TomAiello

I just asked my doctor (she's also my wife). Decongestants can sometimes make you dizzy. Be sure to check your reaction to the particular decongestant on the ground (same as the antibiotics). Also, if the underlying problem you are taking a decongestant for (i.e. stuffed up head) could be a problem going to altitude, be sure it won't flare up, or you'll be in for a very painful ride (that's from my experience, not hers). Hope this helps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The disturbingly prescient thing about that is that the writer is dead--less than 3 years later. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Due to multiple inquiries, I am posting this now: I will hold a First Jump Course and BASE skills camp from August 27th to September 2nd, 2005 (Saturday to Friday) in Twin Falls, Idaho. Course will begin at 8am Saturday (27th) and conclude at 6pm the following Friday (2nd). My goal is to make this the highest quality, most comprehensive, formal BASE education course offered to date. This is not a complete course in expert, or even intermediate BASE jumping. All BASE jumpers must continue to educate themselves throughout their BASE career. The course will focus on basic BASE skills, with an additional emphasis on the history and ethics of BASE, and the teamwork necessary to many BASE jumps. In addition to standard First Jump training, the course will cover appropriate brake settings, advanced packing techniques, object avoidance techniques, object evaluation, and landing skills. Time and jumper aptitude permitting, we will also cover unpacked jumps, particularly as used for emergency situations, and multi-way jumps. I will accept a maximum of five students in this course, although I would prefer to have only four. Students will be accepted based on my evaluation of their qualifications. I will give preference to students who have audited a prior FJC. This course is intended for students with no previous BASE jumps, but I will accept applications from jumpers having less than 20 jumps. I will also accept a maximum of two non-jumping auditors in the course. If you want to audit the packing and discussion segments, I will also ask you to help out with some of the other parts of the course (such as ferrying cars). Auditors should be people interested in BASE who have not yet sufficient pre-requisite experience. Course requirements: 1) Gear: Because we will customize brake settings during the course, you must have your own gear to participate. 2) Mentoring: You must make a reasonable effort to find an experienced jumper local to you, who can help you with your jumping when you return home. You must provide me with contact information for this jumper, so that I can talk with them. If you cannot locate someone, I will assist you in doing so. This requirement will be waived for jumpers in an area where I am unable to locate a suitable mentor. 3) Prerequisites: You must have appropriate canopy experience, as evaluated by me. I will ask for details of your experience when you contact me, as well as contact information for people able to verify your experience. 4) Reading: I will require all accepted applicants to purchase and read [I]BASE 66[/I], by Jevto Dedijer, and the micrometeorology portions of [I]Understanding the Sky[/I], by Dennis Pagen. Course Syllabus: Day 1: Packing Discussion: The risks of BASE Video and Discussion: Impact (Discovery Health), Over the Edge (Justin Kardi, Jason Fitz-Herbert) Exercise: Letter to family Packing Discussion: Differences between skydiving and BASE cultures Video and Discussion, Exits: Lemmings (Will Forshay) Day 2: Beginner Exits Exit Training Discussion: Logging jumps Landing Area Preview Discussion: Jumps, landing, flight patterns PCA BASE jumps Video and Discussion: 2004 ABA Compilation (Australian BASE Association) Day 3: Deployment Discussion: BASE ethics BASE jumps: Hand held Discussion: BASE community BASE jumps: Delay nomination, Hand held Video and Discussion: BASE Community Self Regulation Day 4: Floater Exits Discussion: BASE History BASE jumps: Stowed or hand held Exit simulation: Floater exits BASE jumps: Floater exits and/or stowed. Discussion and Exercise: Appropriate Brake Settings Video and Discussion: From Gravity Came Groundrush, Nobody But Me BASE Jumps Like I Do, Para-Care (John Hoover), Boenish El Cap Jumps (Carl Boenish), Gravity Sports (Dennis McGlynn) Day 5: Object Avoidance Drills Discussion: Object Avoidance Avoidance Drill BASE jumps Discussion: Insurance Avoidance Drill BASE jumps Discussion: Object Evaluation Day 6: Object Avoidance Drills Avoidance Drill BASE jumps Packing, Part 2: Packing without tools Avoidance Drill BASE jumps Discussion: Recognizing Skillful BASE jumps Video and Discussion: Radix (Jimmy Halliday) Day 7: Landing Drills BASE jumps: Landing Drills Video and Discussion: BASE malfunctions and correction. BASE jumps: Landing Drills Video: Lemmings Extreme (Will Forshay) Space is limited, so I will accept the best prepared applicants. If you want to come, you must contact me via email (tbaiello@mac.com). When you email me asking to come, please include: 1) Your total number of skydives. 2) Your total number of CRW and Accuracy jumps. 3) Your primary skydiving discipline. 4) The names and contact info (email of phone) of: (a) any BASE jumpers in your area who know you, (b) a BASE mentor who has agreed to help you progress, (c) any skydiving instructors who are familiar with your skills, (d) either the DZO or S&TA of your home drop zone 5) Any other relevant experience (paragliding, rock climbing, etc) 6) An explanation of why you want to BASE jump 7) Anything else you think I should know about you, or your preparation I will begin accepting students on June 15th, but I will hold at least 1 spot open until August 1st. Applying early will improve your chances of being accepted for this course. I believe that all BASE jumpers should make contact with, and learn from, their local BASE communities. If you have an experienced instructor in your area who is willing to travel to a legal span to provide instruction, whatever they charge, I will not accept you into this class without an agreement with that instructor. I will continue compiling a list of instructors in specific areas. If you are an experienced BASE instructor who wishes to be included in my list of areas, please contact me via email. There will be no charge for this instruction. I may require students to make a $100 donation to a local Twin Falls charity, but I have not yet determined an appropriate charity. If you have any questions, post here, or PM or email me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

An amazingly enlightened viewpoint for an American, a BASE jumper, and a pilot. Sometimes, I have hope for us.

Also, does anyone know what a "double action cut away zipper" is? Some kind of new wing cutaway system? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Fall has the best, and most consistent weather. Last year 4th of July had better weather than Memorial Day, but there were still some windy times. Great partying going on, though. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't understand. What is "bandage"? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Full floaters, facing the span. If you fly under the bridge, you "airstrike". If you get turned around before flying under the bridge, you're safe. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I suppose that depends on how you define "landing skills." You should certainly have the ability to land a BASE canopy in a variety of conditions. I've yet to see anyone starting who had really developed the ability to land on talus, for example, or in some other conditions not easily simulated at the DZ. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does anyone know what the theory behind the scalloped trailing edges is? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that learning to deal with various LZ's is the next thing to practice after object avoidance. Since LZ's are more often a source of injury (where object strike more often results in death), I'd put the object avoidance before the landing skills in the learning progression. Why would you want to visit new objects to practice avoidance skills, rather than doing them at a familiar, safe span, and being able to focus entirely on learning the skills? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey, that's what we're paying these guys for, right? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've still got more "less than legal" jumps than legal ones. But that does look set to change sometime this summer. As I said, there are always going to be plenty of "sneaky" jumps to be had in cities and the like. I don't see "we need the excitement of law breaking" as a very persuasive argument for keeping the NPS prohibition against jumping. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Consider 2 jumpers: Jumper 1: 200 skydives, Potato Span FJC, 20 "object avoidance drill" jumps off the potato span. Jumper 2: 200 skydives, Potato Span FJC, 20 jumps off 20 other different objects. In my opinion, Jumper #1 is better prepared to deal with a 180 off a solid object, because he has practiced dealing with this problem. Jumper #2 probably has much better object evaluation skills, having seen 20 more objects, but I'd feel much better about taking Jumper #1 to a low solid object. Avoiding object strike is the way to avoid our leading cause of injury and death. Practicing avoidance ought to be your very first order of business upon completion of your first jump course--before you start jumping a bunch of different things. Learning to create greater separation from the object (i.e. better launch skills to get further away) ought to be your next priority. Visiting more objects (especially solid ones, where there is a chance you'll need those object avoidance skills) ought to wait until you have practiced these basic survival skills. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Plenty of sneaking around to be had on buildings, if you want. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In the immortal words of Dwain Weston: "I am so over the James Bond shit." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've edited them. There's a 6 hour timeout on the forums, so after 6 hours you can't edit the posts any longer. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nope. It's their Anniversary Sale, so from May 6-15 you can get it in the store at that price. I'd guess that means you can get it on their web site at that price starting Friday. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I just got the latest REI sale catalog, and the Garmin eTrex Vista C is on sale for US$ 270. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's virtually unheard of for modern big wall climbers in National Parks (or most other places) to toss trash. It's pretty environmentally unfriendly, and there is a strong peer pressure in the climbing world for environmental sensitivity. Fixed anchors (such as bolts) actually reduce long term environmental impact. They do this by eliminating the need for repeatedly placing anchors that might damage the rock, and also by concentrating the traffic in one place (in this way, they are somewhat analagous to trails, which help preserve wilderness by concentrating foot traffic in one place, and away from the other places). Further, fixed anchors are often critical for climbing safety. Imagine the outcry if the park service told us it was ok to BASE jump on their lands, but required us all to jump sub-100 foot swooping canopies in skydiving rigs. It's kind of sad to see BASE jumpers falling prey to the stereotypes of climbers, when we're trying so hard to escape similar stereotypes ourselves. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you give us an idea of what your background is? Filling in your profile would be helpful.

Toni, Would you mind making this post a new thread? Or if it's ok with you, I'll do that? Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Short version: NPS wanted to ban replacement of fixed anchors on park service land. Climbers obviously were against this. President of REI calls his senator (Slade Gorton, R-WA). Senator Gorton calls the director of the NPS. Mentions that the park service budget is up for review soon. Also mentions that he is chairman of the senate appropriations committee, which will do that review. Also mentions that a major employer in his home state, Recreational Equipment Incorporated, is concerned that a ban on fixed anchor replacement might hurt their bottom line, cause them to hire less voters, and contribute less to the Gorton campaign fund. NPS decides that banning replacement of fixed anchors is not such a good idea. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It is, however, a much safer alternative to flying through physical objects. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm sure the NPS would love to toss climbers out, too. But climbers have enough people (and money) to have political influence. Do you know the story about the bolting ban and Senator Gorton? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com