TomAiello

I think it was the Bridge Day bridge. Either way, I have some rear mounted helmet cam video of an extremely long static line there. I got the video from Rick and Joy, and as I recall the explanation was that he wanted the static line to be longer than the steel, so that he would have no chance of striking the structure. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just like Picture Always Lacks color...... In all seriousness, I used to be a video guy for the University of California Davis. PAL is actually a better technical format. (Random aside: anyone ever heard of SECAM?). The good news is that HDTV is pretty much one standard globally, so once we all move over to HD, the endless annoyance of PAL-NTSC conversions ought to be at an end. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Fortunately, someone was able to loan him an appropriately sized canopy, with reasonable deep brake settings, for his cliff jumps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think there are several posters here who can do that. For the record, I got my BASE number in 18 jumps. It's no better an idea now than it was then. Unfortunately, all I seem to have learned in the interim is that BASE is the ultimate case of "do as I say, not as I do." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you look at the direction of pitch, you are essentially pitching the PC skirt first. This means that when the PC hits the airstream it is upside down. Also, if you throw hard enough, you ought, theoretically, to be able to create a full inversion (i.e. total malfunction) of the PC, although I have never seen this in practice. Regardless, this method has, in my experience watching several hundred hand held deployments, a noticeably higher hesitation rate. I theorize that this is because of the extra time taken for the PC to "right" itself prior to inflation, and in some cases for the PC to "untangle" itself from some kind of inversion. In my opinion, this is bad practice. Also in my opinion, PC's ought to be thrown out in as close an approximation to their inflation position as possible. Throwing them with the apex in the lead is obviously superior, from this standpoint, to throwing them with the skirt in the lead. Your mileage may vary, and opinions of many experienced jumpers are certain to be different. Note that the PC held in this orientation can be used (and has been used by very experienced jumpers successfully on ultra low freefalls) in conjunction with an underhanded PC toss (opposite of the direction of the toss in Katzurki's video) to achieve very good results in reaching bridle extension and early PC inflation. For more general comments, see the following threads: Throwing Up PC Low Freefall PC Throwing Throwing Up! Especially read the comments by Roland "Slim" Simpson, Dwain Weston, and Spencer Bisley, as they are, or were, in my opinion, among the world's top experts in low freefall deployments. I've reproduced some relevant portions below, but I strongly recommend reading the entire threads to get the real flow of the conversation. Slim: Spence: -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In a word: History. It joins us to the generations of jumpers before us, and makes us feel the history and community of the sport. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does anyone know if the DVD will be released in NTSC and PAL simultaneously, or if us poor folks on this side of the pond will have to wait for it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

"Call me back once you've signed up for your FJC. I'll have the rig waiting for you when you arrive in Twin Falls." Calling Jimmy to check would be no problem. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

He's posted this because he and I have had several discussions about the video of his jump. Coco, if you're reading this, it's the same upside-down mushroom toss thing that you and I talked about with your Dad's bridge day jump video. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm on it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I usually ask for them to have a mentor that I know (or at least know of), and feel good about. I usually ask how much skydiving they've done, but I'm not as picky about the exact number of airplane jumps as I am about having some guidance from the BASE side of things. I wouldn't be willing to sell a second hand rig to someone who did not yet have a mentor. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Interesting you should ask. Actually, what it's doing in the BASE zone is that it's moving to the Bonfire. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That actually works great on a lot of multi-padlock gates. Often, when several people have to get into some place (very common on some towers), they just chain the padlocks through each other so that any of them can get in. It's very simple to clip off the last link of the chain and replace it with your own padlock, simply adding yourself to the "list" of people who have their own locks/keys/access to the site. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Perhaps we ought to change your nickname from "The Pick" to "The Rake"? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've owned both electric and mechanical guns, and have never found them any easier or more effective then simply raking a lock by hand. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All, Please read this thread. Let's keep the discussion of specific sites to PM's or email. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What do you count free standers as? And, can you explain why you do this? It's really just semantic, so it's not very important, but I tend to use the "classic" definitions of either (a) geometry: a straight vertical line (which means smoke stacks are A's) or (b) wind: the wind blows through it. Of the two I prefer the wind explanations, since I think wind is more relevant to the actual jumping. For those not familiar with the defintions I refer to above, they are: A) Geometry Building: A three dimensional shape Antenna: A vertical line Span: A horizontal line Earth: A vertical plane B) Wind Building: the wind blows around it Antenna: the wind blows throught it Span: the wind blows under it Earth: the wind blows over it It's all just silly semantics anyway, but can sometimes be an entertaining diversion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A de M with wingsuit?? That would be incredibly bad-ass. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Several years ago the Norwegian version of that magazine carried a photo sequence of a guy lighting up, inhaling, clamping the joint back between his teeth, and exiting a 2000 ft cliff. I'm pretty sure he started smoking again under canopy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've jumped a couple of those in the States. I bet the style in the UK is different, but here they pretty much suck to climb. There is no ladder or rail, and you climb the structure itself. Then, when you get to the top, there is no real clean exit point, so you end up kind of precariously balancing/hanging and dropping/pushing off. It's an interesting experience, but having done it a couple times, it doesn't really call to me so much anymore. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Completely serious. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Mine has a tram to the exit, and a cool little cafe at the top making these unearthly good donuts. I'm not sure if that's a positive or a negative. I do think that as Americans we are sometimes guilty of thinking the US has the best of everything. But as BASE jumpers we are usually less guilty than other Americans. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Okay, that's pretty cool, but at the King, you can exit, then thread your canopy flight between massive desert spires and fly in close proximity to some of the most radical rock features I've ever seen. Some of the towers have some really unlikely looking formations. Just a badass experience. You don't start on the glacier. You jump into a crevasse that has ice flows on the sides, then you turn left, fly between the ice flows and out of the crevasse, and onto the glacier. Then you turn right and slide down the glacier. If you were completely insane (DW wouldn't consider it--that's how insane it is) you could turn right after exit and thread between two rock spires and under a manmade bridge. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I really do think that way too many people assume that everyone they are talking to is American. 980 is a good example, as is Sangiro. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com