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In the beginning of each issue of National Geographic are a couple of pages of letters to the editor pertaining to the last issue with thoughts/comments/concerns. My thought is, what if we get a whole bunch of us to write letters to Nat Geo in regards to the May 2001 issue containing an article on Yosemite with an awesome BASE picture off of half dome and the hypocrisy of allowing sports like free climbing but not allowing BASE. Could it work? Maybe.... Who knows, but if they get slammed by say a few hundred letters maybe the right people will see it. We have to remain tactful and courteous. The Yosemite article itself is fantastic and the photo on 116/117 is great!!!! I think it is worth 5 minutes of our time as you never know........

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Cheers! Il type one!

Sent email.

There's a fundemetal difference here. Yosemite is the birthplace of modern day climbing as we know it. Camp 4 is a historical site, Warren Harding's epic adventure on the Nose and again on The Wall of Early Morning Light.

The Climbing Community and ASCA, Access Fund all work together in secuting Yos. Every year climbers show up for the annual El Cap Clean Up.

So the climbers give back for the use they take from in the park. I'd be surprised if jumpers could become as organized as them to secure jumping for as long as they've been climbing.......

sadly, i agree. but maybe i have too much hope

Devil's advocate here:

Base was at one time, and for a brief period, accepted in national parks. This ended in part due to our own actions, right? So would it not be incumbent upon jumpers to prove they deserve a chance rather than assuming entitlement?

Im not saying the regulations imposed upon us are fair. But right or wrong, we're on the other side of the law. In addition to the lobbying, petitioning and citing of other successful / sustainable examples of legal base jumping in thie country, might organizing some gatherings which are beneficial to the parks help our cause? Like a clean-up day, or something else that shows we're willing to put forth some effort without immediate promise of return?

thats a great idea actually. like going to a park with no intention of jumping. donating our time to ensure the well being of the parks themselves. it could totally help

Maybe we could unsteal a truck...

i've been trying unsteal, unfuck and generally rewind / undo shit for my entire life. im one of those mildly successful in spite of myself, but still my own worst enemy perpetual f-ups. I have had limited success unfucking myself both by tucking tail and grinding my way back, AND by saying fuck-em-all and succeeding in spite the obstacles put in front of me.

I may have allegedly driven under an assumed / alternate name for 6 years once simply because i disagreed with a suspension of my license and refused to go through process of reinstating something that i felt should not have been taken away in the first place. Allegedly.

I wasnt judging anyone's past indiscretions, merely posing a question and suggesting a potential method of initiating change. Repeating something over and over, each time expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Admittedly i dont know the full extent of others' ongoing efforts / tactics, but it appears that we've been fighting the same fight for wuite some time. Maybe a change in approach could help. Maybe it will just waste everyone's time and money and result in a bunch of drunk basejumpers getting sick of picking up trash, saying fuckit and jumping anyway, causing more problems than solutions and setting the entire effort back 10 years.

Yo my friend. We need to talk soon. I just won an award for "Dumbass of the Year."

You know, maybe we as jumpers should start our own society with the tilt of "We love nature" similar to the maybe the first moments of the Audubon Society, with propaganda for base jumpers. Not kidding.

I think there are alot of great ideas in this thread. I have also been working on a letter to send to NatGeo after it was first suggested. It's a great idea.
I think as a whole jumpers today are much more Earth friendly then they once were (just assuming, all I have heard were stories from friends who have been around awhile). I really believe that jumpers today are influencing the restrictions on BASE in a positive light, even though we don't see the changes happen everyday. While in TF last weekend, it dawned on me that there isn't a single negative attitude toward BASE that I could see. Even as we witnessed a car accident on the bridge from people trying to drive and watch jumpers, the cops and both parties involved seemed to still be excited to watch the jumpers huck themselves off the bridge despite their short comings. As this country builds itself back up from the recent financial crisis I think that the TF community will act as model for what BASE can bring to a community.

As far as cleaning up trails and what not, I did notice that there is quite a bit of garbage under and around the bridge. Some from the motorists, some from hikers and tourists, and I'm sure some from jumpers. Maybe we should start there and show that we care about this place enough to organize a structured clean up. Then maybe Moab. I think this community has enough people and places that are jump friendly that if we wanted to show how far this community has came we could stage events that bring the jumping community, and the local communities together in support of the environment.
Just a thought. Maybe it's been done, maybe not. But I have witnessed a lot of leadership in this sport, and even here on the troll boards. And while I don't have what it takes to organize my own sock drawer, I would make sure I was involved in anything that could help the sport get noticed for what it really is.

that sounds like Americans picking up the garbage and looking after their environment......really????

see, we can do this I think. we just have to ACTUALLY do it if we want it badly enough (and I do). i mean, I have been jumping now for about a year, so yeah I am a newb, but I am a new/outside source. I see the possibility right now. We just can't fuck it up. We have to be seen respecting land, volunteering our time for cleanups/whatnot, and yeah, as much as I hate to say it, maybe giving into the man (goes against my libertarian values, but it's a justifiable small sacrifice)

Giving into the man John? TISK TISK! I say we clean up the trash during the day and poop on the Park Rangers front door at night!!! Just kidding of course!

I got into BASE from climbing. Ruined my climbing.

How El Cap was ruined is that there really was no BASE jumping back then. It was all skydivers, and they were an unreal rowdy crowd. Think biker rally in Sturgis rowdy.

BASE split off from Skydiving, but Yosemite has always been prone to skydiving twits coming in there and screwing up. To the NPS, this is basically a blood feud from all of that, no matter how much we wonder why. They are poorly informed, and in yosemite, catching a jumper is quite the trophy for the LEO officer who pulls it off.

In my time living there, I always found it best to just be invisible. Never being seen and there is no problem. Rubbing their noses in it reallly gets them going. I spent most of a year there back in the day climbing and jumping and they only vaguely knew that i even existed. I was always SO careful.

I have never felt that the NPS would be reasonable about BASE. They have built an entire culture of hate that they will probably never quite get rid of.

That said, climbers are way more trouble than jumpers to manage. I say try to just have a sort of under the table truce. People don't do anything that attracts attention and they will eventually find better things to do with their time.

104 and Against have some good points.

LEO's also have a hard on for busting climbers in the middle of the night for sleeping in their cars. LEO's have a hatred to climbers and BASE jumpers alike.

Do you think the LEO's pound on the motorhomes parked in Curry Village? Fuck no.... and people sleep in those every night.

But as stated climbers some how give back to the park and I honestly feel that gives back. The EL Cap clean up is 6 months away. Show up and organize and state your jumpers and you intend on helping out with cleaning up EL Cap. Wear APEX and Asylum logo's with all your shit.

And after helping out with cleaning up El Cap do a protest of packing in the meadow to draw attention to our cause. NOWHERE when you drive in the park does it say you CANNOT pack in the meadow.

It's like if it's not posted "NO TRESPASSING" they cannot bust you for it.

What reaction do you think you'd get if you volunteered to clean up the environment and then then the NPS tries to arrest the volunteers??

just a thought

The only way to stop someone from hating you is to remove any reason for them to. If they bite you, do not bite back.

I tell ya. I have scratched my head over the NPS position for much of my life and I can only say this:

Nope, I don't hate cops. I know a couple and they are good guys. They do a sometimes shitty job that is dangerous, and I respect them. There are always some bad apples, that are jaded and perhaps a little cruel, but that is the exception.

If there were a case of a ranger who needed help with medical bills or something. You know..like when someone dies and everyone chips in for their kids education.

THEN, we should all kick in some cash and treat them like human beings. Which they are, no matter how you have been treated. A path of passiveness. That is the only way. Sitting around bitching about rangers busting people for something they will convict you of is like blaming a compass for pointing north.

So, to diminish the animosity as a first step, we need to show that there is no reason to hate us. We are pretty much all good people as well.

And yep. There is a hell of a good idea. Have a semi organized set of things that jumpers can do around Moab. Go pick up trash in Arches, even though Arches will never allow jumping. Just be good neighbors.

At my home climbing area, the USFWS was going to shut climbing down after a forty year history. We kind of used the carrot and stick thing.

The stick was only a short term thing that is now forgotten (it was legislative), but what has carried on is regular trail work and other volunteer stuff.

I have been through quite a few climbing access issues, and that stuff does work. Not everyone participates, but if enough do, they do take notice, trust me.

There are also no signs stating you cannot rob this store, shoot people or set buildings on fire... so you might just be on to something there...

That sounds almost dumb enough to be a government employee's illogical response.

I was recently arrested for being somewhere without a no trespassing sign. Law enforcement can do whatever they want.

Im new to the sport so im sure this has already been explored but has there been a push to utilize the contacts and bargining powers of the Access Fund for BASE? Seems like there is a large similarity between what both groups want. Preserving cliff sites around the world. BASE is so much less destructive to the enviornment than even TRAD climbimg since we dont leave behind any chalk, just blood if we happen to have an off heading. I couldnt see the access fund not wanting the extra donations and membership power. I know we even have a few BASE jumpers that are rock star climbers who might be able to spear head the push. Just food for thought.

[slight hijack]

a NPS Ranger, who supposedly jumps, but also likes to poke and prod other jumpers?

and you dare question his reasoning skills?!?


[/slight hijack]

I've talked to the Access Fund, they don't want anything to do with it. They represent climbers and have enough on their table. We need to build a similar organization to represent BASE.

We also need to make it clear that BASE jumping DOES have historical significance in OUR National Parks, maybe not as prolific as rock climbing, but the history is there nonetheless.

I not only see our great monoliths in the park’s perfect to climb, they are also perfect to jump. We need to stand up for what we believe and try to educate the government officials about our activity, our passion.

Hi Ammon,

You sound like this is something that you have been looking into for awhile now. So what are the next steps? How can we help? Lets set this up, everything has to start somewhere no? You have any ideas?

Hence, the poke back at him with the "" at the end. I have actually met and spoken with him on occasion. I did not realize that a gentle ribbing would offend the sensitive nature of the people on this board. I will make sure to post "virtual vagina creme" for anyone else I offend.