Basejumper.com - archive

Hello all,

Lonnnnnng time no talk to. Hey quick question...

These days, I'm on the BOD of Fayetteville Arts Coalition—Fayetteville, WV, that is, where we have Bridge Day on the third Sat of every Oct. We're working on a sculpture in town that will give a little love to our main outdoor gigs—climbing, BASE, mountain biking and whitewater—and we need to know what the Mt Everest, so to speak, of BASE jumping is. What's THE place in the world where people go to jump?

I had guessed Norway, but I don know specific places... or is it something else?

Okay, not so quick question, after all.

TROLL WALL

i am glad i have it , its the best cliff ever

As someone who doesnt jump I agree 100 procent, Base jumping= Troll wall :)

The NRGB isn't the "Mt. Everest" of BASE, especially when we only get six hours of legal jumping per year. But I do not understand why Fayetteville would display a sculpture of another BASE object? Sounds odd.

If you want to give a little love to BASE, let us jump beyond Bridge Day. The catwalk tour people still have the two legal BASE proposals I've submitted over the last two years.

"THE place in the world" where people go to BASE jump is that other bridge. The one in Idaho, where they welcome jumpers 365 days a year. Just saying...

You may have misunderstood. I didn't call the NRGB the Mt. Everest of BASE, nor did I imply it. That's why I asked what the Mt. Everest of BASE actually is.

As for opening up the Bridge... We're a nonprofit made up of private-citizen volunteers trying to bring a little more art to the community. Bridge access isn't exactly our thing. If it were up to me, though, believe me, you'd have unfettered access. The BridgeWalk people likewise have zero authority to help you. Convince the Dept of Highways to let you jump and the NPS to let you land. I know, I know... easier said than done.

And good luck. I'm not the only person here who thinks it would be a huge plus if you got permission.

Fayetteville Arts Coalition.

So Twin Falls, ID? Perrine Bridge?

Jay is very friendly to BASE. He's an ally--not a problem.

Jay, I'm back living in Twin Falls now (the past two years)--not sure if you knew that.

I don't think Twin is really the "Everest" of BASE. It's too limited. It's great for beginners and training, and perhaps some aerials stuff, but the altitude here limits it to basically being a great training ground.

In the wider world of BASE, I think at this point the European big walls are where "it" is happening. Experienced jumpers planning a trip are far more likely to consider Lysebotn or Lauterbrunnen than Idaho. Moab, too, is probably higher on the list for an experienced jumper than Twin Falls (and Moab is all low altitude slider down stuff, like Twin).

I think at this point if I had to pick out a single place as the "Mecca" for BASE, it would be either Romsdalen or Lauterbrunnen. But I'm sure that will change in time, too.

Zakynthos Island, Greece!!he Holy Grail of BASE jumps....

I would actually fully side with Jason Bell on this. The NRGB should be on it's own piece of art and they should ease up on the hillbilly/draconian restrictions they place on BASE jumping.

As a further measure Jason, make a statement and cancel Bridge Day BASE jumping one year and watch their fancy celebration take a rad nose dive, then re-negotiate for less restrictions. Bridge Day 2013 featuring NO BASE JUMPERS BECAUSE YOU HILLPEOPLE CAN'T PULL YOURSELF INTO THE 20TH CENTURY AND LET US JUMP FOR A FEW MORE HOURS...

+1 couldn't agree more

I understood what you wrote. I'm just thinking that it would be odd to see a sculpture of anything other than the NRGB in Fayetteville if you were trying to "give a little love" to our sport. For example, I would never expect to go to Twin Falls and see a sculpture of the NRGB.

I think some of you misunderstood my post. I found irony in the fact that someone in Fayetteville wanted to make a sculpture to represent BASE jumping when, in fact, we are not treated 1/100th as good as they treat us in Twin Falls and hundreds of other locations around the world. Or, perhaps, I am shocked that someone actually wants to do something nice for us in Fayetteville since there have been past (broken) promises from organizations to show appreciation for BASE jumpers.

Trust me, I love jumping at Bridge Day and have done so every year for nearly 20 years. It's a GREAT spot for BASE and the area is beautiful. If I were rich, I'd even move to Fayetteville. But it could be so much better if the six hour window was opened more.

Good luck.

No one ever said he was a problem. Heck, he's got 95 posts on this forum!

Great idea Hank!
I'd sacrifice one BD to make that statement. I wonder how many others would?

I agree with Jason for the purpose of a local sculpture including BASE, The Bridge is the obvious choice. From a historical standpoint only El Cap, the Trollwall, and Angel Falls, hold so much esteem, the Troll wall and the Eiger were the "Holy Grail" to me, but the Trollwall has so much history. With due respect there is more to BASE than Slider down, and Moab, the Perrine, and Greece are all "Johnny come lately's", anyway. The exit at "Bruraskara", on the Troll is classic BASE history. Still the obvious choice should be the NRG bridge. When will the NPS get the message that they are denying the citizens of the USA the basic freedoms that other more civilised and aware countries enjoy. Perhaps the choice might be a site from a country that gives it's citizen's credit for adult choices, in that case, Exit #5 at Kjerag, it's legal 365 days a year and has a distinctive profile. I'm curious as to what the majority of Jumpers consider their "Dream Objects"? Regards,B.

El Capitan would in fact be the "Everest" of BASE jumping, as probably more people aspire to jump it than anything else, and because it was the birthplace of modern BASE via Carl Boenish and his iconic film.

And because NPS has a legal fence around it (imagine if the Nepalese fenced off Everest because "it's too dangerous climb"), it would be a pretty nice little in-your-face to have El Capitan on the Fayetteville sculpture.

However, if you substitute the word "Everest" with "icon," then incorporating the NRGB itself into it entirely appropriate because of its history and its Everest-like fame with non-jumpers.

On that score NRGB is like Everest because everyone knows of Everest whether they climb or not, and just about everyone knows NRGB whether they jump or not.

So my vote would be for El Capitan or the NRGB.

44

Fixed it for ya Robin.

Bungonia

LOL

The problem with your "fix" is two-fold:

1) I said "probably" so your addition of "(from the USA)" renders the statement inaccurate because there is no "probably" when it's applied only to American jumpers; and

2) given that there are more BASE jumpers "from the USA" than the rest of the world combined, your "fix" is redundant and in violation of Math 101.

More to the point of this thread: In your mind, what individual wall anywhere in the world do more jumpers (from anywhere in the world) aspire to jump than El Capitan?

44

This is a very strange thread. There is a no site naming rule and you are asking us to list what sites are the Mecca of base? Werid

Wow! good point, I feel completely foolish mentioning places such as the NRGB, the Perrine, Kjerag, and Moab on a BASE jumping forum, I have never visited any of these places with the intention of making a BASE jump, but they are all very fine tourist destinations. I agree with you, most Werid?

No you said this:


Says who?

The historical value of BASE sites is not limited by nationalism. Jumpers can appreciate the history of certain sites (EC and TV come immediately to mind) without regard to nationality.

Besides Lonnie, aren't you from the USA? I thought Canada was one of the states?

English is not your first language, n'est-ce pas? The "would" refers to the mountain; the "probably" refers to the people who consider it to be the "Everest" of BASE sites -- and it was the latter clause you improperly doctored, not the first.

As for your "says who?", well.... d'oh: I say it, based on:

a) the simple demographics that there are more parachutists and parachuting operations in the US than the rest of the world combined; and

b) my admittedly imperfect knowledge of the addresses to which most BASE gear is shipped. Call up any manufacturer and ask them what percentage of their gear is sent to US addresses v. the rest of the world.

Like I said, Math 101.

More to the point of this thread, I ask you again: If not El Capitan, then what wall in your mind is the "Everest" of BASE jumping?

44

I'd guess that Adrenalin sells the vast majority of their gear outside the USA.

Increasingly, I am seeing Americans (in which we can include Canadians, as Canada is the 51st state ) and most non-Europeans jumping US-manufactured gear and Europeans and Australians jumping European (French/Slovenian) gear. A lot of this has to do with marketing and personal connections, so I imagine it will continue to change as time goes on.


About half of my students come from outside the USA.

Given that I am in the USA, it's far easier for American students to travel here to learn.

From these admittedly imperfect facts, I deduce that the majority of people starting BASE today are from outside the USA.

D'oh!!! Probably does refer to the people in the usa. However not the rest of the world. So I stand by my statement that probably for most people in the usa El Cap would be the Everest, but probably not for the rest of the world


Yeah imperfect is bang on there!! I was the biggest dealer for CR for awhile but had all my stuff shipped to a usa address to avoid duties so where the gear is shipped means nothing. As Tom said I bet if I called up the European manufacturers the percentage of customers from the usa would be small

As for my Everest, any of these first, Troll Wall, The Mushroom exit @Eiger, Baffin Island, Trango Tower, Angel Falls, then El Cap.

I suppose you could do a poll to find out for sure, but you'd have to do it on all of the BASE forums around the world, not just this one, to get a true representation of what would be the Everest for the world

Meh. The majority of BASE jumpers I've met aren't on any internet forums, or visit them so rarely they'd miss a poll anyway.


I really don't think that there is another jump that has the same historical value as EC or TV, or even really comes close.

Everest isn't just "Everest" because of it's height. It's a combination of factors, including it's place in the sport, history and accessibility. On those combination of factors it's tough to beat the birthplace of modern BASE.

I believe that the only place that comes close is TV, which might be viewed as the place where the first "era" of modern BASE jumping ended.

Agreed!
Which is why TV is on the top of my list.

Moab, UT. You don't have enough fingers and toes to count the exit points with lots of cliffs which are usually high enough to give you an enjoyable freefall with a decent opening altitude but low enough it's still exciting. Some make for a long canopy ride. Most are nice short hikes. Almost everything is slider down.

Of course BASE jumping isn't one big homogeneous thing. It's like alpine sports. Maybe you're a stone soul surfer into hiking into the back country smoking snow bongs at the top. Maybe you like to carve groomed corduroy. Maybe you want nice destination resorts with slope side hot tubs and single members of the appropriate sex you might entice into them.

Everest is a bad metaphor. It's one big mountain with good name recognition among whuffos although the guys I've known who were into that sort of thing made a bigger deal out of finishing the Seven Summits.

People also complain that throwing $xx,xxx at the problem gets unskilled people up and down the mountain.

My 2 cents:

"Everest" is just mentioned because it is the highest mountain. It is not the most difficult to climb according to climbers. So, obviously, we don't talk about height, but about emblematic value.

If we talked about height, it would be Mount Meru. (baseclimb III, 6604 AMSL exit point)

Emblematic value.... the question itself is not clear. 'What is the Mt Everest' (embleme) versus 'what's THE place in the world where people go to jump?'

For old farts like me, and one of the reasons I started base, the movie about El Capitan by Carl makes it very clear: "El Capitan"!

THE place in the world where people go to jump, I have read them in this thread.

Ronald

Tom,

It also has to do with the high costs of shipping small batch, high value goods internationally.

I vote to plant a couple of trees on the site, forget about any statues, and spend the money educating young hilbillies.