Basejumper.com - archive

Wouldn't it be funny if someone got arrested at Bridge Day... and not even for jumping?

Yeah... that'd be funny.

yea that would be funny. Wouldn't it also be funny if he was from Colorado?

Yah...

Wouldn't also be funny if we were posting instead of picking him up.

can we make this a sticky? this is probably the best post on the whole of the internets.

While indeed it might be funny, it certainly isn’t new at all . . .

More than a few jumpers, including John Hoover, and the Pick were led off the bridge in handcuffs prior to jumping. The first time it happened was when organizer Andy Calistrate gave up the jumper registration list for the first time and the Rangers started running everybody's name for outstanding warrants. The Pick, whose warrant was from Yosemite, was thrown into irons and suffered a slow cross country odyssey that rivals anything out of some fascist regime . . .

There have also been arrests after jumping, when Rangers at the exit point began actively smelling people's breath for alcohol or checking their eyes for "redness." This was the year jumpers were remarking on how friendly the Rangers were being, but after landing they were being subjected to sobriety tests.

The next year we lobbied against these things, but we were shouted down by that part of the crowd that said, "I've got nothing to hide, so who cares."

This was also about the time the Rangers began videoing and photographing every BASE jumper they could. And as late as Bridge Day 2005 I saw they were still doing it when I saw a female Ranger in the woods above the LZ with a camera and a very long lens. You better believe the Rangers have a pretty complete "facebook" of BASE jumpers and if you are walking down the road near El Cap meadow some early morning with a, "What me," look on your face they will have you . . .

Another thing is the Rangers know they are in a tough spot as with every successful Bridge Day their argument that BASE jumping is too dangerous for other NPS sites gets lamer and lamer. And while I'm not suggesting we actually do this, I'm sure the Ranger's are wondering why we haven't yet played our trump card. And that would be No El Cap – No Bridge Day. If we just had the balls to not show up one year at Bridge Day over the issue the WV locals would side with us, and the townies would descend on the Rangers with torches and pitchforks. But it will never happen as it would mean "organizing" so we'll just continue to be jerked around by the government.

NickD
BASE 194

 
You're in Cal. Why don't you go out to the Valley and start takeing pictures of all the rangers. Do the turrest thing and ask them if you can get a pic of them with you and your girl friend. Have some one hold the camera. It would only be fair if we had a face book of our own. I am offering to donate space on our web site to comemerate and honner the good people that protect and serve us in our national parks. I think they deserve the Recegnition and it's time they had it. Never again should anyone one fail to know these fine pubblic servents on sight. If you're lost in the woods you should know at once who you can approach and talk to even if they are off duity at the time. I think it would give every one a peace of mind to know that they can trust this person. After all that guy you meet on the trail could be... I don't know, a child molester.

Lee

are you kidding? I think the only people who think the 'laws' against BASE in NPs are lame is us BASE jumpers and a few cool people out there. what about Davis? What about our great public spotlight fatality last year? I am a climber, and half the big wall hogs i have climbed with think BASE is AWESOME. the other half think its dangerous and we are going to hit them while climbing like rockfall during one of our jumps. I'm all for BASE being legalised in National Parks, but I completely understand some of the misunderstandings that the NPS and public has with BASE. it has been said a million times, good BASE jumps rarely if ever get reported on a mass level. but every wire hangup, cliff strike, or fatality is on the news. all caught in high def, digitally enhanced, color corrected. you can practicaly taste the brain matter.*

IF the BASE jumpers were to organize, and we, as a whole singular group, said NO El cap? then NO BD; my guess is that the NPS, bridge day stuff, etc would say 'shit, that sucks. oh well. lets get some extra clowns and funnel cake stands for bridge day this year. whatev'

best case it would bring some spotlight to our cause.

just what I think.


*-'Swordfish' quote, cant take credit for that one.

The thing with the "turnaround" camera thing is it's too close to outing law enforcement officers and there was a guy here in California who was doing that to police officers and they came after him. Even in year's past when I've written stories that involved a particular Ranger I always leave out their name. They hold all the cards in that area so I'm not playing in that game.

No El Cap – No BD . . .
>>they would say 'shit, that sucks. oh well. lets get some extra clowns and funnel cake stands for bridge day this year. whatev'<<

Calvin, if you think hundreds of thousands of people would show up, fill the hotels, pack the restaurants, plus garner the area the publicity it craves only to see "clowns" and eat "Funnel Cakes" than I don't know what to tell you.

BASE jumping is what "made" Bridge Day, and without it you'd have only a mildly interesting little fair and not much else. So in this game, "we" do hold all the cards.

How effective it would be in the end, in getting us access in other places, I'm not entirely sure, but I do know the free coffee and donuts for Rangers, the blind eye when a Ranger books a local hotel room with a hooker, and the general good will from locals who mistakenly believe the NPS consists of "Ricky, the friendly Park Rangers" would all disappear. That just in itself would be worth us skipping Bridge Day just once.

And the locals who depend on the monies collected from Bridge Day would naturally ask, "Where are the BASE jumpers?" And the story in all the local papers, every single one of them, would be laying out our case for us. There is no good reason permits shouldn't be issued to us for jumps in Yosemite. And the answer the locals in WV would automatically come to is, "What’s the difference? If they can jump here, they can jump there."

Of course all the above is just for the sake of argument. The days of BASE, being composed of a like minded group of people are long gone . . . But let's just dream for a moment. If we announced we weren't coming next year right now, a few days after this Bridge Day, it would give the community a whole year to work on the NPS, I'm sure even the Governor of WV would get involved. And you know what? Rather than be seen as the reason there were no BASE jumpers at Bridge Day 2008, there's a pretty good chance the NPS would cave and issue us permits for some early morning jumping in Yosemite.

But that's just a dream - so let's drop it.

NickD
BASE 194

I know you said you want to drop it, and i must admit that i am an evil pessimist, but I am all for it. I don't go to bridge day, but If it would help to get a few of us a one-time permit to fly off the most beautiful places in the world. I'm against organizing, but a group of us saying 'no go' for one bridge day, and then maybe we end up going anyway because they caved, would defiantly be worth us 4th generation skinheads working together for once, right?

so lets hear some devil's advocates, cuz it sounds exciting to me.

We could register to go to Bridge Day, but have no plans of going.

Someone got arrested for passing out in the elevator?

jesus..!!!

doesnt sound like "the home of the brave,...land of the free"

such shit happend in germany 65 years ago....
we called it faschism...

is it realy that bad during bridge day?...from far away it looked always like a bunch of fun for happy people...cool vibes...everything easy...even the park rangers....
i allways want to go there to join the "party", but if it runs like this i start thinking....

holy moly....

 
Home of the brave, land of the free? What the fuck are you talking about. You must be a European. You've never actually been here have you? Trust me you are much more tolerant over there then we are here. And we prefer to call it the land of illusionary freedom.

Lee

That was the wickedest Saturday night party EVER!!!! Oh GAWD, you KC boys!!!! But the jumping was fine, weather was great....

It's amazing that we made it to the airport the next morning. The saturday party was like something out of a Hunter S. Thomson novel - freaky deaky!

Hank, are you saying us KC boys are good or bad? I hope you're saying we're bad - 'cause we are! We had a helluva good time too! Man that Halliday knows how to slam a beer!

word.

love it or leave it.

it's a country where you're free enough to leave if you don't like it. sure there are some things i don't agree with, but i'll still take it over anywhere else.


and back to the main topic... BD07 was a great success. thanks much to jason and jennifer bell and the rest of the staff.

Ditto!

Why? is it an absolut, black/white issue. the founding fathers set up a government for the people by the people. If you dont love it, you dont have to leave. you can do something about it, change it to something you can love.

the love it or leave it line is rather redneck/ FOX news do you think?

It was blast, I did my first 2 jumps, the expirience is incredible, BIG THANX to organisers.







Sorry for my english:)

...A pretty ironic subcategory considering the primary subject of the thread, don't you think? Listen everyone, Before we start spouting the "land of the free" rhetoric, go try to make a noontime jump off El Cap and see how free we are.

This is a BASE forum... right?

pope

its a base forum...yepp,...
and we talking about base....when the law it aiming for your ass it a important part of basejumping...
everywhere you get charged for a illigal base jump, a friend payed for trespassing 120 bucks another one 5000....even in europe
the point is when they make photos and videos and create some database to identify BASERs...then it gets harder to get to special spots....
its a treadment like they do it with criminals...
that was the point....

no absolute. but without love, one is much less likely to put forth the effort to sacrifice, serve, change or work hard to make better...
more likely to sit on their fat ass and bitch, whilst collecting welfare.

one man's freedom just may be another man's injustice.

peace, love and hair grease.