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German Eddie, Edgar Kraus. RIP
take care,
space

I am lost for words.. We love you Eddie...

damn.

...how more terrible can it be?! Eddie, meister Eddie !!!!!!!!! So nice and good boy. Fantastic friend and hard work person.
I will miss you so much Eddie. Fly and film free! Fly forever Eddie, and say hi to Dwain & Slim too, for me.

So bad and sad

F@*K!!! He will be missed...be careful out there!!!

It sucks,

Any details on the cause?

Oh my god.....I´m speechless and can not belive...

What a great guy he was...

My condolences to his family and friends

Eddie my friend I hoped I would meet you to talk about your cinema movie soon...
This is really a sad year a lot of good guys are gone....

Just left ITW on Monday evening with thoughts how safe it was.....what the hell happened ?!

This is So Sad. RIP Eddie.

Kris.

RIP Eddie.

This is so sad. We met you many times Eddie. Hungary, Italy, Norway, BD, KL, etc etc...
We did your jump number 200 in PTL B at that night in US, that was amazing jump.
You were so friedly guy, one of the friendlies that i have ever met...we came to visit you couple of yrs ago to your place...you gave us room to us, showed us exits..gave us food and drink...
We were planning to come to visit you again to BT with my GF.

Eddie, Thank you, for all, I´m lost of words now...I will miss you so much...

See you Eddie

Petri Lehtinen
Finland

Thanks, Can everybody send any photos of Eddie and comments to base283@yahoo.com
take care,
space

I am very sad , I will miss Eddie a lot.

Thanks for the good times at KL Eddie.

Tu amigo
Gabo

Space, i have lots of pics of eddie. do you need full resolution ones?

Pete

Medium would do. I really miss him making me angry.
Going out for a beer for Eddie now.
take care and thanks,
Tracy

He was an awesome cameraguy.. I really like his old 16mm stuff he showed once to me. I wonder what happens to his whole film archive.. I would be happy to organise a cutter and a steenbeck to get it all together..

RIP Eddie

Goodbye Eddie, you were a friendly guy, a real gentleman - this is a big loss.

Uh...Eddie.
I'm glad he finished his movie, i mean his "big movie". I'm sure the sitizen of little bavarian town -- Eddies home town-- like it. Sure they do -- almost all of them have participated in it playng, dubbing, makin stuff and decorating rooms. He wanted to make it perfect. He's spent a lot of time and energy creating it and he finished it.
And he was filming base with 16mm -- no mater how good his filming was -- sometimes perfect sometimes just ok and sometimes fuckuped -- he was keepin on doing it. He wanted to show base in slow-motion and he was pushing it hard and trying to get his best shot and he was the only person i know who was playing with the 16mm.
And i'm sure that he finally did his ws base -- the thing he was preparing to for a long time.
And he has visited all the "glorious" base spots -- skyscrapers and cave and bridges and TV-towers...
He was just doing everything he felt the passion to do, and he didn't waste his time calculating the chances of success -- he was just doing it in full force. He dreamed about something and that was the reason enough for "start and try" and the reason to say "yes" to it.
Hard to describe, but it was something in his way of living his life that is worthy of respect.
My deepest condolences to
his ww friends, to german crew

and to his mom and dad
and Tracy, please, say it to them then you'll see them. I remember them and i'm sending my warmest thoughts to them.

so sorry to hear that. my deepest condolences to family and friends.

RIP my friend!

what a fucking year ...

andY

Somewhere I've got a photo of Eddie clowning around in the supermarket at Bridge Day. He was mock-sodomizing an advertising poster. I'll see if I can find it and post it.

This is a big loss for all of us.

Damn.

F... Im feeling sad... will miss him
I met him first time in Moscow TV-tower boogie and instantly liked him...
I liked him a lot!
Fly free bro and track well, pull high.........enough

-Tony Vilko- Finland
FTF

Never met Eddie but always enjoyed his films. This has to be one of the worst years for BASE.

DBR

 
That's shocking news!
Met Eddie a couple of times, he was always such a nice person. Seemed like a solid heads up safety conscious jumper as well. It's always such a surprise to hear about one's accident...

Fly free Eddie
PikkuMari

...Fly forever free Eddie !
Maury

I'm in Shock. My thoughts and condolences to friends and family.
He was a great guy......

Another great loss to our sport. Eddie was really nice guy though I'd only met him once.

Fly Free !

I can't believe that...
Mein Schwager!
Fly free

Jojo

.

Eddie, I´m lost for words, whisky is a terrible choice in bad times - especial for me,haha. normally I don´t like it - but tonight it feels so right.
Thanx so much for so much..
Thinking bout you makes me smile..
You loved jumping so much.
Thanx for norway, the loughs, the things you explained me in most detail, my first E´s, my first two-way with you,...
..you were obsessed:)
The thing that really counted was jumping, and people... and jumping details:)
You guided me and were a friend in one of my most special times. You and Lucy were so unbelieveable super friendly in Norway 03..
Well no need to become whisky - full of feeling, there is enough feeling without.

I´m thinking bout you!
And my thoughts to all who love you!
Fly free Eddie on the other side - you´ve got some excellent company there.
Christine

I can't beleave it. WHat is happening. I can just see a big group of friends joining in there own afterlife. THis is wierd and very sad.

Im so so sorry about this.
THanks for the good times we shared Eddie.

Condolenses to family and friends!

This is a dark year, a dark time.

Is there any information about what and where it happend.

Save a beer for me mate!
/Martin - Team Bautasten od Sweden

Truly a sad day. I enjoyed Eddie's company only a few times but always had great laughs. Loved the footage of Slim and Eddies 2way at the cave. Hillarious stuff. I'll miss him for sure.
Adios mate.
Matt

OHhh you have got to be fucking shiting me ? I liked Eddie a lot he was a good guy. I thought he would always be here this sucks.
.

video by edgar kraus;

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2680445?loomia_si=1

BSBD Eddie, it was a pleasure to meet you and share in your 200th jump with the Finns. Wish we'd had more time.....rest easy now.
Blair

Fly Free Eddie...

BSBD

iiro

How?

Why?



Condolences to those left behind.

Damn, damn, damn.

I met Eddie last year for the first time in Beijing. Such a nice and cool guy. I can't believe it... What a bad year it is.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Ronald

PS (Eddie is on the left in the pic)

Fuck.

Eddie was one of those guys who always seemed to turn up wherever you were. He got around :-D

Going to miss you Eddie

Shared some good times with Eddie in Moab back in 2004. Like Ray said, he was one of those guys you thought would always be around. He will be missed.

Fly on Eddie!

Dark times it is.

I see you at the table in Valhalla brother

PerFlare
Team Bautasten

so sad......
eddie was one of the friendliest basejumpers i've met...such a nice person. thank you eddie, it was a pleasure to be there when you had your jump #200. you will be missed !!
-ae from finland-

Eddie and I jumped all over the world together for many years. Not only was he a good camera man, he was a good person. He had one of the biggest hearts I have ever seen. Eddie will be sorely missed...

Jeb Corliss

 

Eddie, you never got this pic....well here it is.....i was hoping to do many more with you......
Fly free
gee

I was the second Jumper on this two way....
Eddi.... I can´t belive it...

Eddi was always here... and now only in my Memories and on Pictures :(

The photos are the last minutes... seconds... we had together....
Eddi´s fatal jump...

I´ll miss you... and safe you for my life in my mind as the one and only Edgar Kraus..

I first met Edgar in Russia a few years ago. He loved to travel. Thats another top friend whom I have lost.

A gutted Simon

Hello,
I offer you heartfelt sorrow at the loss of a good friend.
I met Eddi earlier this year @ Bridge Day, great guy.
Another on the list of dead BASE jumpers I knew.

In the photo "Eddis letzter sprung 011" I see Eddi going
off the Italian Terminal Wall on his back to shoot video!!

Deja vu?

Yea we have seen this before. Not only on the incident before this one in the swiss valley.
But many times before. And Ill guess its not the Last time.

Very sad
Ill see you in Valhalla, later brother, save a beer.

/Martin - Team Bautasten of Sweden

I don't want to insinuate that this was the kicker for the chain of events, but it is worth looking into.
I think the count is 8 for Fatalities that exited this way.The first that I know of was in Kjerag '96

This is from the “Bad Ideas” list thread:
Clicky

“The goal here is to list bad idea practices in the art of packing and also BASE jumping.
The list (of how not to get on "The List").

1. Using Pull up cords or rubberbands as a PC packing aid (2 fatal, 1 possible AFAIK).
2. Car Battery as a packing weight. (1 near fatal.AFAIK)
3. Exiting on one's back to video those exiting after (5 fatal. AFAIK).
4. Hackeysack type PC handle entanglement with bridle. (1 fatal.AFAIK)
5. Miss rigging the brake lines in a pack transition from slider down to slider up. (1 fatal.AFAIK).
6. Unstable freefall until or almost until impact. (4 fatal .AFAIK)”

Take care,
space

About exiting on the back, on the bad idea list.

Yes, there have been a lot of fatilities this way. Very sad indeed.

However, I think it is not just the back exiting by itself that is bad. As usual, it is a string of (small) events, leading to a bigger event, fatal or not.

It is the same with the unstable exit untill impact. If I look at Jeb Corliss' video's, he is unstable untill opening.... And surely Jeb knows what he is doing.

I have done a few back exits myself. I (think I) know the risks involved. To be honest, I will continue doing them.

That said, I sincerely greeve the loss of Eddie.

Ronald

Any idea the experience level on the 5 jumpers.

Coco

didnt thought i will c his name on the memory tower just before exit on ITW and on nicks list...

Absolutely not the same on unstable to impact. One can only do this once.
Unstable until impact and unstable on opening are 2 different things. My view of unstable is loss of control of the 3 axis. I have not seen Jeb do this. Impact is impact.
I don't think the dialogue we are having is going the direction of my response to Avery. A lot of what I mean is due to back exits whilst filming another jumper above.
take care,
space

fly free brother

 This is bad news here in the afghan desert.

fly free

Ronni.

 

Some were very experienced. Any time you put yourself back to earth and intentionally stay that way, especially while focusing on something else, you have put yourself firmly in harms way.

This wasn't their first day at the rodeo. They knew what they were up against. And still, it got them.

Clicky.

I met Eddie for the first time during my static line course, that was about 7 years ago. I think he made one static line jump that day and if i remember correctly it was his first. A year later he showed up at the DZ having finished AFF at another DZ, he took the fast route to skydiving. He joined our skydiving club (www.fsr-club2000.de) but rarely showed up, when he did show up one day and i didn't have a Rig (repack) he offered me one of his imediately. When i organized a Video get together at our clubhouse he offered me extra Videos and since he could not be there, he even mailed them to me. One of these short movies was a 16mm Demo Reel.
The last time i met him was in March of this year for the pink skyvan Boogie in Austria he was there with Hartkor_Fakker and we did one not so sucessfull Wingsuit jump.


Franco

sad times indeed,
i had the pleasuse of jumping with eddie all around the world and he was a classic dude and a great jumper. the video of him and slim in mexico is pricless,
see you on the darkside brother with all our other fallen friends
shine on
douggs

Speechless and utterly gutted. RIP mon ami.

Condolences to his family....Eddie was a good person...
Go Easy Brother.....

I am getting all the details together of what happened. Please have patience. I will post soon.
Thanks,
take care,
space

This suck.. Fly free dude...

Tom Erik

do we really know what we are doing..???
hannes

Eddie’s last jump.
There was a pre-jump briefing: Eddie planned to video, from a back-to-earth position, with Hartkor_Fakker tracking for 4sec; Eddie would then return to a face-to-earth position and deploy at 8sec.
The jump went as planned with a 3rd jumper observing from the exit point. The 3rd jumper saw that Eddie deployed and had a 180 and then flew, without any corrections, until he was out of sight underneath the exit point. The next sighting was by Hartkor_Fakker, who had opened, and saw Eddie tumbling down the cliff for approximately 300m to the cliff base. He then called Rescue. The 3rd jumper landed near Eddie and hiked up to the cliff base and arrived at the same time Rescue Helicopter. The rescuers pronounced Eddie dead on the scene.

We (the area jumpers) have interest in inspecting his equipment and if this is possible, we will post the findings.
That’s all for now,

Fly Free Eddie,
Take care,
space

Eddie, I'll never forget the first time I met you, or running into you devouring waffles in Lauterbrunnen or Chinese with you, Jimmy, Jeb & Swiss Chris last year.

Words cannot express how sad I am. The world is a much dimmer place without your vibrancy in it.

Edited to add: The footage of Eddie on Slim's Tex Mex (the cave) Mix is absolute gold.

I am going to miss you Eddie!

Be careful out there

I'll miss you Eddie!

Thanks for the good times in Norway, Italy and China!!
Always fun to be around you!

I really hope there is a life after this, too many friends I want to meet again.... If there is, say hello to Slim,Darcy, Coombesy, Adam and the others!

Atle

Some pictures of Eddie from Moscow and KL a few years ago.

:'-(

Here is the homepage of Eddies Film that will come out soon.


http://www.toedliche-verbindungen.de/


click "weiter zur Webseite"and then click the making of. The Guy behind the camera with the ABA Shirt is Eddie...

Fly free Eddie, I only jumped with you once but I will never forget it because on the hike to the exit our main subject was how healthy it is to start a week with purge medicine, then do a clyster and then do not eat anything and only drink fruit juice for an entire week...

Wow, can't believe I just saw this. Eddie... bye mate and fly free. I love your work and am on of many who miss you.

What was the name of his movie?


only met him once in norway but he seemed like a realy cool nice guy.

In Englisch "Deadly Connections"

Accidentally ran across this Pic. today, It was sent to me some time back when they all did the cave.
.

Nice one!
Thanks alot for sharing!
take care,
space

I took that picture. Breaks my heart. Some other ones from that trip are attached. A note about the second one: when I was about to snap that shot, Slim said, "Mate, I just hate these group shots cuz you just know that one of us isn't going to be here next year..."