TomAiello

I would bet that the vast majority of the people answering this poll haven't actually tried more than one kind of boot for jumping. Which means that it's really a poll that ought to have been worded "which jumping boots do you use/own?" Has anyone posting here actually owned and used for a noticeable length of time two or more different brands of boots? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Clicky. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Are you bringing that hot chick who sometimes hangs out with you? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Today was supposed to be bad, but turned out surprisingly good. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

am I the only one that thinks this statement is somewhat wrong? I think he's saying that it gives him the ability to quantify the winds he is uncomfortable with. That means that in the future, he'll be better able to discuss those winds with other jumpers, and to check weather reports to know if it's even worthwhile to head out to the object. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I do this every time I look at an object. I'm glad I'm not the only one. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

BASE forum thread here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have temporarily removed the "Bad Day at Work" thread pending review by the moderators. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

When I first started jumping, I showed up at a popular cliff in the desert Southwest United States. There were a number of jumpers there. One guy, who I did not know, walked out to the exit point, held up a little windmeter (I think anenometer is the technical name for the gizmo), and said "nope, over X mph (I don't remember the exact number), I'm not jumping." It seemed to me to be a very good way to remove the human factors from his judgment decision. When he wasn't hungry to jump, or tired from hiking, or whatever, he decided how much wind he was willing to jump that object in. Then he stuck by that decision, no matter which of his friends tried to convince him that "the wind isn't so bad" or "it's just a gust" or "we'll jump in a lull" or "you don't want to hike back down, do you" or whatever. I did get to see him jump later. He was (and probably still is) the most stable, in control BASE jumper I've ever seen. Everything about his jump was rock solid. Perfect body position, perfect pitch, watched the PC inflate and move to bridle stretch, returned to a perfect neutral position for deployment. In fact, I have the ground video of that jump and I still show it to students in my First Jump Course as an example of "what to do" in my "good and bad jumps" video segment. Oh, and I later found out the jumpers name. It was Todd Shoebotham. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This post made me laugh and laugh... All I can say is: Come to the dark side. I haven't worn a jumpsuit in 5 years (not counting wingsuits). I do all my jumps in street clothes. Them skyjumpers have bad fashion sense... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, you saw that this post is more than 2 years old, right? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've broken bones and not known until a day or more later. It's likely that he didn't know his femur was broken. Remember that this wasn't a compound fracture. It's more likely he banged in, got up and thought "hmmm, that kind of hurts, let's try to walk this off." Only when he got back up to the top did he realize that the injury was probably out of the "walk it off" category. This actually happens a surprising amount. When I was trained as an EMT we were taught to always backboard everyone involved in a motor vehicle accident--even people who were up and walking around when we arrived on scene. In an accident, the body automatically releases a lot of natural painkillers (including both adrenaline and endorphins), and muscles tense up to protect the injured bone. It's entirely possible for an accident victim to suffer a fracture of the spine (or femur) without realizing it. I'd prefer if we could keep the discussions about theology in Speaker's Corner. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Regular LRT style toggles. Not Big Grabs. He later said that he though the Big Grabs might have helped him not to fumble. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Be sure to read this thread as well. In the link given upboard, the author appears to misrepresent the opinion of at least one authority (Dwain Weston). Dwain's personal views are reproduced (from Dwain's posting on the subject) in the thread I linked. You should also watch the video of Slim's Accident (you can see it in his memorial video here). Remember that this is video of probably the world's best and most current BASE jumper, at the top of his game, fumbling his toggle (and consequently suffering devastating injury). If you think that you can "for sure" grab your toggle better than Slim, I advise you to reconsider. Definitely do a forum search here for these topics. You'll find a bunch of old threads with varying views. Reading them may help you form your own views on this question. And now, we get a new thread to revive the age old debate. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Opinions vary. I recommend you start a new thread if you want to discuss that. You'll find that it's a subject of much debate. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please, please, please search the forums for something before reposting it for the 6th time (and the 4th in the last 10 days). edit: Here is the original thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I generally read these forums in one window with multiple tabs. So, I'll have one tab open to read this post, say, and another open to my PM inbox. The tabs have a little title header across them so I can keep them straight. Right now, for example, I'm posting into a window with a tab that says "Related Sports: The BASE Zone: Reply to post." The only other tab I have open right now is a PM from a friend of mine. It reads "Forums: Message: Dude". -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

McConkey = Rollover. Two names for the same thing. Deep brakes. Faster inflation can be had from slightly shallower brake settings, but this is a trivial consideration compared to object strike. If you are PCAing, you will be very close to the object,and an offheading which might result in strike will require every bit of help (and luck) you can manage. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You forgot the part where that 'one friend' broke his foot at Bridge Day, and then tried to convince the Bridge Day staff to let him go make another jump, and head to the hospital afterward. I mean, what's he going to do, break it again? For our readers at home, the Bridge Day staff made the friend go to the hospital and not make any more jumps that day. Although he was back on the bridge by about 12:30, as a spectator. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think it really is their army. See thread in Bonfire here regarding paratrooper training. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No, more the "put the slider up, don't flake anything, just throw it over and jump after it" crowds. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The average rollover heading I've seen has been noticeably worse than the average PCA heading. In my opinion, you can control the heading of a rollover fairly well. However, 95% of the people I see doing rollovers choose not to do this, and as a result opening headings aren't very good. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

PC with the handle sewn to the inside of the topskin, rather than the outside (which is the "traditional" handle location). The idea is to reduce snag potential. I like the floating handle (handle not attached to the PC at all) better. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey so what are the odds on hooknswoop??? He has to have high odds. The payoff for banning Remster is huge, though. I'm still trying to cash in on that one... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Check out the Classifieds for a good spread of used gear. Square 1 is a good place to look at prices on a spread of new (and some used) gear, too. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com