TomAiello
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Everything posted by TomAiello
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I'm creating this thread as a sticky for site specific guidelines. I'm going to try to get Sangiro to move these up into the headers for the forum pages, but until then, I'll leave them in this thread. If you have a set of guidelines for any specific site that you'd like added to this thread, please PM me, and I'll unlock it for you to add your post to, then lock it again. If you are planning a visit to any site listed here, please read and abide by the guidelines for the site. These guidelines are generally created by local jumpers, working with local authorities, to promote safety and maintain jumper access to sites. Please respect the hard work that these jumpers have done for the greater BASE community by following the (usually very simple) guidelines outlined. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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You're not the only one. I swear it looks like a little kid rolling up his sleeping bag to go to camp. So, Gary, if you're banging out 25 a day at these events, how many are you up to total now? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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I keep a pull up cord in the pocket behind the MLW on all my rigs (even the velcro ones). It's saved me twice at exit points when a friend giving me a pin check managed to pop the pin accidentally. In general, though, I agree with Abbie. Velcro rigs are lower stress for 90% of the jumps done in the U.S. today. I'll even argue the flippydoos. With a properly closing velcro rig, subterminal aerials aren't an issue at all. I'd say that almost all the newer jumpers I see underrate velcro without any real reasons. So, if anyone is looking to sell a used Vision...
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He was between 1800 and 1900 when he left here a few weeks ago. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Here's one thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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What if the event just failed for a year? Just the rappellers showed up, for example? What do you think would happen? And while we're at it, have there been any new requirements or restrictions on the rappellers? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Have they changed the visa process in the last year or two? Last time I tried to travel to Russia was about 2 years ago, for a BASE event. I was unable to obtain a visa (despite flying to Washington DC to stand in line at the Russian embassy) and ended up losing a thousand bucks or so in non-refundable airline tickets. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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I wonder what they'll do when no jumpers can afford to come, and no organizer can afford to try to convince jumpers to come? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Wow. Nice job, Gary. That's pretty freakin' impressive. Maybe we need another world record category. Most jumps in 8 hours packing for yourself, or something like that. Was that on just one rig? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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There's a thread here. Unfortunately, multiple forum changes have wiped out most of the names of the posters, making them all "guest." But that thread reports: "Eric Jones is Eiger #1. The jump was made in late 1989 and a photo of it was published in the Fixed Object Journal in 1990. " "In 1990, a french guys jumped from the middle, near the mushroom, with a snowboard." "In 1994, a Sector Team, with Ruby jerome and Rhem dedé, was on the mushroom." I'm assuming that the second is the one you are referring to. The third one has the jumpers names and sponsor, so I assume it's reasonably accurate, as I'd have expected someone to call foul with that much data if it hadn't checked out. According to that thread, the first jumper exited from a lower point. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Getting pretty off topic, but... There's probably enough room to do that slider up. I've done TARD-away to round here (a little more than half the altitude), as well as TARD-away and McCutaway with time enough to turn around and land into the wind. McCutaway slider down in Colorado (slightly higher than BD) gave me a ton of time. If you have a skyhook or sorcerer you ought to be able to do a TARD-away to a skyhook/sorcerer cutaway (so, double cutaway) at BD. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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What kind of rigs are allowed? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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"It's more akin to a circus act." - Bill Ottley, when asked if BASE was a form of skydiving. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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It's jumped fairly regularly now. Don't tell Eric or Moe, but the "first" jumpers to do it were sponsored by Red Bull, and did a giant expedition and publicity thing there, along with an hour long documentary. After which it came out that the previous "first" jumpers, sponsored by Sector, had also shot a documentary about their jumps there, a few years prior. Both of which were, I suspect, some time after the jumpers you named above. I think we need a book just for fact checking the sponsored expeditions. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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If you built it into a helmet, you could also use the setup under canopy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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I believe the USPA suspended (from the USPA) everyone who was involved in the flatbed incident, in an effort to show the NPS that they were serious about enforcing the rules. I don't think it made much difference to the NPS, or to many of the jumpers involved. Rangers don't make policy. They just enforce it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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An important difference is that when you screw up at the DZ, people form opinions about _you_. In the case of BASE in Yosemite, a handful of people screwed up, and the NPS decided to treat BASE jumpers, collectively, as responsible. I, personally, don't think that's very fair. But, I can see how it's a lot easier for the land managers to do that. I'm hopeful that we'll get back into the park system at some point in the future. I do think that we need to be clear from the outset that no one can control all the jumpers, and that if the NPS wants to regulate the system, they need to actually punish individual offenders, rather than treating us all as a whole. I'd love to see all jumpers take some general community responsibility, and consider the impact their actions will have on other jumpers. But I really don't think that's a realistic possibility. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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A fair bit. There were some low-impact jumpers then, too. But this specific incident was definitely a major event in the developing BASE culture. Both. I think that the number of incidents like that per jumper has probably dropped, but the overall number of jumpers has gone way up. On balance, I'd say we're probably doing better at that kind of thing now than we did then. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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There is some history here. In defense of the NPS, we (meaning jumpers generally, I doubt many of those actual individuals are still actively jumping) pretty much hosed ourselves. Driving motor vehicles onto wilderness trails, cutting down trees, and generally being a nuisance is not good community relations. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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You haven't seen the ABA videos, have you? It's happened a lot, mostly a long time ago, but occasionally it still happens for whatever reason. You won't catch me doing it, though. Them fancy reserve thingy's can't be trusted, I tell you. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Yes. And the Getting into BASE article, as well as a couple others. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Does anyone know if there is a web site for Performance Variable, the (german, I believe) manufacturer of the Relax BASE rig? The only thing I can find is the My Sky Shop page on the rig. Anyone have any other information about the manufacturer? I'm updating some articles, and trying to find current contact info. Thanks for any help! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Not just you. Remember, Glenn also gave us such gems as "BASE jumping is as easy as stepping off a chair and pulling a handkerchief out of your pocket." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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I think it depends a lot on your gender. Guys like to have the casual sex. Girls like to have the casual dating. Guys tend to view the date as the work, and the sex as the reward. Girls tend to view the sex as the work, and the date as the reward. It sounds a bit like asking him to do all the work, but not get the rewards, while you get all the rewards without doing the work. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com
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Maybe I'm confused. Are we talking about loops to hold tersh rings, or the tersh rings/loops themselves? My Gargoyle (and my Vision) has the folded bits of loop sewn behind the MLW, so that you could slide a removable D ring in there and screw it down. It doesn't have actual built in tersh rings (like the option available on the Perigees). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com