Basejumper.com - archive

Hyperthetical.
I'm at that weird time of night where I'm half a sleep and think up weird questions/situations.

Some d00d says:
"I have to much cash, I'm going to build an object for people to jump from, but it needs to be profitable, it's going to cost me $500k for every 500 feet, with a max height of 3000ft. it's going to be built where ever the most jumpers are etc
Every F*$#er (this d00d always uses wild language) is going to have to pay every time they jump from it."


Now this object is open to everyone and is not regulated, it has a turnstyle at the bottom and its impossible to get through without putting ya money into the slot.
The object is "as is", there is no insurance and its right near your house, you also happen to live in the most BASE populated area on the planet.


This tower has a 100 foot over hang and no guy wires, and a massive landing area and is open 24/7 and has zero winds.


Questions.
1. would you be willing to pay to jump?
2. how much would you pay to jump?
3. how tall would it need to be to get maximum customers? (remembering taller it is, the more people would have to pay, unless of cos it got more customers so got more revenue faster)
4. with current base population how long would it take for the owner get a $1 return on investment? (the object has no on going costs and runs its self and nothing breaks on it)


Anyway, I look forward to different responses

I'm not a skydiver yet, and ceratinly not a BASE jumper, but when (if) I get to the point where learning BASE is possible, I'd pay for the use of a facility for training/practice. As far as practicing the sport goes, though, it should remain a "free", use what you can find activity. The ability to find, evaluate, and nail whatever one's intellect and abilities allow is a central part of the appeal, to me anyway. How much $ for training/practice jumps? Dunno.

jim

the A only had to be max 400ft high,and have a ride to whatever exit altitude a want to jump from.

how much i would pay? not much at all i find the above object(alti) al arround the world,the alti is bad to climb but not that bad..

oh 0 winds aint good at A´s so you might want to add some wind

0 wind would be fine with 100ft overhang and no guy wires which is what he was saying. How you get 100ft overhung A, especially with no guy wires is beyond me but this is all hypothetical anyway.

The funny part is the owner will have to hire security guards to keep the "real" BASE jumpers from filching it in the middle of the night.

Talk about your chickens coming home to roost . . .

NickD
BASE 194

>>How you get 100ft overhung A, especially with no guy wires is beyond me but this is all hypothetical anyway.<<

I do!

Instead of using steel we build it from composite materials (like carbon fiber) and just let it bend in the wind. This would accomplish two things. If it's tall enough, say a 1000-feet, it would bend in a downwind direction and this would give you the overhang.

It would also serve as its own wind meter as if it bends past a certain point it's probably too windy to jump.

Carbon fiber is pretty easy to work with (compared to steel) and we could actually "bake" our own tower.

NickD
BASE 194

From what he said I think that is what he wanted, a 24/7 object that had some type of automated turnstyle at the bottom that would allow you in when you inserted your wad o' cash.

I know one 700fter whith a x at the 500ish mark overhung aprox 100ft i estimate on all bars. you can even jump off 700ft and freefall between the bars. no guywire... its a nice object i jumped once myself...
oh and its in Europe some were and yes you could still hit the A if you didnt have your brake setting correct and have a 180(not that i ever heard any did it so far

Yeah Nick thats the funny part

If there's something cool to jump, we will figure out how to get around security measures that are in place.

Time is on our side. We can assess the security levels and alarm systems then go home and do our homework. After enough time we'll figure something out. Since there's other stuff to jump, there isn't an urgent need to jump the new object. I have looked at objects for a year or longer until we finally got around to jumping them.

Use the box analogy.

As the security manager of the box, your job is to keep all unauthorized people out of the box. Your only way of doing this, is to anticipate what people will try to do to get inside your box.

You will set up security so that the difficulty of penetrating the perimeter is more than the value of obtaining access.

If you're guarding a coal mine, you can probably get away with a locked fence and no trespassing sign.

If you're guarding nuclear missiles, you'll probably have seismic monitors, constant video/thermal surveillance, working dogs, and a company of Marines.

What we're likely to encounter getting onto an object is probably somewhere in between. (If I have to slip by armed guards and thermal cameras, I will probably find something else to jump)

Anyway, the only thing the security manager can do is deter us from trying to get inside.

We, on the other hand, can take as much time as we want figuring out the best way to get around the little tricks and gizmos intended to keep us away. We can trip alarms, time response times, research that particular alarm system, watch guard movements, wait for favorable conditions where security is lowest. The possibilities are basically endless and trust me, we have the advantage. We have used some pretty imaginitive ways to get to where we want to be.

A BASE jumper once told me, "wow, it's a good thing we're on the right side of the law"

I agree. Short of stealing a little altitude here and there, we're harmless. But I have no doubt that if we put our sinister skills to use we (BASE jumpers) could pull off a pretty impressive heist.

yeah, I know that one . One of the wierdest but most beautiful A's I have ever seen.

its a nice jump even as i only jumped the arms so far.. one day when i dont hate sliders and long climbs i might jump it from the top

TANSTAAFL.




....everyone "pays" sometime, somewhere, someway.

Thus the quotes around free.

Can you imagine the amount of static electricity it would generate!

Noone has answered the question yet so I will.

Let's say I'd be willing to spend up to 40$ a week.
So if a jump costs 10$ I'd go 4 times. 20$...2 times.
Etc. But the more it costs...the less I'd be interested as well. So if it cost 40$ I probably wouldn't jump it every week.

If it really was a 3000ft tower like you described...it would probably be like 50$ a pop. I'd jump it...but not very often.

Cheers.

Why bother with antenna? A tethered balloon will be much cheaper and safer. Heck, one can even have a cheap 'porta-BASE' -- a cluster of small balloons tethered to the car, like here: http://www.clusterballoon.org With some wind and rope long enough, there's no way to strike object other than Earth.

While some can argue balloon jump is not a BASE jump, it's great for teaching students and making easy relaxed jumps. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Yuri

It exists. Check www.basedudes.be > movies > belgacom balloon.

psst,try a plane theres nothing to hit expect the ground...

The Belgian crew has a good deal whith a Ballon,as long it aint boogie time all over(deafently somthing to talk whith the Belgian crew about before jumping it).

I was recently told about something called "skydiving". Apparently you can pay money and somebody takes you up in a plane and then you can jump out of it. The guy even assured me it was legal, and the chances of object strike were minimal.

Crazy...

wow! is there an authority figure that deems what is safe or not? do they make you become a member if you want to jump? and after you join do they send you a shitty rag? that would be so cool....

That guy is lieing! I already hitted an object on jump 3 while doing this crazy activity. I don't understand how this dangerous sport can be 'legal'...

If I'm not mistaking they have dismanteled the balloon (well, I can't see it anymore from the train and I used to be able to see it).
Sad, because it looked a nice object to jump from...

I don't know how much I would pay......Seems being a skydiving student while you are in college is expensive enough. But I was commenting to a friend the other day that if I ever won the lotto, I would bulid a BASE jumping park. There you could have all 4 objects open or a small fee for jumpers to jump. Say a yearly membership. Of course this is all just an idea and would be very hard to build and maintain due to law suits and the cost anyways of buliding all 4 objects.

DR

Just shelled out $3500 for angel falls does that count? Not sure how many times we'll get to jump... hopefully at least once.

Maybe Mr Hyperthetical could sell 1 once off life time license lol

The Belgian balloon was heavily damaged in a snowstorm. Anyway, we received an e-mail from the new management a couple of months ago announcing that legal jumps from the balloon aren't allowed anymore (for "safety reasons").

Bummer i didnt got to jump it as it were storm secured after some windy days ...

oh well,The Belgians has way more cool objects than that put there

Hundreds of people pay $75 plus expenses to legally jump a bridge every year...

Hello,
C'mon, everyone knows BASE jumping is "free".
Avery