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Just had a curious thought, two of my buddies and I went to do a 2,000 this past weekend around 3:30 am. We were going to climb it and jump around sunrise to welcome the time change. The ground winds were a L&V tail wind when we started climbing, we took a break around 600 ft. and I noticed the winds had picked up to about 10mph, switched direction towards the woods and from one set of wires, right down the other set. I may be a wind wussy, but I made the decision to climb back down. So my question how often does everyone back out of a jump? A fellow jumper once told me that you should end up backing out of about 1 out of every twelve jumps.

The few times I have been lucky enough to
be on BASE adventures with friends we usually
all agree when conditions are sketchy, except
once when Leroy thought jumping from 300*
was much better than climbing down.

* Video of his ensuing 180 has been posted.

what did the other 2 jumpers do?

 

They followed me down, one is a new baser, and the other didn't want to climb alone.

wise demonstration of respect.............

I was on a pretty fucked up BASE jump with honking winds.

5 of us at an A that is 1500ft and like retards we all crammed in the elevator, me and TJ on the roof of the thing with 3 inside.

At about 1000ft Mr TJ says to me "This is way too windy dude, im not jumping" as we watch the lightning storms around us. Then Mr Elevator decides to pack up on us at approx 1200ft. Just stopped in its tracks

Climbed down to a 900ft platform and was fucking knackered, hard climbing down in strong winds.

Like a girl i paced around on the platform hoping that CincyBASE Jimmy Kensill would jump into the doom and get the thing working from the bottom. Then i realised everyone was gearing up except me.

Needless to say i was shitting my pants, swearing and shaking my head as i knew there was no way i could climb that far down in these winds, probably fucking fall off the ladder.

Jump 9 for me and opened with just over 1 and a half twists that i kicked out before landing like a stone in the night.

Glad i didnt walk away from that one.

I think that knowing when to walk away from a jump is super important in BASE, and sometimes overlooked. Learning when to say no, and learning what you are comfortable jumping in, are part of the process. Something that I really enjoy about BASE is that most people won't judge you for not jumping in winds you are not comfortable with. It's all about what you want, and the risk you are willing to take.

Sometimes the easiest thing to do is walk away, other times you wonder if you are being too cautious. And sometimes walking away is the hardest thing to do, but somewhere in your head, you know it is the right thing.

We have a local E that I have hiked down from more times than I have jumped it.

It obviously depends on the objects that you are jumping, but I think 1 in 12 seems really low to me. I think I am some were closer to 1 in 8, but maybe I am just a "wind wussy" too.

I tend to go in phases too, at one point I had been at an exit point on 3 different objects 5 times in a row and didn't get a single jump in. Then I was able to get several jumps in row in.

If its 2000 feet then wind down a wire doesnt bother me, you should be able to (hopefully) track far enough away that you wont be opening too close to anything. Theres another jumper who posts on here who has climbed off a 1700 footer several times because of 5mph winds down the wire at 500 feet, but ill let him explain his reasons.

Sure I agree no problem, but usually the higher you go the stronger the winds get, if they are 5-8 at six hundred and growing, an hour later at the top it probably would have been around 15-18 blowing against the towers best exit point, from one set of wires to the other. If it was just me and another experienced guy, I would have possibly said, ok, and jumped towards the forest, pull a little above the 300 light, hook a quick 180, and land at the base of the tower which would have been nerve racking for me, but I willing wasn't putting my best buddy off it at his experience level. I felt like it was the best decision at the time, and after all we all walked away.

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EDIT TO ADD: There should be no number... go off of the conditions present.

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Side NOTE:

Chris... Respectfully, I only put this here in hopes it grabs your attention, because of the peer aspect of it.

Appreciated, but I don't want to be anyones' hero. I'd rather be thought of for making people think about the "WHY?"
With respect, I hope you learned a valuable lesson about the cliff and use cognitive thinking skills and object planning in the future. The Cliff is a very technical one and should be respected as such.

Much love, I don't want to see you or any jumper get hurt.

Sorry, the sudden summer lightning storm made my decision for me to jump... lol Plus the 180 gave me time to practice my backwards flight mode and sinking capabilities

Only a couple of hours ago my friend and I made the decision to climb down.
The wind was right on the limit for us and not going in the direction we would have liked.
I personaly felt shit about it but it was totally the right call.
We will do it tomorrow night or whenever. It isn't going anywhere.

Same... The object was a 300' freestanding A and I at about the 190-200' mark I noticed lightning hit a nearby street lamp. Needless to say I quickly attached my s/l and left from there.

Also to the original poster, Ive climbed down 3 times because of shifting and high winds.

 

Chris... Respectfully, I only put this here in hopes it grabs your attention, because of the peer aspect of it.

Appreciated, but I don't want to be anyones' hero.

This was the important part, "I'd rather be thought of for making people think about the "WHY?"

being respected and being a hero can be 2 diff things.

Not talking bad about you at all, you learned something from what happened and you can grow from it, make sense?

I'd rather save the hero title for if I ever die in battle... Hero is somthing that means a lot to me, as I know many hero's alive and that have passed on.

now... lets shut up and go jump something

And for the record your not my hero because you do crazy shit, it's because you have survived many jumps in the sport with little or few mishaps which can only be obtained by a talented and cautious person. I only hope to see a few of the incredible things you have seen in your time with the sky. Weather you like it or not, you will remain a person that I look up to, not for the freefall, but to help the less experienced off safely by PCA and taking the sketchy road. Thanx dude, hope to see you soon.

And yes lets do bro, friday it is my...whatever.

also for the record... (captain obvious) there are many moe deserving, that have done way more than I.

I am just a part of the awakening...

Very true, but big names, stories (good or bad), and cool U-Tube videos don't mean shit to me, personal experience does. Anyway getting off track of the thread here, I climbed down off my girlfriend today cause I didn't feel right about day blazing her, and the grass in the landing area got to tall!

Would you two please get a room?

ya.. sure... I hear there is a room on a bridge somewhere?

much love brother

is there? that's kinda unique, could I count it as a building? send me some info I'd jump it.

there is a business card ona bag of dog food in the canyon somewhere... hehhe

Ya sometimes you work so hard getting on an Antenna or other object that you don't know how Not to Jump when you know the conditions went to shit. After you worked hard to make the access to jump. There have not been but a very few Antenna jumps that I have climbed down from in the middle of a jump but I remember this one.
Three of us scoped this Antenna out and it was only jumpable and GTG for landing on 2 of the 3 sides and there were wires and dishes and shit all over that compound too. We studied it and figured it all out to do the jump that night and that night was the 1st time we ever saw this antenna also. We had to pick the lock to the main gate, climb up to the roof of the equipment building at the base and then walk a pipe from the roof to the Antenna to be over the top of the motion detectors. We climbed about 3/4 of the way up, and then winds switched directions to the other quadrant. SO we had to climb down 'because', we Only scoped the one side out to land on because that's the way the winds we blowing at that time before we climbed.
We got down and then scoped-out and walked the new landing area out. climbed to the roof and walked the pipe over the top of the motion detectors and geared-up again and climbed again for the second time. We all got about 1/2 way up and the winds started to fucking scream like about 30 hard knots strait down the wire. I started do get a little edgy and I just turned and said "fuckit" and started to climb down. They stayed and climbed. When I got about 1/2 way down I started watching for canopy openings. I saw one of the guys exit from the top and his canopy crack open about eye-level to me. With numerous line twists down to the back of his Helmet. That had his head and chin pinned to his chest. I watched as the winds and his Heading blew him 'fast' strait threw (in-between) two guy wires to the other side. He was kicking like a little girl and just got out of them in time to barely land unscaved.
Then my other buddy on top was left 'all alone' to exit. I knew he was fucking pegged-out for sure after see me climb down and the other guy flying threw the guy wires. I expected him to just turn and climb down. Even though He was scared shitless and second guessing his game plan. He exited anyway and his canopy opened on Heading but it all went smooth as clock work and uneventful for him.
So we had everything that night and after we all climbed down the 1st time. We had one guy turn and climb down. One guy exit and his canopy opening turn to the worst thinkable scenario. And one guy see all was fucked-up and the conditions were obviously unfavorable for survivable outcome if things went bad for him, Jump anyway with no problems.
.

I now have 99 jumps and so far I have chickened the 100th one for 7 times in a row :) Sometimes I felt too scared, sometimes the weather was not suitable :)

I generally don't like to chicken out, so I believe the thesis "you must chicken 1 out of every 12" is not for me. However, when I don't like the environment, I immediately give up. Most BASE objects will be there and won't disappear when the conditions improve... :)))

knowing when to say no, is the single most important attribute in base...

(besides basic packing, analysis blah blah blah)

Done

Last trip to Moab - 7 climbs, 3 jumps.

Leaving camp hungover at the crack of 11:00 to beat the wind is not much of a plan.

I would assume you would have to be ESPECIALLY careful where wires are concerned. I called a jump off a couple of nights ago because wings were 20 degrees off of where I wanted them from. That 20 degrees with a 90 degree off heading opening to the right could have put me/us in the hurt locker. I would say you are pretty close.. somewhere around 10-15 to 1 cancel ratio. Typically we know the winds are right before we climb but sometimes things change.

  i do a lot of solos, so my ratio is more like 1 out of four. make that three, i'm a pussy.

Solo's are spooky, I do quite a few of them and the conditions have to be almost perfect. I would say I make about 1 out of every 5. I popped about 160 degrees off a a 300 two weeks ago in my home town and had to land on a set of railroad tracks, freaky, scary, dangerous, won't do that one alone again I don't think.

Leroy clearly almost went in on that jump. I saw the video recently. Another 10 feet and he'd have smacked that first ledge...

Definitely not a hero action. Got my rig back want to open a new A or two?

I've climbed down from 2 objects out 200+ jumps. I don't think numbers really play a role. It's all whats in your mind... you'll know when it's time to climb down. I wouldn't compare yourself to other peoples standards either. Every one of your jumps is about you (Enjoy it!)

Well me and BASEMenace2 did a 300 last night and went for a 1500' tonight, once again, got to 300' and climbed back down. Wind was probably 15-18 straight down the wires. Oh well, better to be dissapointed then dead or hanging 300' in the air waiting on a rescue crew, will try again in the morning.

What ? . Ok climbing up a 300 ft.high Antenna jump and climbing down because winds are blowing down the Wire are WAY more less Pussfied 'Excusable' behavior and different than if the Antenna is 1500 ft. tall and you left your Sack in the car on the walk there. ... <l; )
.

If the A has altitude for slider up, then I honestly don't think that winds could be an excuse for climbing down. Like Yuri K, the only real Yuri, once said...Put on your track and open low enough that you are below the first set of wires! This is provided there is ample l.z. And as for Andy Copland, he often sat at the exit point long enough for another front to move in, and naturally the winddirection changed!!

 

Would it be better to PM pics and video to those that wish to know?

just a thought...

please stop the internet talk guys.
chris, i just got ur number from john & will call u this evening .. a 435 number.
leroy, please call him & stop talking here.
thanks & sorry, lets go back to quiet :)
blaine

Leroy and Hero are not synonymous

seriously...? nothing wrong is being said...

all the others (FBI, CIA, SS, CBS, NBC, the D-boys) already know about most of us...

getting out my cammo paint... just kidding...

but hey for you, it's 420 and I will chill...