BASE mom Joan Heid Crashes near Black Canyon
On 16JAN2012, 79-year-old BASE mom Joan Heid slipped on ice at her ranch just north of the Black Canyon. She broke her hip and pelvis, and shattered her shoulder, then laid in the snow for half an hour before her husband Bob heard the dog barking and went to investigate. She underwent successful surgery at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction (the hospital of choice for most BASE jumpers injured in Moab) and is now in the Larchwood Inns rehab center in Grand Junction. She's already getting in and out of bed and into her wheelchair by herself and is usually in high spirits. Hard to keep a BASE mom down. She will be in rehab at least into the first week or March and maybe later.
Many old- and moderate-timers know Joan as my mom from their trips to both the Black Canyon and several IPBC Moab events. She has taken some of the best clifftop videos ever made at the Black, and is famous among those who know her for sitting or standing at the edge without ropes or a parachute on. In one such video at the Black, she was filming a guy who shall remain nameless who flailed on exit and disappeared out of sight doing endos. Mom can be heard calmly saying on the video: "Oh dear, I think he's going to bounce." She kept rolling, though, and a few moments later, an open parachute flew away from the wall back into frame and she said, "There he is. Boy, is he lucky."
There is also a famous pic of her standing at the Tombstone upper exit with Clem Major during an IPBD event. They are both standing 4 inches from the edge: 6-foot Clem is double roped and wearing a safety harness; 5-foot Mom is wearing a windbreaker and looking at Clem, not at the edge.
This blew the mind of safety director Jake Lombard (veteran of many many movie stunt/stunt coordinator jobs) to: a) see someone that close to the edge without gear or ropes; and b) realize the "someone" was an old lady.
Shortly thereafter, IPBC head dennis McGlynn came over to me and said, "Robin, you gotta get your mom to tie in when she's at the edge. She's freaking everybody out."
During her 60s, there were many times during hikes out to Serpent's Point when hard-core BASE jumpers in their 30s pleaded with Mom to slow down or let them take a break because they were tired, and yes, they carried gear and she didn't but she always had almost as much camera stuff in weight as they did in parachute gear! Naturally, she always sat on the edge with her legsdnagling over so she could lean over farther to get better shots, and never roped up because she thought it was too confining.
She also took pics at several building jumps in Denver, and even drove the getaway car once (though we retired her immediately from that slot after she ran a stop sign and stopped at a green light).
Anyway, for anybody out there who knows her, remembers her, has a hard-core mom or wishes they did, please keep her in your thoughts, and she'd love to hear from you.
Joan Heid
c/o Larchwood Inns Rehab
2845 North 15th Street
Grand Junction, CO 81506-5219
Thanks in advance, everyone.
robin heid
base 44
joan heid's son
