John Mjoen
I usually try to avoid long posts, but I have so many great memories and respect for John Mjoen, and his little known big brother, Stein, that I wanted to relate a few trivial facts about these two Norge's from the earlier days of BASE. John first came to our hotel room the first year of the Holiday Inn at New River, 1984 I think. For nearly the first 10 years from 82 at B Day our room became sort of party central with at least the staff and most other's who liked a good party. John came with 2 big Norge's, even bigger and stronger than John. He spoke the best English of the three. My brother and I quickly took to John and we were close friends until he died on a Tandem jump in Denmark in 94. Randy and John were partners with an Aussie in a bungee operation in N. Florida for nearly a year in the late 80's. Randy even went to Alta and lived with John for a few months. John actually had some great BASE jumps. As you know, he's Norway # 1. He's the first to find and jump the Troll Spire exit point which in my opinion is still one of the most fabulous exit points I've ever done. A famous old Norwegian climber named Arnie, who was with the resistance during WWII showed him the cliff. Arnies wife, recently deceased I heard, named Boudil, ran sort of a climber and BASE museum in Andelsnes. She was so cool and even climbed Mt. Kilamanjoro in Africa at age 81. Arnie respected John who was an officer in the Norwegian Delta Force and tough as nails. Arnie actually discovered many of the climbing routes in Troll Valley in the post war years and was already getting old when he told John there was a place he needed to see. He showed John the troll spire, or spirit as we call it. John had more jumps from that exit point, 25 or so, than anyone before he died. He was Thor's mentor and when John got down in the dumps after a bad relationship, Thor returned the favor by getting John off his ass and back on the mountain. John was a special guy. I heard about his death when Thor called me from an offshore oil rig since he knew Randy and I were John's closest US friends. Anyway, he was good and had the right spirit. After John died, his older brother Stein, who had skydived for about 10 years started BASE jumping. He died this last year of natural causes, but Stein was a great mountain man, a tough hiker, and the guy who helped lead me up Troll Spire in 99 a week after Thor died and we came from his funeal in Moriana down to Andelsnes on the train to do Troll in Thor and John's honor. It was a beautiful jump and I really miss both John and Stein. We do stay in touch with their younger brother in Alta, Norway.
Knowing John, and later, several other Norwegians has given Randy and I the greatest respect for most Norge's. If they promise you something, you can count on it better than a contact. A rare quality these days.
Rick