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hello, my name is paul stelmack. im in the army right now deployed in iraq with the 101st airborne. im getting out of the army this winter and was hoping to get into base jumping by summer. im an experience rock climber, i've been skydiving 9 times, and i've been heli-boarding in colorado a few times. anyway, im going on a summer long adrenaline search to fill the void of not kicking in doors and getting shot at all the time. please get back to me and let me know if theres anything i can do to base jump without going skydiving 100 times. thank you

welcome to the forum. there are several others with similar biographies.

knowledge and training prove invaluable (I'm sure you are familiar!) read as much as you can. you might find something of use in the following threads.

Advice for a new jumper
BEGINNER
I WANT TO BASE JUMP!!!
Deciding to enter BASE
Advice!!!!!!!!!
begginer

do not miss the article section of this site.
Getting Into BASE

in general, I advise AGAINST being in a rush. being in a rush has led to many injuries. many have gotten pumped up on videos and plunged headlong into BASE.

I expect you will enter with a bit more care. careful planning helps dramatically in your current role. bring those skill sets to BASE and you'll do fine.

good luck

fast track = palms up

9 skydives or 9 round dope on rope?

Similar background to you mate, those skills will help you be a better jumper but don't rush it, there is so much you don't even know you don't know.

Go hard skydiving for a while, ground crew some base jumps and don't for a second think a base course will teach you half of what you need to know especially a course run by someone wiling to teach you with low jump numbers.

When I started, I have 500 skydives. I went to Norway 1 year after starting and was caught in some dodgy winds and had to land in a nasty area. With 100 skydives I would not have had the skills to deal with this. I would have been hurt.

I know you must be keen to get in to the sport, but if you rush, it WILL bite your ass hard.

Skydiving is a pretty sweet adrenaline rush too...

Do some freefly with a partner, not only will you get a rush you will also gain canopy time at the end of the jump..

base fast track to your grave...


seriously take your time....

not that you will listen at this point

Dude, I thought we agreed, you'd
lay low on the boards for a day
so we could...

classic...the fast track...whatever happened to looking at the long road many athletes have taking to achieve their goals...showing how they spent endless hours or should i say years chasing their dream thru the bad times and good times...sure you want to just huck...go get it...its easy...but you want to be very good ... get to work and enjoy the ride...just not the trophy!
To all the athletes that have paid their dues thru the years with training and longevity...much respect!
Gary
www.garybegleysports.com

Most people can usually jump off a tall bridge over water and survive. People have even sucessfully thrown bags of dog food off such objects without breakage.

The first problem is "usually." While being dead might not be so bad, being broken is more boring than skydiving. You need experience (plus judgement and currency so you stand a chance at exercising that judgement, which are both side effects of experience) to have a good chance at translating problems into minor inconvienences instead of broken bones or worse (like being paralyzed and stuck watching Oprah. Skydiving or daytime television is not a hard choice to make.).

If BASE jumping is a sport for you you're not going to do it just once. That usually part will have plenty of time to catch up to you.

The second is "tall bridge over water." While "easy bridges" are still more fun than a lot of skydives, those of us who suffer from testosterone poisoning want to jump objects that are more interesting either due to the landing area (small with obstacles) and/or freefall (next to cliffs where off heading openings lead to wall strikes). When you get more experience skydiving first, you're more llikely to have good canopy skills and presence of mind when you give in and start jumping such objects.

It sucks when you don't notice the height of a ridge on one end of the landing area or figure out what the winds are doing 2000 feet below you before you jump and get stuck landing on a 10x10x10' boulder (the parachuting demo rating only requires consistent landings in a 30' circle surrounded by soft grass) because that's not as bad as the alternatives.. Not having the experience to have a chance at pulling off the landing would be a lot worse. Being extremely proficient and able to do it 10/10 times would have been better.

I had 8 or 900 skydives when I started BASE jumping. More classic accuracy experience would have made some of the close calls less a matter of luck. Less would have broken me sooner.

With 1500 skydives and over 100 BASE jumps including 15 interesting objects I still managed to add an extra bend in my leg, some missing bone pieces, and nerve damage jumping off a big bridge over water with a big grassy main landing area. You have to respect the sport if you don't want to be limping around with a big beer belly since that's become your number one hobby.

If BASE jumping is a sport for you, you'll have a lot more fun jumping fun objects in interesting places than reminiscing about what you used to do. Enough restraint and preparation first will make the difference more a matter of skill than luck.

With 9 skydives you haven't gotten to the point where you know what skydiving's about (it's mostly a technically challenging social sport in freefall) or have gotten to do anything terribly exciting under canopy (flying around hangers at 50 MPH is oodles of fun).

Exploring that first would be a fine idea. Sky surf, fly wing suits, make canopy formations, fly fast parachutes through obstacle courses, make night jumps during lunar eclipses, etc. Nearly all of it's fun and some is more exciting than your student jumps.

..." please get back to me and let me know if theres anything i can do to base jump without going skydiving 100 times. thank you ".
-
You got a Rig yet ?
.

If some dude said to you hey " I really want to go fight in Iraq but I don't want to do all the training. I've played paint ball 8-9 times and I went back packing in the nevada desert for a week I'm ready to go"
What would you say to him?

nice point ren! turning the logic around on anyone who wants the "fast track" might hit home to the individuals considering bypassing the recommended skydiving.