Basejumper.com - archive

i am bored with the same lame topics. let's here some stories. favorite jump, recent jumping drama, lulls in excitement with the sport, etc. i want to hear the stories why people started jumping. i want to hear elder jumpers advice on how to get through times safely and happily as our motivations and desires in BASE change with our lives. i want to know why having a fucking 7 cell above my head has such a profound impact on how i look at the small day to day world. i want to know where we expect the sport progress in reguards to types of people who pursue the sport, as well as equiptment...etc. i hope you get the picture. i would like to read about how BASE fits into other peoples lives. i think it's a gift to be able to do what we do every time i leave and object. why do you?
just looking for some entertainment,
mark

Well, ill take a shot. Im still recovering, so im just sitting here.

I got into the Idea of BASE jumping, while i was watching TV with my best freind, (who I recently taught how to BASE) We were 13 years old, and I dont even remember the actual show, but there was a special on the sport of BASE, and it was the first time i had ever heard of it. I remember Tombstone, and clips from Half Dome, but I turned the TV off after that, and we both knew for a fact, that there was nothing else that we wanted to do. and, now, we are 21, and have 200 BASE jumps between the two of us.

My first BASE jumps i did when i was 18. My girlfreind from the UK (a BASE jumper) convinced me to drive her up to the perrine, and she packed for me twice, I had 45 skydives at the time. That was a great weekend.

BASE fits into my life amoung a lot of other things, Its just another one of the things i spend time and money on. I also Paraglide, Hang Glide, Fly Aerobatic Aircraft, and fly for a liveing, I Kiteboard, Rope jump, Fly RadioControl Sailplanes, and Edit Films as a side job, and when i have nothing else to do, i spend as little money as possible skydiving. BASE Is just another thing that i have to train for and spend time on.

BASE is a powerfull thing........ I knew I was gonna do it before I knew it existed. I saw a crow leap off a cliff I had climbed in sedona. Realized I was going to be able to do the same thing someday, just didn't know how. Searched the internet and found Blincmagazine.com. Then I figured out how to learn how to skydive cheaply. did that a minimal amount of times, and found a mentor. Bingo, a new me was born.


so many good stories since then, I don't wich would be best to share. Here's one involving a familiar name to y'all.... Maggot and I decide to dayblaze Mabell(360' freestander on a ridgeline). as we drive up there are some low clouds.... sweet, now no one will see us! get to the bottom ( mabell foggy.jpg) and it's all good so we hop the fence and start climbing(mabell ladder.jpg). We get to the top, and it's not so bad. definatly low vis but you can still make out the ground. so of course we decide to goof off at the top and snap some shots for our LNT friends here at DZ. (basesite.jpg) as you can see in the background of the last shot, the railing 20' away is nearly invisible w/cloud. We try to rationalize the jump by pointing out landmarks on the ground... untill we realize that we are pointing at a platform at 150' that we can BARELY see. It's at this point that Maggot calls a climb down. Those that know maggot know how serious this is....... I've done the tower before, he hasn't.... I'm going, therfore... he's going. god damn machismo. of course he goes first like the little maggot he is, and he's lost w/in 2sec's of freefall. canopy bangs open, 6-7 seconds later I hear the reasuring whoo-hoo's and throw myself into the mist...... What a dumfuk idea that was, couldn't see the ground till below treetop. lucky we could see to flare. So many other skin of the teeth stories to tell, where is the nearest pub......

on my third jump,first tower, we got in the elevator at the same time the workers pulled out from the other side of the complex, and asked us to make sure to close and lock the gate behind us. wierd.

i also fucked a fat chick once.

Third jump, from a local quite high bridge, already jumped the two previous times.
Winter, no wind, thursday end of afternoon, getting out of work.
Huge snowflakes slowly getting down, covering the metal corner of the bridge where we usually put our feet and push (well... 'push', not that hard. After all, it's a bridge).

This evening, everything is frozen, the bridge fence also, and everything is really slipping.
I take sooo much time to get ready, hand held, and get on the good side of the fence taking care not to slip.

There, I realize I've absolutly no way just to make a *nice* straight step. I *will* slip, then go head down, or twist, or what else. For a 3rd jump, I want to be clean.
I found a bold screwed on the metal surface, and put a foot on it, using it to get some grip.
I jump, and I start going head down. Not that much, but for a 3rd jump, this scared me. Opening very hard, but on heading.
The snow's still falling dense, and through I know the landing, and can't see nothing but some blurred white and grey ground.

15 meters before ground, I see the ground MOVING.

Then I land amongst a herd of frozen and scared sheeps that I just awoke, spreading away in the field.

What kind of cruel farmer can let their animals in such a cold...

I had met up with a crazy Aussie and some others at a boogie. One of the guys was going to jump from a balloon using a BASE rig. I had my camera and we chased the balloon and watched him jump. He gets to the ground and is literally shaking. He says

“I got the whole Elvis thing going on.” Speaking of his legs shaking. “You’ve got to try this!”

“The hell I do!”

Late one night/early one morning, at the bonfire, this guy and another find my Aussie friend and I and ask us to drive them to this tower they found so he could do his first BASE jump. I said “Hell yeah!” and off we went. The aero chart says the tower is 1400’, but we had no idea what to expect.

We’re racing around the boonies trying to align the aero chart with the street map and find this tower before the sun comes up. We’re finding towers, but aren’t real sure which is which. Suddenly we look on the horizon and there it is! Unmistakable! If you’ve ever driven up on a 1400’ tower in the dark with the marker lights flashing, you know what I mean. There’s a gate at the entrance, but it’s not locked. We drive down a path to the base of the tower and get out of the car.

Looking up at the tower, I can feel the adrenaline flowing and I’m not even jumping. We wandered around a bit checking out the possible landing areas, winds, fences, etc. The wind is blowing straight down one of the segments between the guy wires away from the tower, the problem is the field on that side is planted with corn. The guy that jumped from the balloon immediately says he’s not jumping. I tell them “Land in the corn!” My Aussie friend tells me to shutup and let them decide what to do. Apparently the other guy has quite a few BASE jumps and is sort of mentoring the balloon guy. I keep telling them “Just land in the corn!” Finally the other guy says to the balloon guy “Lend me your rig I’m going to climb it.”

“If I go in just cover up my body and leave.” And with that he heads up the antenna. At about 100’ yells down that the winds are blowing right in his face and he’s going to climb down. At this point I know it’s his life and his call. While we drive back to the DZ, the two guys in the back fall asleep. For me the excitement is too much. I’m hooked.

The following year I arrive at the boogie, having done a FJC at the Perrine and done a couple of other jumps, set on jumping that tower. Finally, near the end of the boogie three friends and I, one of them was the guy who climbed down the previous year, climbed that tower and jumped it, in broad daylight!

There were three of us on the tower all going slider up. I was not current and one was a newer jumper. The third guy climbs about 100 feet higher than us to give us a fun visual as he goes whistling by. He exited, did a great layout and opened onheading. Seconds after he went by my partner farted the most nervous little fart I've ever heard. I said with not much laughter "I hear you."