TomAiello

That's interesting. I find that BASE jumping makes me a more conservative skydiver. Since I know what kinds of systems are necessary for repeatable pulls at 300 feet, and I see just how different they are from skydiving rigs, I become very mistrustful of the skydiving gear. This has generally led me to increase my average deployment altitude when skydiving from around 2000' (before I started BASE) to about 3500' (now, with a wingsuit). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think the english word you are looking for is "arc", but we'll have to check in with some English jumpers to find out for sure. (Hey, English dudes, if you read this, can you help us out? ) I am uncertain as to how close you can get to the cables, relative to the insulators. I do know that there is a safety margin built into the insulators, and that you'd have to be quite close to the line for it to arc to you without you being grounded. I believe there would have to be a whole lot of current for the electricity to arc to an ungrounded jumper as he fell past. I think the closest I've been (when ungrounded) to a high voltage line was probably about 6 feet. The closest I've been when grounded (which ought to be more dangerous) is a bit closer. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In my opinion, garbage cans at the exits in that Valley would be extremely incongruous, and not in keeping with the environment. The exit points are not along established walking trails or anything, and pretty much exist in their natural states. Adding "improvements" like garbage cans would probably be more negative than positive. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've jumped them quite a bit. The "tickling" and "blue flames" are probably static electric discharge between you (most likely your feet) and the tower when you exit. I've seen it quite a bit. In my experience it's most likely to happen in a dry, windy season, but I don't know why (since I've only had it happen on power towers I assume the power lines are the root cause, not the wind). I have experienced some muscle cramping from the shocks, but always in my legs and feet, and never anything really serious (i.e. it always worked itself out before I got to the ground). I do know people who worry enough about it that they always go hand held, in case they have some kind of cramping in their upper body that might make it hard to pitch. This has never, to my knowledge, actually been a problem, though. I think the real major consideration is the power lines themselves, and they are usually very well insulated and kept away from anyplace you can reach from the structure. I have jumped a couple that were not so nice that way, but even with jumpers heads within a couple feet of the power lines at the exit point, we had no real problems. I'd imagine that depends on the strength of the current in the lines, though, so if they are very powerful, you'd want to stay further away. Hope that helps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think a little more so, probably because of the lower percentage of women BASE jumping (as compared to skydiving). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Clearly, none of their reporters are bothering to read this website. Several people have contacted (via more direct methods than posting here) Channel 13 to try to clear that up. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've split this off the "BASE Nazi Rant" as these are two separate incidents that occured more than 2 years apart. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Obi ought to be there in the same time frame, and was looking for help. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you want to comment on the size of another guy's organ, I suggest you take it to PM's. I'll give you 14 days to think about that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've put the ASC countersuit complaint into the same place (here). You can download that from there, as well. It's called "ASCCounterComplaint.pdf." It's interesting that there are several things in the ASC complaint that are drawn from this thread, showing "evidence" that the skydiving community is conspiring against ASC to maintain some kind of "monopoly." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Somehow I think Perry is going to win this one... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've seen some pretty bad center cell strip taking bigger PC's to longer delays. I've got some video of a 42 at terminal where the whole pack job is trashed by the time it gets to line stretch. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I certainly don't think you ought to leave it in a mushroom. I see people using this kind of technique all the time (taking the mushroom out of the BOC and just holding it directly). In my opinion, it's ok for longer delays, but for very low airspeed (like go and throw) jumps, it's just asking for a hesitation. My experience has been that both stowed go and throws and handheld mushroom go and throws experience approximately the same hesitation rate, which I'd say is about 1 in 20 (for a noticeable hesitation). I'm not a fan of the "leave the ZP out" technique either, because I think it can make it harder to pitch the PC to full bridle extension. But I certainly think it's less prone to hesitation than either a stowed jump or a hand held mushroom. I think that the primary reason to have longer bridles is to generate more snatch force at low airspeed. Initially, I think this was an effort to combat the greater pull force required to open a velcro rig (versus pins). The burble from a subterminal body is nowhere near 9 feet. It's not even close to 6 feet. You don't need that much bridle to escape the tiny burble of a slider down BASE jump (remember that the size of the burble is proportional to the fall rate--it grows to full size only at terminal, and at a zero airspeed [exit] it is non-existent). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nice. You're going to love it. What do you want the speaker system to do? Does it have to play anything else, aside from the iPod? If all you need is something to play the iPod out of, you can get fairly good quality for cheaper than if you need a CD, tape player, or whatever. I've played around with most of the iPod oriented speakers on the market. I think the best compromise of sound quality and price is probably the JBL On Stage, but there are a ton of different options (here are the ones at the Apple store, but there are many others. If you live close to an Apple store, a good bet is to just walk in and try them all out (they have them all set up so you can walk from one to the next, and they usually don't mind if you crank the volume to listen for distortion, etc). I've got a cheap little Sony speaker that I use all the time, as well, and it travels well (and takes batteries for use away from power outlets). I can't find a link right now, but you can get them from a lot of different places. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No. I don't think so. I do think that girls sometimes have trouble finding a mentor where there is no sexual interest (I mean, most BASE jumping guys are going to find a BASE jumping girl attractive to some extent). But I don't think it's particularly harder for a girl to find a mentor amongst the uninterested than it is for a guy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Femurs are actually pretty good to break, in terms of long term prospects. Since a break in the middle of the femur isn't on a joint, it's likely he'll recover to full function fairly easily (not like breaking an ankle joint, or spine or something). I know guys who've had broken femurs and had no troubles a while down the line, where broken ankles and such give you trouble pretty much for the rest of your life. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm hoping that everyone has seen this by now. There's a copy in the safety bulletins section of the BASE Wiki, as well. I'm going to unstick this one now. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Posted by Joris on November 6, 2005. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've read the exact opposite on two paraglider forums. That's weird. My experience owning the Crispi's was that they fit my (wide) foot pretty well. My experience trying on the Hanwags and walking around in them was that they were too narrow for my feet. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I used to pop the ankle support in and out (it takes about 2 seconds) for hiking/jumping. It's gotten so that I've just left it out for the last year or two, though. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Be aware that you are opening a giant can of worms in which a bunch of people will post telling you that one particular brand or another of suit is the "best." It seems like everyone thinks that whatever suit brand they own, work for, are sponsored by, or whatever is automatically the best, and that all the rest are terrible. Take all of these opinions with a grain of salt. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

An interesting side note: Back in the day, when "First Jump Courses" were months long and involved 50 or 60 jumps and multiple objects, I made a student of mine actually practice eyeballing object altitude, and then comparing with the altitude we determined with a laser. I got the idea from a CHP I talked to who said that most of the CHP patrolmen were able to estimate a vehicle's speed within 5 mph of the radar gun reading--and that he had once had a judge take him out to a busy street and call out vehicle speeds while the judge used a radar gun, to prove it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Crispi's have a wide fit compared with most shoes generally. I have pretty wide feet. Crispi's fit well, and are very comfortable. I haven't yet tried Hanwags for longer than about 5 minutes (no hiking, no jumping, just walking around in a parking lot). I think the Hanwags are a little narrower. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Slightly off topic (I do think of tracking as a serious discipline, but you already covered me in the disclaimer); you ought to try a Phoenix Fly tracking suit. It's more of the "tracking" feeling than the "wingsuit" feeling, and it's much easier to deal with having less skydiving experience. If the PF suit is too expensive, there's always Smoking Pants. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

From the photo I assume this technique will not be usable on span jumps? (Sorry, it's 5 am here, and I couldn't resist) -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com