Basejumper.com - archive

From http://kutv.com/...story_137190055.html


And from http://www.iol.co.za/...=qw1147892221923B216


Two unsurprisingly contradictory news stories about access.

There was a big European Soccer match in Paris last night with lots of the fans with and without tickets congregating around the tower. I wonder if the timing of the jump was a coincidence?

Five jumps only?

"I wonder if the timing of the jump was a coincidence?"

the soccer match start at 8.45 PM local time
the jump was at 6 AM
the tower is open for public at 9.30 AM

The most recent attempt dates back to exactly one year ago.

Are they sure about this...

king of the E....with 5 jumps...hahahahah..
thats ridiculous
he should know it better and feel ashamed.
was red bull involved?
hannes

http://us.video.aol.com/...1&pmmsid=1647784

Video of the event.

359

Johan,

YOU'RE A JERK
You should keep your videos for you instead of spraying it all over the media.And you should remove the stickers and flag from the tower.

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

go back in your tree

Marc

click here first > Pattern Recognition < click here first

I wonder if it’s the same news crew?

Well, there's a silver lining in this one.

The headline reads:

"Base Jumper Gets Past Eiffel Tower Safety Measures"

Except for the last year or so, the media has usually referred to us as parachutists, sometimes skydivers and even parachuters (which shouldn't even be a word) to nowadays mostly calling us base jumpers.

Gee, that only took 28 years . . .

And it'll probably be another 28 years before media writing guides catch on to the fact BASE is an acronym and is always capitalized.

Aside from that (I don’t know Johan) this jump, what Jeb did, and even down to that other John who was found swinging in the wind – are all good things . . .

Keeping BASE a secret in the beginning was necessary to the growth of the sport as we weren’t yet ready for a coming out party. We weren’t ready gear wise, we weren’t ready skill wise, and we weren’t ready attitude wise.

What these high profile jumps say today is, “Hello - we’re here!” “And there’s nothing in the world you can do about it.” And if we keep doing these types of jumps everyone will eventually realize BASE is a fact of life. And the time will soon come when these jumps won’t even be newsworthy anymore. And bingo – that will be two problems solved at once - we’ll be able to jump more and it will drive people with the wrong motives out of the sport to find another way to get attention for themselves.

The other side of the coin are the BASE jumpers who get bent about these types of jumps. But they may be falling into the “skydiving” trap of “we must protect the sport!”

Protect it from what?

BASE jumping will never end, no decree from on high, no proclamation, no new law written anywhere can ever stop us . . . We are in such a good position I can hardly believe we wound up here, especially since there was never a long range plan in the beginning. The only original sin left in BASE jumping is burning a quiet local site that jumpers have been using for years.

The next big test we face as BASE jumpers, and it could be our downfall, is going to be how much freedom we give up in order to protect “legal” sites around the world. We’ll know we are blowing that one when jumps done in one place start to effect jumps done in another. Yes, it’s cool to follow a few local rules but it’s a fact that power over you breeds more power over you - In other words when the authorities come to us and says, “Well sorry, but because Jeb tried to jump the ESB, you can’t jump this bridge anymore.” And if we cave in to that, if we forget we are only a “loose band of brothers” beholding to no law save nature’s law then flick off the lights as we’ll be doomed to internal squabbling for another twenty years.

The only thing worth protecting in this sport, are our young ones, and our freedom. We need a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

AMENDMENT XXVIII
Originally proposed May 18, 2006, Ratified (Not Yet)

No law, shall take effect, to prevent parachuting from fixed objects as the United States underscores the spirit of human accomplishment and sees such action as beneficial to the understanding and growth of the human condition.

NickD
BASE 194

think they mean 5 jumps from this particular object. pretty badass, but then i'm easily impressed.

I think Hannes might have meant that they believe there are others who have jumped this object a lot more than 5 times and to make such a claim about being the King of this object should be a cause to feel ashamed. Similar to saying i have jumped the potato bridge 5 times and nobody else has done that many off it so i am king of the bridge.

that's how i read it anyway.

I declare myself king of every object even if I haven't jumped them.

I don’t know about anyone else but I thoroughly enjoy reading what Nick has to say every time he posts! His wisdom and insight about many different topics are such a pleasure to read! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to post Nick.

Coco

Hello Nick,
I just read your comments about the negativ reaction some of us had about this Eiffel Tower jump.
I might share some of your points. But despite your "matrix -neo- like " declaration about BASE jumping nowadays, BASE is not at all sheltered from being banned even in countries like France. Situation becomes even harder over here for cliff jumping. Some ecologist association are fighting hard to prevent us from jumping of cliffs.
An association has just been founded to defend ourself www.paralpinisme.com . It's not an easy task and we even have to get in touch with "prefet" ( equivalent to your state governor) to defend our cause. These prefet don't really give a sh.t about us. We try hard to bring a positiv light to BASE jump. This fragile balance is threatened by this kind of media jump.
I did my self this jump twice (I even got caught once). BUT I didn't brag about it to the media.
Another point is that, some locals jump this object from time to time, discretly. It becomes harder and harder to sneak into the object. With such publicity, things will be almost impossible. And guess what?
Each time Eiffel Tower jumps are on TV, it's the belgian crew. It's an obvious lack of respect for the locals and the entire BASE community.

Marc (who is really pissed off)

I jumped with Johan at the ITW, super nice kid, love his work!

If it was Jeb insted of him in the clip, nobody would call him a jerk.

Johan, well done, keep it up bro!

Is Troy really sponsoring him for that kind of stunt? That seems pretty lame, and not the kind of thing that Troy would be supporting. Defacing a national monument with stickers is just wrong.

Anybody know if GoFast! is really part of this business? I'll see if I can ask around and find out.

Um, did you read the thread about Jeb in NYC? I saw several people expressing negative opinions there.

A few, but the overwhelming majority were congratulating Jeb for the attempt and were completely supportive. To say that "nobody" would be calling Jeb a jerk if it had been him may be hyperbole, but you get the point, and the point seems valid, whether people here want to admit it or not.

Clicky.

Jeb (almost) jumped an object that no one else is jumping.
~he didn't deface the object.
~from the video it looks like the ET jump would have gone mostly un noticed by the authorities if it hadn't been sent to the news.
big difference
big difference
big difference
~J

From the clicky Tom Posted. . .

>>Being distinguished from the activity "base-jump" by the fact that it is not jumps from urban or public buildings but only in natural environment, this new sport takes today its place in the activities of mountain like the paragliding or the climbing.<<

Whoa, Brother, "Cliffing" isn't new and is probably older than you are. And a freaking BASE jump is a freaking BASE jump, I mean how far will you go to deny your roots and our history – and what's next – an organization called the Association of Back Country Parachutist?

NickD
BASE 194

Hello Nick,
I hope you are doing well.
These guys are a scream huh?
The Effing Tower is in France anyway.
So who cares?
Avery

The Para-Alpinisme Association actually pre-dates the ABP. You can search through the archives of this forum and find the announcements of the formation of both organizations. The Para-Alpinisme Association actually had a general call to a formation meeting, in which people were invited to come and help form the organization, set it's goals, etc.

That's cool . . . but the point is going out of ones way to deny the fact that you're BASE jumping by calling it something else . . .

What are they ashamed of?

NickD
BASE 194

my naivete is showing, i confess i completely missed the sarcasm. it's hard to comprehend this amazing structure as being someones local object.

think he contacted the locals before he dayblazed it? in retrospect i guess i'm more impressed by those that have jumped it and kept the fact within their private circles. as a publicity stunt mr. vervoort's jump looses much of the mystic that makes BASE so special.


5 times! dude you rock!

from an access perspective you can't compare the two and so you should expect different responses...ET could (and probably still can) be jumped on a reasonably regular basis by subtle and discrete jumpers....EST can't.

I understand your point, and I'm actually on your side of that debate. BASE has a rich history, and part of that history is the term "BASE."

The other side of the argument is that the term BASE can have negative connotations for some policy makers and law enforcers, and that by re-branding it as "backcountry parachuting" or "para-alpinisme" or whatever, you can try to get a clean slate to start from. You can also draw in support from non-BASE jumping constituencies that are already organized (like USHGA, for example, and I believe the Para-Alpinisme guys are organized as part of their national mountaineering club (equivalent to the American Alpine Club).

Like I said, I'm with you on this one, but I can see the other side of the argument too. Probably best to hash that out in a separate thread, if you want to do that, rather than side track this one.

Maybe they thought the jumper was German and they simply surrendered??

how incredibly funny and original. let me guess being so clever you must be american, right?

Yes, Actually if you want to be techincal, my ancestors from the 1700's in America, are Scottish, French, German and English. Four different cultures in my heritage. I've jumped in France with French jumpers and was shown a great time, hince the sarcastic similys i showed on the end of my sentence Lighten up, my friend, it was simply a joke

Nick,

Sorry to read your post and your complete misunderstanding. Are you grounded and frustrated or what?
Did I ever wrote that I was denying my roots? Come on!! You're smarter than that. I BASE jump. Paralpinisme is just an association. The founders had to find a name that would not refer to extrem sports category.
And my intention was not to debate about cliff jumping vs urban jumps; I have many building jumps including jumps in Hong Kong from 2IFC a little while before Tomb Raider. I enjoyed a lot the "John Vincent" kind of jump showed on MTV. I'll keep on jumping of buildings but stealthy.
I'm blaming the belgian guy for ruining the efforts of others who are trying hard to maintain BASE jumping tolerated in the mountains.
Would you appreciate that I come to your local object that you carefully jump, and send the video to the media showing stickers and flag all over it?
Jeb Corliss did jump the Eiffel Tower (in a special way) but didn't send the video to the media if I remember well.
But I would call him a jerk if he would have behaved the way the belgian did.

Marc

let ME guess... being so condescending towards Americans, you must be an asshole, right?

that was a joke, too.

good joke bubba. at least you are earning your condescension

Well done Johan. He is the guy with the big balls who jumped freefall inside a cathedral.

I jumped the ET for dutch TV myself 1 time so who am I to blame him The only thing I blame him about it that I met him monday and he did not tell me anything.

But, king of the ET? I know a frenchy who jumped it 34 times...

Ronald Overdijk

in fact it was meant with sarcasm.
he should have thought a bit on the(local!) jumpers behind him, maybe somebody would love to do just one jump from this object to be his own king .showing to the public and security that´s still possible to come on top,with a smile and king attitude, well ..bravo!(sarcasm)
what´s so bad to be secret?
hannes

Guys, let's ease down on slamming each other here. I'd prefer to avoid having to pull out a bunch of one line "oh, yeah, well you're a cheese eating surrender monkey" type comments. There's plenty of that over in Speakers' Corner. Let's try to keep this forum about BASE, okay?

Thanks.

I just saw a short documentation on a german TV station (Pro 7, taff).
They said it was his fifth jump from the ET and that the people of the Skydiving Sub Culture call him the king of the ET...

I don't understand this, even the most stupid, retarded asshole should know by now that media and BASE don't fit...

"what´s so bad to be secret?"

Of course there is nothing wrong with being secret, In fact, its better, the preffered approach. Especially outside the "base community" whatever that is.

Unfortunately, there are way too many who are apparently too insecure to simply "be their own kings" and therefore they have to stroke their great big egos and convince others how cool they are.

wayne

 

...please...come to Paris and jump it again... make my day.

You are just a bunch of badass with no respect for your BASE brothers.

Marc

>>Sorry to read your post and your complete misunderstanding. Are you grounded and frustrated or what?<<

My last jump was from six hundred feet two weeks ago so no, I'm not grounded, but thanks for asking. Am I frustrated? Yes, and mostly because in the BASE community we are losing the ability to communicate, share opinions, and have a little respect for one another.

Other than that everything is just peachy with me . . .

My thoughts are shaped by the fact – that I was in on every early attempt to organize BASE into some half assed association like the one that runs that other sport here in the U.S...

At the initial meeting held in1980 that begat the first (and so far only) legal season in Yosemite I was there. When Jean Boenish tried in vain to get the World BASE Association up and running I was there. When the CJAA began I was there.

My conclusions now, these many years later, are about how lucky we were none of those associations ever caught on and how ignorant I was at the time for thinking that was the way to go. Organizing is completely contrary to the single thing that makes BASE jumping what it is . . .

So instead of running around and creating these little fiefdoms just let the BASE brothers and sisters go and do what they know how to do. By approaching the powers that be with your hat in your hand and begging them to let you jump, you're setting up conflicts that are going to bite you in the ass in the end. Try and look ahead twenty, thirty, even fifty years from now. Many of us (and I’m including you here) that have fought the battles, took the heat, and were called reckless assholes by people we thought were our friends, may never see the fruits of that effort. But when the day comes, and I know in my heart that it will, I want BASE jumping as freedom laden as the day I found it.

And okay, I’ve had this conversation before and sometimes I hear, “well, we aren’t really organizing, Nick, we’re just running a little scam to get access.” But, you know what? Screw that - don’t let them make liars out of you, nobody owns those mountains, they just pretend they do – so tell the truth, just say, “Hello, we are BASE jumpers, and we’re going to jump so just get used to it . . . And hell yes, you’ll pay the price for that, but that is what the battle is all about, and it’s what we owe to the generations that follow us. Anything less is just making it convenient for yourself and your buddies and that’s not BASE . . .

NickD
BASE 194

Nick,

You raise some very good points. What do you think would happen if Jason told NPS to get f'd with their monsterous increase in fees and we all just showed up and jumped anyway?

Do you think the local political leaders and business owners would defend our use of the bridge if the NPS had the gall to try to arrest everyone that jumps?

Do you think the NPS would even try to arrest us with 250,000 people on hand to witness that it was nothing different than the years before?

National and international news crews on hand to witness the biggest non-organized BASE protest in history. A chance to demonstrate the reality of "It can't be stopped anyway!"

i'm no good with computers and my english writing is also no good so i'll will not go in discussion, but to clear a few things up...
these people called me and payed me to jump, and i did
every excuse is good for me to jump, so why not, i had fun and thats it.
i have no controle over what they are doing with the video that was made,
and believe me i find it stupid to that they use terms like king of... in there press notes
i'll realy don't care what they say, there's notting i can do about it.
that jump was my 935th base-jump, and i'll will not stop getting arround the world and jump everything thats higher than 30m.
but that's expensive. i'm not a rich kid , i have to work my ass of to make extra money for gear and trips for my passion, so don't shoot me if i do a payed jump ( it's better than working)

well maybe in some places.. on tv last night they called him a "skydiving daredevil"

Hello,
Sorry to interrupt, but that refusal to pay would be a done deal months before Bridge Day,
so we would be jumping on the permit of the next new Bridge Day organizer.

I see that you were once a BD promoter, maybe still are to some extent. Is there a line of people waiting for Jason to slip-up so they can run in and make the big bucks putting on the greatest show on earth??? If so this gives the NPS a lot of leverage in that conversation.

If we were willing to say NO to this gouging technique it might show we are truly the ones with the leverage.

This really doesn't have anything to do with the original thread. However, if, as Nick said, these high profile jumps continue to happen (and they will), and the correct leverage is used in places where money matters we could easily see the reduction or elimination of many barriers to legal jumping, especially in the US.

No offense to you, Avery, or any one else for that matter, just thoughts...

Hello,
I don't know about a line, but there's someone.
For all the ways a BASE jumper tries to make some $,
there's someone always right behind you who will do it for free.

The history of Bridge Day is that there is no money in it for the jumpers.
Look, the clowns are still paying to perform in that circus.
The Bridge Day Commission lacks vision.

Yeah !
That's exactly what I wrote earlier : you're a jerk Johan.
Someone gives you money so you'll go and jump, burning sites without paying attention to the locals.
You're the dumbest assh.le I have ever read on this forum.

Marc

plzz stop this name calling ... in our short lives sooner or later we all do things which we better didn't do, for myself I can at least remember a 100 times (maybe more...). When you fuck up yourself be sure to expect the wind in front...
I have never seen name calling being the solution to any problem.
in fact the jump must be seen in the background of a serie on Belgian TV, where this dude, legally tries to found his own state, within Belgium, own constitution, citizens and so one, kind of a bet whether he'll succeed or not. The flag in question was the flag of this "new" state. The word "king" of the E.... must be seen in this perspectiv.

Johan, "king of the indoor koekelberg basiliek building", respect dude !

love you all

tim.

Whether you find it offending or not, this guy is nothing else that what I wrote. We don't really care here in Paris about his "own state". He came to OUR country, in OUR city, ruining OUR efforts, just to flatter HIS ego;
He could at least excuse him self. But instead, he just declares not giving a f.ck about what will happen after his show...
There's a big group of jumpers here who won't leave this behaviour unpunished.

the tv show was not his, nore was he trying to found his own state, just a tv show, no direct relation between him and the tv show.

Marc,

This is a personal attack. Please review the Forum Rules. Personal Attacks on other posters are not allowed (that includes calling someone a jerk when you really do think they are a jerk).

I understand why you're angry, and I think most everyone else here does, too. Personally, I think you're totally justified in being angry. Still, you must follow the rules of these forums.

Thanks!

you have alot of anger and attitude. justified or not if you're going to browbeat, belittle and threaten a fellow jumper, at least be up front about it and identify yourself. i realize that filling out your profile is not required but when you attack someone as you have, hiding behind the anonymity of the internet is rather cowardly.

afraid of being flamed because you have an opinion? i fully expect to get flamed for posting this.

meow.

Tom,

I apologize for not respecting the forum rules. The fact is this guy simply doesn't care about anybody else but his own person. I would be surprise he really scores 935 jumps with this level of maturity.
For littlestranger, i don't try to remain anonymous.
And you?

Marc Audap

Just saw it on the news in South Africa.....

Johan, how can you justify this by saying that you have no control over what they do with the footage? I just don't buy it. In my opinion, with that many jumps, you knew exactly what you were doing from the start and that's not very cool. Getting paid for working on doing a jump in Mexico or China, a novelty jump where there are many other parameters involved than just the jump (Red Bull or no Red Bull), sure, but getting through a security system to burn somebody else's object and have it advertized all over the world.....

Marc, littlestranger was referring to your profile sheet (ta fiche personelle). It's not comletely filled in. Littlestrangers is. It took me a while on that one but then again i'm a little slow sometimes.
Many people on this forum understand your point and even agree with you but you're being a little too aggressive even to people who might not be your enemies.

poc

> at least be up front about it and identify yourself
Littlestranger, I read your profile. You seem quite new to the sport of BASE.
Also, there are reasons that do not allow a BASE jumper to fill properly his/her own personal data, it is NOT to attack anonimously other people, rather to protect himself/herself from letting the world to know who he/she is, and for a BASE jumper who does jump ANY sort of object (as I do) this comes quite obvious.
Marc, on the other way, is an outstanding BASE jumper with brass balls, but he is NOT famous worldwide because he is French, and French BASE BASE jumpers very, very rarely come and write on English forums (in fact, it comes a surprise to me that Marc wrote here).
I know Marc by fame since 1999 because is a very dear friend of #657, my mentor.

> hiding behind the anonymity of the internet is rather cowardly
Not indeed, read above.

> afraid of being flamed because you have an opinion?
Have you ever thought for a while that he COULD be one of the locals whose object have been burned (there nothing worse than elude security and throw that in the authorities's face) and he has ALL the rights of the world (BASE ethics speaking) to be pissed off?
You seem quite young in the sport of BASE; wait few years, when you will have YOUR OWN objects, objects that YOU discovered, the YOU opened, that you know the know-how (how to get into, when to get into, how often it is adviseable to jump, etc etc) and then you will come to me and tell me if you are sad/sorry/pissed off if someboy coming from off-town came in and jumped your object in broad daylight, sending video to TV's, making fun of authorities, burning it.....
Just my 0.02€