Basejumper.com - archive

The below is the only arrest for BASE jumping in Yosemite I've heard of this summer.

We must be getting better at it . . .

Nick
BASE 194

From the NPS Morning Report:
http://data2.itc.nps.gov/morningreport/

Yosemite National Park (CA)
BASE Jumping Arrest

At dusk on Sunday, September 12th, Valley ranger Carly Lober was on foot patrol in El Capitan Meadow when she heard parachutes open above her. She saw Chad Peabody, 23, and Catherine Hansen, 19, of Bremerton and Gig Harbor, Washington, respectively, land at the east end of the meadow. They gathered up their chutes and ran into a grove of trees. Lober caught up to them as they were trying to finish packing their equipment into stash bags and arrested them. All their gear, including a helmet-cam video tape of the approach and jump, was seized as evidence. On September 14th, Peabody and Hansen appeared in federal magistrate’s court in the park and pled guilty to illegal jumping charges. They were sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation, fined $2,000 each, and forfeited all their jumping gear. [Submitted by Dan Horner, Special Agent]

that's an expensive jump ticket...

is Yosemite a place where BASE is illegal, or is it because they trespassed ?

I'm not really clear with US regulations on BASE jumping...

Are you sure about this? I've heard talk that some people are communicating with the NPS, so things may get better in the future. But what concerns me here is that this is a recent incident (two weekends ago) and the guilty are people we know, and who often post here. Plus it really sucks that they got fined $2000 and lost their gear. But those are some of the risks we take I guess?

BASE is illegal in all National Parks in the US. This includes Yosemite (as well as most of the other terminal cliffs in the states).

Chad, Katie, I know we talked about this before and after. I feel for you guys. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know. There's spare gear sitting in my basement if you need some.

Everyone else, Let's be sensitive to the fact that these two jumpers are regular posters here, and our friends. I'm sure there is still some soreness over this.

On the plus side, I've heard a rumor that they'll get the camera and video back (once copies have been made for the evidence locker).

thanks for the answer.

does that mean they will never see their gear again ??

That does bring up a question I've had for some time now. Does anybody know exactly what NPS does with forfeited gear? Do they just store it forever? Burn it? Sell it at auction?

Yes.

As far as I know, it's all held in an evidence room somewhere. Apparently Brenda McGlynn once got access to the evidence room (legally--some story about being the manufacturer [which, in fairness, she was] and needing to check for stolen gear) and reported that there were rigs that had been locked in there since the 80's.

Hmmm. If my gear were stolen by a young, foolish jumper and taken to NPS land and confiscated, would I have a legal right to it's return (assuming that I had reported it stolen in advance)? Food for thought...

Canadian law agencies, once evidence has been seized keep it for court. In a case where no charges are laid, the agency returns it to the owner or the agency auctions it if the owner is not located (or destroys it if it is illegal ie fake money, shrubbery etc) Once the "evidence" has gone through the courts, the agency no longer holds it for "evidence" purposes. Rather, the courts now become the care taker, for any appeal processes that may occur. I would assume something similiar occurs in the U.S., but can only guess.

There may be an application process where they can get there gear back. Might cost money, but probably not as much as buying it all over again. Again, not 100% sure.

Just my $0.02 Cdn

In Norway rigs seized at the illegal wall used to be sold at a public auction. I remember Thor Alex got his gear back at a nominal cost

bsbd!

Yuri.

>>I propose the creation of the BASE Gear Liberation Front! Who's sole duty it is to rally the masses in firm and vigilant resolution to free this unjustly and historically signifigant confiscated gear!

to me this sounds really stupied.. i mean.. do they keep your cars aswell after a speeding ticket?

YES the gear were used in an Illegal way but the gear it self aint illegal as there are serval places were you could jump legal....

Its even more odd that people aint are offere to pay some kind of a fine to get their gear back(if taken by law)

sometimes im happy that i live were i do,even if that means that i have to pay that much in Tax

 
A legal and technical point BASE jumping in a national park is not illegal, doing it without a permit is. They won't issue permits, with the exception of Bridge Day, so with the exception of bridge day, any jump made is illegal because a permit has not been issued.
The NPS has tried to propagate the perception that BASE jumping is illegal, but that is not what the law says, we should not be helping them deny access to our parks. Even their recent relaxation in their position does not go so far as to say that BASE jumping is legal.

>>I know a jumper who got busted but was allowed to pay a $1000 fine to get his gear back. I think it's just the NPS that plays for keeps.

There might be a lot of legal wrangling over it, but I believe that yes you would be entitled to it (after all legal proceedings requiring it as eveidence were completed).

It is your property, it was wrongfully taken from you and used without your consent. If someone steals your gun and then uses it to commit, say, armed robbery, I'm pretty sure you are legally entitled to get it back.

The main thing would be proving that the rig was indeed stolen.

Does anyone know what foot patrol implies? I.E. Was she walking through the meadow or on one of the trails? Or was she hiding in the meadow (sneaky fuckers) ? Just curious...

Ah, yes. You are, of course, correct. Having been turned down for something like 50 permits now (my letter writing campaign doesn't seem to have had any recognizable effect, though), I know that well.

It's actually my third hand impression that a climbing ranger on the wall had radioed in before the jumpers had even landed.

"Foot Patrol" just means hanging out, walking around. Usually it's about keeping the kids from smoking pot in the meadow, the drunks from being too rowdy, and giving Aunt Ethel directions to Curry Village.

>All their gear, including a helmet-cam video tape of the approach and jump, was seized as evidence.

>On the plus side, I've heard a rumor that they'll get the camera and video back (once copies have been made for the evidence locker).

----------------

Interesting... After getting busted in 1995 at "the large lake", my gear (two rigs) was returned after 5 years, but they refused to return the video tape.

hhhmmm

Free The Parks !

This is a perfect example of how BASE jumping can be safely enjoyed without endangering others.

It's time for BASE jumping to be re-evaluated by the NPS as a legitimate sport.

And sounds like we're making some progress on that front.

I'd also request that those of us going to Bridge Day show the attending NPS staff respect and gratitude. Bridge Day is always a great opportunity to meet NPS folks in a non-hostile, non-confrontational atmosphere.

Whenever I'm there I make it a point to say "thank you" to the rangers who I see. Every one I talked to really appreciated it and loved watching us jump.

In fact, with about 45 minutes to go last year I landed and one of the female rangers smiled and said "Hurry up & pack! You can get another one in!"

I apologize if this has been covered in another thread-
but is there an address and contact name to which we can send letters of support for opening NPS sites?

Definitely write to:

Honorable Tom Tancredo
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20525-0606

Be sure to thank him for his efforts in this regard. Maybe even visit his campaign hq website and send in a donation.

Also write to your own congressional representatives (whoever they may be).

House of Reps member info:

http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.html

Senate member info:

http://www.senate.gov/...ion/senators_cfm.cfm

What to write about (talking points):

1. Don't use the term BASE. We are backcountry parachutists when we talk to the NPS. This keeps things uniform and gets us away from the "BASE" stigma. The permit language includes the term 'backcountry', hence the uniformity.

2. It's a matter of fundamental fairness that NPS end 26 years of access discrimination through blanket prohibition (historical stance and confirmed by the 2001 NPS Management Policies prohibition at 8.2.2.7 - BASE Jumping).

3. The prohibition is based on an obsolete paradigm no longer supported by common sense.

4. The New River permit/waiver directly contradicts both the premise and justification of the prohibition policy (2001 NPS Management Policies prohibition at 8.2.2.7 - BASE Jumping).

5. History contradicts both premise and justification too: NPS has for years hosted the world's biggest fixed-object jumping boogie!

6. We've grown up as a sport and as individuals within it -- just like several other sub-disciplines of parachuting, we have developed our own rules, ethics and specialized equipmment.

7. We appreciate the NPS flexibility under the leadership of Director Mainella and look forward to working with her office to move forward to a fair and reasonble access solution for backcountry parachutists.
______________________

You can BEST help by writing your congressmembers and merely informing them of NPS' past actions, that you feel it is unfair that NPS has imposed these blanket prohibitions in a discriminatory manner, and informing YOUR congressional members that Rep. Tom Tancredo is working on this. Most members probably don't know that he has been working on this. Encourage your members to speak to Rep. Tancredo and to inquire about how your member might help.

Other things you can do:

Avoid upsetting the NPS further by not swatting the hornet's nest during BD and at other events and places.

Be courteous to NPS representatives.

email me for more information:

boone97@yahoo.com

later,
Gardner

Just a thought, but how about someone who is up on all of this putting together a canned letter that everyone can print out, sign, and mail into their rep. I think there would be a lot more letters sent if it was easier. Yes, it does seem a bit impersonal, but I think that it would make more people more likely to send one in. I know I would...

I PM'd that same thought to Gardner, he's putting something together already... PM him you're regular e-mail addy and he'll send it to you I'm sure.

Ganja

stay tuned.... (watch this spot)

Gardner

Basically, to make a very long story short, we were busted jumping El Cap after sunset on Sunday evening (the 12th).

We found the exit point and waited until the sun was setting but still light enough to see what was going on, get video, and identify our reference points in freefall.

We exited from the "historic" exit point in a 2-way and had a freefall just over 15 seconds. We passed the top of the spire in freefall and deployed just below it. We flew our canopies to the meadow and landed next to the treeline. We put all our gear in stashbags and were about to put a little distance between the cache and ourselves when a ranger ran up through the trees. The opposite direction there were three men in civilian clothes holding radios. It was obvious that we were surrounded and there was no need to run so we stayed put and cooperated with them.

We were detained as more rangers were called. When the other rangers showed up we were searched, handcuffed, and transported to the Yosemite holding facility. There we were booked and charged with air delivery. We were released in the morning on $500 bail each and told to appear on the 14th at 10 AM at the Yosemite Magistrate.

We talked to the judge and the prosecutor wanted to give us a $2500 fine in addition to complete equipment confiscation and 12 months unsupervised probation. We pled guilty to the air deliver charge since the prosecution had a pretty solid case against us (my helmet camera footage showed the whole jump and the following sprint to the woods) and we didn't really have grounds to plead not guilty. Several rangers claimed to have seen the whole jump and the person who called the rangers in the first place was a climbing ranger who was on the spire as we fell past him and deployed our parachutes.

In the end the judge gave us each a $2000 fine, permanent equipment confiscation, and 12 months unsupervised probation. The $500 bail we each posted was applied toward our fines. I asked for my camera back along with the footage of the jump. My partner asked for her ProTrack out of her helmet since this gear didn't have anything to do specifically with the BASE jump. To our surprise, the prosecutor honored our request. We walked away with the camera and data logger. The oroginal tape will be mailed to us as soon as they make a copy "for their records".

The case against us was pretty solid. It's the whole air delivery law that pisses me off. I honestly believe it's unfair for the NPS to allow many types of risky activities in the park but exclude BASE because it's, "so dangerous".

I want to wage war against the policy that makes enjoying our national parks in the way we choose, illegal.

On a sidenote, as we were sitting in court a person was charged/convicted with a DUI in the park. He pled guilty and was given a $1500 fine and six months unsupervised probation. I find it rather hard to swallow that driving drunk and endagering everyone on the road is less dangerous than jumping from the cliff and landing a parachute in the meadow.

We have more BASE rigs so we can keep jumping. So HA! Marty tilly from Asylum worked really hard to get my new rig finished so I could get back in the air and Ray Losli built me a SoftCock that I threw my extra BlackJack into for Kmonster to jump.

"They can take our rigs but they can never take our jump!" --Kmonster

Ultimately, we knew the price and we knew the score when we decided to jump at dusk. I knew what the stakes were and I decided to jump. Kmonster feels the same.

It is true that there was a ranger sitting on the spire and he did radio in our location and what we were up to. When we were arrested, we were about ten seconds from getting away. I'm confident that if there wasn't a ranger on the spire we would have been clean and gotten away.

I found a a different address for Tancredo:

Thomas G. Tancredo
Colorado-6th, Republican
1130 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0606
Phone: (202) 225-7882