, up to each individual jumper, but patience issues aside, there is very little downside in concentrating on safety skills and fundamentals first. It seems like these days, many new jumpers choose a skill progression that is focused on show. They want to be able to throw twisting quads when they have 15 jumps. Unfortunately, they've never practiced avoiding object strike. I'd recommend a progression that focuses more on fundamentals (avoiding object strike, landing in tight areas with uneven footing, creating good object separation with a running exit, a strong launch, and an effective track, etc), well before practicing aerials. If you practice safety skills before practicing showy aerials, you're more likely to survive to be able to show off your aerial skills. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I split this off the KL Merdeka Circuit thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Both. Those are complementary learning courses, not exclusive ones. Get a mentor, then take a FJC, hopefully stick around in TF with your mentor for a week or so, then head home and learn more. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You're always invited. You just work too hard, and can never stay out late. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Now that everyone has had their say, and a chance to respond, I'm going to lock both threads on this topic. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Now that everyone has had their say, and a chance to respond, I'm going to lock both threads on this topic. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Originally posted March 25, 2006, by BASE 1007. This is not good news... However we have have an even more serious issue regarding the waterfall spots that was expressed to us by the local community of Lauterbrunnen in an e-mail we received from them. Here is the translation: Please respect this ban! Compared to fines in the US, 100.- Swiss Francs is nothing. (~80$) But the risk is much higher than just a little fine! If you jump the waterfall, you are endangering the whole valley and its future access to it for the Base community. Please be patient, we are working on this issue. We are currently dealing with the authorities and maybe we will be given permission to jump the waterfall again in a year. Or maybe never. Maybe with some kind of regulations... But notheless, at the moment, the waterfall is CLOSED and remains closed until you read something different on http://www.subterminal.ch -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had a pair of cheap Walmart specials blow out on me in flight. I lost the entire seam up one leg, which left me spinning in circles. I also saw the waistband fail on one pair, leaving a very experienced tracker (he's an instructor in Norway) fighting for his life, with his pants around his knees, 6 seconds down a cliff. Be careful with the "cheapest." A little more quality would not necessarily go amiss. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com