Re: [robibird] legal to jump in Norway??
> what is the status of the nice 300m cliff near the terminal wall...
> recently i had problem w the police there. they said: '' not jump the cliff, go away!! ''
Very appropriate question. And here comes in force the story of "NOT illegal".
It is not a right to jump that subterminal wall. It is simply NOT illegal. So locals (people, authorities, windsurfers, whatever) TOLERATE that we jump off that wall.
Just because it is simply not illegal and there is NO RIGHT to jump off there, local police (whenever they feel like doing so) can say that jumping off that wall you can endanger local population/campers underneath in case of a total. That, honestly, is partially true.
We regularly jump that wall. We never had personally problems with local police. But we are very quite and as low profile as possible when we jump there.
The "toleration" thing becomes very, very evident any time large groups show up and are both numerous and noisy.
I do not know which the conditions of your group were when you had that "discussion" with local police.
But, granted that we are tolerated and there is no right to jump that wall, local police, if they simply do not like you, can show up with something "You cannot jump off there", "you endanger those campers underneath" or any other "pleasantry" possible.
The one that happened to you is a perfect case of what "NOT illegal" means.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to which you can grab onto to say: "It is my right to jump".
Full stop.
We are simply "tolerated".
In a lot of southern Europe countries an activity that goes on without being "disturbed" does not mean necessarily that is legal, most of times they simply don't bother to stop you and you go on "undisturbed" until something happens, and after that "something" has happened, then they all in once discover that you shouldn't do that and they EXPLICITELY say to you that YOU CANNOT DO THAT.
There is a misunderstanding about interpretation and application and enforcing laws between anglosaxon and latin cultures.
In anglosaxon countries, authorities do not tolerate at all that you do something that you shouldn't, and they stop you immediately and keep on stopping you whenever you try to do again that thing.
In latin countris, authorities are more easy in tolerating and applying and enforcing laws, if you do something that you shouldn't but you don't cause any harm to anyone, they can let you keep on doing that.
Anglosaxon: I do "this" and I cannot do "that": so "this" is legal and "that" is illegal.
Latin: I do "this" and I cannot do "that": so "this" is something that I can do (perhaps "this" is not perfectly legal but without doing so much noise, I can keep on doing it) and "that" is something that I cannot do by any means (bloody hell, "that" must be something so damn illegal!!!!).
It is not like driving a car or like piloting an aircraft: laws are in force to say which car can circulate and who, holding which licence, can drive that car, laws are in force to say which aircraft holding which test/maintenance can fly and who, holding a pilot licence, can pilot that aircraft. In such cases you can say: "It is my right to drive this car, because I have got my driving licence and my car is perfectly maintained (see certificates...)", "It is my right to pilot this aircraft, because I have got my piloting licence and my aircraft is perfectly maintained (see certificates...)".
In BASE jump, you cannot mention any right or any law, simply because there aren't.
So, the very general rule is (anywhere in general when jumping off "NOT illegal" sites): try to be as smooth as possible, try to be as low profile as possible, try to land as far as possible off the people/vans/campers/whatever, try to be as silent as possible.
Just my 0.02€.
