Basejumper.com - archive
The Hangout
Re: [base587] Yosemite - mid 70's?
I was told from an older smoke jumper who used to jump in the valley said all that shit was legal. Hanggliding could only be done during a morning window. They did that to limit the gliders from hanging out in the valley. They just let them glide down, and not hang out during the day. There was a ranger at the exit point saying yes or no based on the conditions. The jumping was legal too, but also controlled by a ranger. He mentioned what fucked it all was some base jumpers were told no. They decided to jump anyway, by driving there van up to or close to the exit left it there and jumped. There used to be road up to El Cap. So I am told. NPS got mad.......end of story....
Well not really NPS has small penis and is on big power trip so they HATE.
NPS needs to get a life.
I do not like the NPS.
If NPS reads this, GOOD.
I have never been there. I will take all my riches to the swiss and norwegians they do not HATE.
Re: [MexPilot] Yosemite - mid 70's?
Que NickDG. I believe it was the early 80's that BASE jumping was allowed with a permit, but for only about 3 weeks until the Flatbed 10 drew the last straw.
Hang Gliding is still allowed off Glacier Point, but only during a small window each month and only with a permit.
I could be wrong.
Re: [base587] Yosemite - mid 70's?
In reply to:
Any info on the HG pilot & jumpers?
Que NickDG on this one, too.
If I remember the story right, Carl Boenish had something to do with this and this film was the precursor to his actual first BASE jump films from El Cap.
Re: [base587] Yosemite - mid 70's?
Rick Harrison gave me a copy of this along with Carl Boenish's BASE 1 video. I had this video but it was stolen. I don't recognize the HG pilot dude.
Re: [base587] Yosemite - mid 70's?
That video brings back some long-buried memories; thanks for posting! I do know (knew) the participants. The HG pilot is Rich Picarilli (sp.); he had the hardest job, flying that HUGE kite solo and then squeezing it into the tiny landing area. (Notice the wingtip-tree strikes right before landing.) The two jumpers are Brian Johnson (my old teammate on the 4D team) and the late Jim Handbury, inventor of the Paradactyl and Double-Keel 'Dactyl canopies. (As you can see, Jim is jumping one of his 'Dactyls on this stunt jump.)
Also, I believe that the earlier post was correct, in that this was a Carl Boenish film project and it did lead directly into Carl's early BASE jumping expeditions in Yosemite.
These guys were true pioneers and they pulled it off without a hitch! Major props to all!
Jerry
Re: [swovelin] Yosemite - mid 70's?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEMVhE3YxXg Just came across this. Ive never seen it, so it may be old news. But here it is anyways.
~Jake
Re: [swovelin] Yosemite - mid 70's?
"...and the late Jim Handbury, inventor of the Paradactyl and Double-Keel 'Dactyl canopies..." Jim Handbury, working with Carl Boenish on the design, also built the first single-canopy, velcro closed shrivel flap base rigs.
Re: [dudeman17] Yosemite - mid 70's?
The very first fixed object parachute jumps made in Yosemite Park are done from El Capitan by Mike Pelkey and Brian Schubert in 1968. To my knowledge no one followed suit until Carl Boenish organized his first load there of four Lake Elsinore jumpers in 1978. When Carl began showing the El Cap footage at the DZ it ignited generation(s) of people who would in just a few years become known as BASE jumpers. NickD
BASE 194
Re: [NickD] Yosemite - mid 70's?
NickD wrote:
The very first fixed object parachute jumps made in Yosemite Park are done from El Capitan by Mike Pelkey and Brian Schubert in 1968. To my knowledge no one followed suit until Carl Boenish organized his first load there of four Lake Elsinore jumpers in 1978. When Carl began showing the El Cap footage at the DZ it ignited generation(s) of people who would in just a few years become known as BASE jumpers.
NickD
BASE 194
Rick Sylvester jumped El Cap 3 times in the early 70's prior to his James bond stunt from Mt Asgard.
wiki wrote:
....In 1971, he skied off the top of El Capitan and descended approximately 914 metres (3000 feet) by parachute. This was conceived as "the world's greatest ski jump". There were two more jumps made in secrecy to avoid arrest by the National Park Service; Rick wanted more footage shot from different angles. These jumps were made in 1972 and 1973. Already an expert skier, he spent 3 weeks learning sky diving to make this jump. Sylvester also worked in another Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, where he did the stunt when Bond falls off the side of a mountain he is climbing in Meteora, Greece.
In reply to:
Rick Sylvester Yes, I believe this is the or one of the photographs that made the front page of certain newspapers including the "Los Angeles Times" and the "San Francisco Chronicle". Obviously it was a slow news day. But there was also some controversy whether in fact the jump had actually taken place. When various news outlets called Yosemite National Park for confirmation no one in authority there knew anything about it. That was because the project had been a sort of secretive James Bondian enterprise. The unusual triangle shaped parachute was called a Thunderbow and was manufactured by a company in the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Leandro if my memory's accurate. It was never an especially popular model but it was right for me. It served my purposes and had both enough performance characteristics and simplicity for the essentially parachuting novice that I was at the time...actually still am today something like 40 years later.
Re: [base570] Yosemite - mid 70's?
Found this article on the jump. http://www.tetongravity.com/...-jump-in-ski-history
Oh, and this article by a guy named Nick Di Giovanni mentions it too
https://www.apexbase.com/...-by-nick-di-giovanni
Re: [base570] Yosemite - mid 70's?
Yeah, Rick Sylvester, and the French dentist in Europe, and it all goes back hundreds of years. I can't include every aspect of BASE jumping history in one post. NickD
BASE 194
Re: [NickD] Yosemite - mid 70's?
NickD wrote:
Yeah, Rick Sylvester, and the French dentist in Europe, and it all goes back hundreds of years. I can't include every aspect of BASE jumping history in one post.
NickD
BASE 194
The topic was Yosemite jumps not the complete history of BASE, so there is no reason to attempt to mention all BASE history. Actually the topic was the hang glider jumps but I digress...
You mentioned the Mike and Brians jumps then went straight to the 1978 jumps stating you didn't know of any other jumps in Yosemite between the two. I thought it was appropriate to mention Ricks jumps.