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G'day all, just wondering if some of you guys can help out here...

Well its the usual story...no BASE jumps yet but always wanted to do it but its something ive always planned to do in the 'future'. Now I've been given the opportunity to go to the big wall in norway and do the FJC offered there and I've got a couple of questions:

1. From my understanding there are 2 ways to go about it - either with BR (which i think costs $3000 for a week) or with the local club which costs roughly $1200 - minus food). Obviously there is a big difference in price for roughly the same amount of jumps, is there any reason for the large difference and if so is there one course people would recommend over another?

2. I broke my back on a skydive being stupid, that was over a year and a half ago (crushed L1 - got metal in me) since then i have done 150 jumps with not the slightest problem at all (including a couple of spanking openings and a dodgy landing). Im due to get the metal out eventually but I have no idea when, its the public health system so could be years away (doc is in no rush to remove them). Now with what I've done to my back do people think its a wise idea to even get into this at all? Obviously all i really want to hear is reassurance that i will be fine and should go for it but I know that wont happen and I know there is a lot of risk involved- i guess i need to hear from anyone else whos been in this situation. Mainly im worried about the shock of the openings I guess.

Any help is appreciated.

BTW - if I do this I will be putting quite a few jumps on a f1-11 canopy beforehand considering i havent jumped one since my student days.

Dude,
go to Norway and take their course. It's a great deal and they give great instruction. When you go to a dropzone, you usually learn from the staff there, right. It's their landing area, their turf, they know the ins and outs.

the Norwegians have a great club with extremely knowlegable staff.

Hello Michael,
Technically, you have to make 1 BASE jump before you can be a newbie.
Unless you mean skydiving newbie. Now 3 years and 400 skydives is not
a career, but you should be beyond newbie status by now.
The broken back is a concern. You broke your back only midway through
your current stint of parachuting activities, and by your own admission,
you did it "being stupid". There is no room for stupid moves here.
Jumping off a rock in no way compares to jumping through a door.
I'll give you the advice I would give anyone: Don't do it.
Save your money, save your relationships, save your job, save your neck.
If BASE jumping doesn't kill you, at least it will kill your friends.
Is that really worth the most fun you could ever have?

Hello !

I'd definately say go with SBK course. I took the course at 2003 and it was very good indeed, the people at SBK are very nice and the quality of instruction is exellent. It's their big wall and they jump it regularly, who would know the details about jumping it better ? They also have very good BASE simulator, the Pendulator, where you can (and will) train your exits before you take your ass to exitpoint. The price of the course was last year 1500 NOK which at the moment is something like 240 USD (www.basekjerag.com -> information -> prices). The one thing worth mentioning about the course however is that it hardly qualifies as a thorough first jump BASE course. The course focuses on terminal big wall jumping at well known Norwegian wall and has very little info about other kinds of base jumps. (Or at least this was the situation couple of years back). The course is very good as I previously said but I consider it more as a site spesific course to make first BASE jumps at that terminal wall. When going to other kinds of objects and jumps after the course you have to find yourself a qualified mentor to give you instruction on the jump in hand.

Just my feelings on the subject.

OK point taken


Yeah I realise that, believe me I've been thinking about it for long time and weighing up the risk vs reward.

Anyway broke my back on jump 249 - unintentional low turn (the usual story im afraid) - but its amazing how much a little bit of pain makes you learn your lesson...

Are your body ready to take a opening as hard as an line dump? (Hard openings happens due to conditions, or new fabric etc etc) If you are ready to risk that, go ahead, do it!

There is an Australian BASE web-site with a forum at http://www.basejump.org

Might be good for you to get some feedback regarding costs, training etc from fellow an-tip-oh-dee-yuns (at least those that can read, write and know how to plug in the internet).

Will

So Avery does that mean you wish you had never started? I'm asking, because I read that as you telling someone else that it's not worth it. Is that truly the way you mean it, or is it just your way of saying "evaluate the risks"?

Ganja

What he said.

I'd take the Norwegian's course. There are two good reasons (aside from the obvious "it's their home turf").

1) It's cheaper.

2) You get to mingle with the other jumpers more, which both leads to good feedback and valuable contacts. The BR expedition often ends up a bit more insular, so you don't get as much interaction.

i read it as the last one.
And im whith Avery,i cant recomend anyone start BASE jumping,but if people WANT to after they desided that the risk is ok to them,then its all about making it as safe to them as posible...

You WILL loose freinds both to BASE but also people who dont BASE(whith out insults to skydivers as i like to be one aswell,but people who didnt BASE´d yet),some wuffos think its cool some step away,at the point you get injuryed you probaly will loose more freinds as many BASE jumpers already did(myself included).
IF you thourght it were tough skydiving while having a gf/bf then try think further what will the person think about you as you leap off objects.
If you have kids,can you then face them each day knowing that your sport might kill you the werry same day leaving them whith out a dad or mom?
What will your family and freinds outside skyworld think about you,can they handel it?

There truly are many aspects to this,jumping off an object is truly the most easy one,making the right dessisions aint always the same...

To the top poster.
IF you already considdered all the above,and have made the dessision(no matter if its just to try it out or plan to do it as you get back home,then i would advise(not even seen BR or the Norwegians course) to speak to the locals.

And please.. dont take the course go home think you can do it all,find a mentor that can teach you,or you can end up pretty bad

What ever you deside i whish you good luck on your journey

I have metal from T-12 to L-2. It's still in. I'm pretty ok with the openings. Repeated (6 or 7) slider down openings in one day can be a bit rough, but I think you'll be fine.

I started jumping again about 9 months after they put the metal in (and it's still in today).

I did mine being stupid too--I agreed to be the low man on a 2 way with Dwain Weston (now that's freakin' stoooopid).

I'm with Avery, too. I'd never recommend that someone take up BASE jumping. It's not "evaluate the risks." It's more like "understand that there will be costs--and you will have to pay up eventually."

Hello,
No, "evaluate the risks" has a ring of sanity.
It's closer to what Tom, Mr. Aiello's son, said.
You must KNOW there will be a cost, and that cost WILL BE high.
The price will be paid in blood.
BASE does not interest you, it consumes you.
Is that really worth the most fun you could ever have?

Hey,
During your time preparing for the Norway trip. Do lots of tracking, some with video. While tracking during a base jump your going to be dumping in a track as well so be prepared. I've witnessed a jumper with lots of skydiving experience who hadn't done allot of tracking jumps prior to his trip to Norway who got away lucky. Aside from that they have a great FJ course over there with tons of experience. Just prepare yourself.

Pull high, Open Low and remember Pitch
Will

Yes, I do consider myself somewhat sane... lol


I agree with that whole heartedly. I was consumed by the idea of base once, and lost a close frien to it right before I was going to make my first jump. It was about 3 years or so later when I got "the calling" again. Base was something I had seen on videos, I had seen jumps at a Bridge Day not long after my first skydive, but not somehting I really had an interest in. The one day, out of nowhere, I got this strong desire to persue it, andlearn everything I could about it. I'm not sure if any of that makes sense or not, but in my heart, I truly beleive that bas found me, I did not go out looking for it.


Is it fair to assume that some jumpers truly think that they WILL die base jumping? Am I in the minority thinking that it is a calcuated risk, and can be done relatively safely? Don't get me wrong, when I'm on the edge, I know the risk is there, and I obviously accept that, but am I wrong to think it's not the way I'll die? I'd like to thnk I'm going grow old just like my friend that don't base jump. Just not too old... lol I don;t want to linger here forever.

Ganja

Nah dont worry about that, if I take it up I'd definetaly be looking for a local (to be honest jumping in oz scares the shit out of me from some of the sites ive seen and heard about around here)

Ill be dropping in on the US on the way back so doing another course off a nice big span could be an idea as well....

Yes.

sounds like the attitude i like to hear

by my oppinion too many takes a course just to go home and be solo,not a way to start,belive me..

Thanks for that gus, gave me a bit to think about...

Was the FJC that douggs was doing last year with norgies or is that something he just organises himself? Anyone know if he is doing the same thing this year?

That's the Norgies course. It's organized by the Stavanger BASE Klubb. It's taught by various people, but mostly by whoever the full time instructor is (Douggs, in this case).

You can get more info at BASEKjerag.com

K from Apex just called while I was reading this thread and she told me that unless you have 15 jumps you have to take the SBK course. She said when they organize a course the SBK course is required and that Apex then adds to what the SBK course teaches you.

i'm made of steel.
our crew is made of steel.
it could never happen to me or us.

i've been jumping in some way or another for twenty years, 9 of those with parachutes. no injury, no problem....

every building, every tower, every everything that has an exit, i evaluate. it consumes every part of my being.


and all i want now is to figure out how to quit.
there is no drug strong enough to make me forget wind chills of -50 degrees and looking over at my buddies laughing as they're trying to warm their hands up so that they can pull, all the while hanging off a tower at a thousand feet.

the problem is, now one of those buddies is a memory.

the problem is, now i've got to think about the next one.

the problem is, now my girlfriend has to think about me.


do i think you should go to norway.
yes.


get drunk with the locals.
make out with some hottie.
swim in the fjords.

just don't jump.

no one should take up this sport.


start smoking crack.
it's safer, cheaper and from what i've learned, far more socially acceptable.

broken bones.
blood.
death.
worse yet, paralized (sorry Russell, no offence).


Avery, how many have you known?
Nick... what about you?
Johnny?
Jeb?
Marta?
Jimmy?

c'mon...

i'm fu(king sick and tired of the newbies.

you wanna jump?
ground crew for a year. or two....

take a riggers course.

take diving lessons. learn how your body works in dead air...

do it the way the old guys did.
i didn't, but should've.
i cheated myself out of something.
and the first guy i taught..... now he's dead.



i'm not made of steel.
our crew isn't made of steel.
and yes, it happend to one of us.


#85 on nick's list.
the guy on the right.


goodluck in your quest.

smd7

"Technically, you have to make 1 BASE jump before you can be a newbie."

bs - you don't think you learn by gc'ing? I've learned a TON gc'ing that puts me at newbie level. What not to do on exit, things not to do whilst packing, noises not to make when being stealth, places not to park to be obvious, etc...

not enough to be a newbie.. or people who saw loads of skydives wouldnt be wuffos even as they never jumped;)

I'm not sure what you learn, I think you learn how to ground crew.

No, it still leaves you on the ground (level).

What you learn by watching may make you a good watcher.