Basejumper.com - archive

The book is not for the faint of heart. It is an exhaustively researched, sprightly account of nearly 900 fatalities in Yosemite's 156 years of recorded history - every waterfall slip, rock-climbing mishap, animal attack, drowning and cold-blooded murder.

Like his 2001 book, "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon," which was self-published and, he says, has sold more than 156,000 copies, the sequel offers more than voyeuristic thrills and chills. Ghiglieri, who has a doctorate in wildlife ecology from the University of California-Davis, finds useful lessons in human tragedy. He wants to peek inside the heads of victims and understand the string of disastrous decisions that lead to catastrophe.

l think the park rangers should consider to read this book to realize that BASE jumping is not a real problem in yosimite...
they should start hunting the hikers, climbers and stuff....

or a tv show or movie production can open almost ANY object in the US, with a nice bribe, err "permit fee" and anything can be done.

If that was true, you'd have seen Tom Cruise BASE jumping in the opening scene of Mission Impossible 2. The free solo scene was a replacement for a planned BASE scene, for which the production company was unable to gain a permit, despite extensive lobbying of the Utah State Parks system. The intended exit point was one of the few in that Parks system that specifically prohibited BASE.

Its strange that the studio extensivelly lobbied Utah SP when they could have gone to moab.

and do you know if tom cruise would have actuallty made the jump himself? I seems improbable that a studio exec would sign off on that insurance policy.