Basejumper.com - archive

 A huge thanks to Jason B. and Stephan M. for organizing one of the more awesome BASE trips I've been on in a long time. It was an honor to hang with so many fun people.... and I look forward to seeing everyone somewhere epic soon!!!!

A few more pics....

bu4cuo4.

we sure had fun

fuckers!!!!!

Although a jumper's normal mindset is to keep cool BASE trips like this a secret, I planned on posting something about this trip soon. Looks like Jay beat me to it, so here's my take on the trip:

Our little sport isn't so little anymore and there are many BASE events happening around the world. Heck, after next week, there will have been three major BASE events in China since July. How many of you even heard about the July 2012 BASE event in China held at a 1214' tall bridge? Or the event that Jay and I attended a few weeks ago from an 1150' tall bridge? Here are some details our our trip:

The Aizhai bridge is in the middle of China and is around 1150' tall. Geoff Ollis was the original BASE organizer and I took over after the event was postponed last year. I combined Geoff's original invite list along with some of my own selections and 37 of the world's best jumpers spent a week traveling around the Hunan Province. I personally spent hundreds of hours and thousands of emails over the last year communicating with the Chinese organizers and selecting jumpers. Eric Sakowski, a bridge enthusiast, also helped with logistics. Stephen Mueller, who has organized other China BASE events, served as the technical advisor. Our trip was completely free and we stayed in the best hotels. I am told they want to make this an annual event, so hopefully other jumpers can enjoy this trip in the future. Although I had the opportunity to charge jumpers a registration fee, I did not do so. I hope to be involved with future events in China as well and we had some discussions about other bridge events during the trip.

We only made one jump due to some wire-walking support wires that were in our way for more than a day of our two day jumping window. But the jump was awesome and the LZ was plentiful. A large crowd watched us under the bridge and the entire event was broadcast live in CCTV for an hour to more than 500 million households. We also visited Tianmen Mountain (where Jeb flew through the hole), parts of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (the inspiration for the hanging rocks in the movie Avatar), Yellow Dragon Cave, and other scenic spots. Just imagine 37 BASE jumpers on a bus for HOURS in the middle of China. Most of us had a blast and it's a trip that I'll not forget. Many of us were able to see some sights near Beijing such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

I'll try to post some photos when I get some time. Many thanks to everyone that I met on the trip. I was able to make some new friends and strengthen old friendships, which means a lot to me.

PS. It's not always the destination, but the journey.

Thanks mate
Was a blast to finally meet you all

Everyone I would say thanks you for your hard work

Getting this thing to come together

See ya at bridge day in the future

Nice work man. China looks like an amazing place!!

It's got its ups and downs.

Chinese chicks like muscular bald men. Just like in prison.

What do they call Asian Pears in China?

Delicious. Especially when hiking out of a gorge after a 1200' jump!

Are you serious about this question?

Of course. Pears are serious business.

+100500 to all the respect for organizers crew and Chinese side. Ups and downs, though heaps of fun and amazingly beautiful country to explore - probably N1 basetraveling destination for the next few years.