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Hello, I am new here so i will introduce myself. Im Mark, im 13, and i am a extreme sports enthusiast, i do luge, skiboarding, dirt biking, etc.

Would i be able to start skydiving/base jumping?
Is it expensive?
Is there anywhere i can do it around my area?

Thanks,

Mark

I believe that most dropzones are required by law to take students no younger than 16, but i could be wrong outside of the US.

On a side note, Luge is crazy! Skeleton looks nuts too. Definitely want to try that someday. Good luck.

Where do you live?

It's very difficult to start jumping as a minor, because most DZ's won't teach you.

Calgary

Mark,

It's definitely best to begin skydiving before thinking about BASE. And in Canada, skydiving is coordinated by the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association. If you dig around on their website, they have some good information on getting started.

Even if you can't jump until you reach 18, you can certainly begin learning any time you like. Pick a day with nice weather, go hang out at a local skydiving club, and ask a few questions.

Good luck, and have fun!

~ Chris

Hey Mark,
I wish I could welcome you to our sport, but you're too young unfortunately. If you want to make a head start, get into ski jumping! We all wish we could have flown our bodies from your age, but getting older unfortunately kind of seems to cut us off from those opportunities. In ski jumping you get great self-control training, strength, grow balls in a safe environment and you actually have to think like you're flying. Because you are.
Do any flying sports you can. Ski jump, park jibbing, downhill biking, parkour... Then when you're 16, get your B license and get current skydiving. Paragliding is also a great skill to have, if you can afford it. At 18 you can get involved in the army skydiving if you're good and current, which will be relatively safe in canada and will get you loads of free jumping. You'll be base jumping before you know it, and you'll have so much more skill than if you try it now. Take your time, and make sure to have fun. Things can get super ugly really fast in this sport and you're 100% responsible for your own decisions, so be prepared!

Thanks very much. I would like to try Ski Jumping, but im almost on the junior national luge team. And in videos they jump form antenna towers, is that even legal?

if you're almost on the junior national luge team, it should be even easier for you to try out and practise ski jumping ;)

Antenna jumping, dunno. Maybe in Russia nobody cares if you jump from antennas. In Norway you can jump cliffs legally, that's what I'm doing so far.

So .. just give it time. If you still wanna do it when you're 25 and have 1000 skydives and no children and feel like there's nothing in the world that could prepare you any more for it.. go for it.

I notice some people say don't base jump when this is a base jumping forum?

And I was looking at paratroopers, and I guess If you do search and rescue up here, you can just apply for skydiving.

And also I would rather die from falling of a cliff, then die sitting on a couch eating chips...

BASE jumping is stupid and if you do it you'll probably spend time in a hospital getting put back together (although sometimes it takes several surgeries to do the job - it took three for me) as well as the doctors can manage.

Some people are defective and do it anyways ( As much as I like my jumps and BASE jumping friends I have to make that honest admission ).

http://www.basejumper.com/...rum.cgi?post=2931365

Here's the most recent injury (broken pelvis) from the incidents forum. He didn't do anything seriously wrong

http://vimeo.com/50904395

Skydiving isn't as bad although I know or knew enough dead people that I'm not going to recommend it to anyone. If it's a sport for you, you can afford it, and don't have other obligations that's your choice to make when you're old enough. If you do plenty of us will help you out so you're less likely to break yourself and the rest of us.

Likewise when you're an adult you can choose to BASE jump. Hopefully you'll have enough skydiving experience (while the two sports are very different there are parallels) at that time that if you do you'll have some understanding of what you're getting into although that still doesn't make it a good idea. If you still insist and are somewhat close to ready (I think that's much more likely at 500 skydives than the 200 many people accept), plenty of us will help you out so you're less likely to break yourself and draw attention to sites that would make it harder for the rest of us.


Although death might be OK you're more likely to shatter bones and stick around. Broken bones aren't fun, nerve damage is worse, and paralysis would be really bad.

Go play in a wind tunnel where age isn't a factor, start skydiving when you are 16 for parachute experience.

I assume you're not working so maybe ask your parents what they think of you base jumping and then let us know how that went.

This is your first thread in these forums and maybe 4th post and you are already speaking about death. You also mentioned you are an extreme sports enthusiast, do you also wear nothing but black?

If you want to die from falling off a cliff you really do not need any parachuting experience to achieve this. But if you want to survive this (multiple times), you need to wait until you are old enough to start skydiving, get a lot of skydiving experience and maybe one day start base jumping.

I would learn before, i have common sense. I would rather die doing something fun. And green is my favorite colour.

Ive done it and it so fun. I would like to start that, then move to skydiving, then base jumping.

Less talk about death, more talk about that guy who jumped with his 9(?) year old son back in the daze.

wtf? you cant be serious. 9 yrs old?

I probably remember things wrong, but I thought it was in an old BASE magazine (baseline?) on here, probably posted by Nick or Walt. Kid got PCA'd.

That was Casey Hoover getting direct bagged by his grandmother at the age of 12. Nicks got the story.

Close enough :-)

I've witnessed a scared-to-death 14 yr old getting PCA'd. And then I helped pick the canopy out of a tall thorn bush for 30 minutes after. I wouldn't be surprised it it was "perforated" after.

I've told a couple kids at the Perrine that I had a parachute made for kids if their mom would let them try. Haven't had a mom that was too happy about it yet... But it sure is funny to see the mom's reaction.


Kid, you sound like me at your age. My suggestion: Save all your freakin money. Don't waste it on stupid stuff. Save it for skydiving, BASE, a car, rent so you can move out at 18, college, and a few toys along the way. You don't want to be the guy at 17 with a $2000 car stereo unless you are rich. Too much cool stuff to do to waste $ on things that don't matter.

-my $.02

my first bungee jump was at 14 but BASE?.... a little gnarly for a wet-behind-the-ears kid!

I have put up copies here:

http://www.basejumper.org/...70-baseline-magazine

As well as other historical publications, articles, etc...

http://www.basejumper.org/forum/ab-initio

»That's awesome Mac! Thanks for preserving those!

I second that. The reason the legal age in the US is 18 is due to the legality of the waiver you must sign. Until you're of legal age you can't sign it which means the DZ holds full accountability. This being said, any DZ will more than welcome you with open arms. You will be able to get first hand knowledge and experience playing with parachutes and watching what to do and NOT to do when landing and packing. (packing and landing are 2 very important aspects. The ground as well as objects hurt when you meet them at an increased speed!! Note: not all parachutes are packed the same but this will be a good introduction to the nylon and string that saves our lives.) This will also give you the opportunity to get to know your local jumpers. Shoot, by the end of it you may even land a part-time job out there while you finish school. Never-the-less, don't be shy. just get out there and say hi!! =)

Best of Luck!!! =)

P.S. we will never recommend anyone ever trying this silly sport because we understand the severity of it.

Are you being funded by your parents, or hard work? I only ask because I wholeheartedly believe BASE requires sacrifice. If you have not experienced sacrifice. Live life.

I read that to say that only poor people can base jump. Is that correct? Rich people are not invited to your club? Do you mean money or other sacrafice? I once knew a guy that lost his toe nail due to a bad landing. Is that sacraficing enough? Does it have to be blood or money or both? What have you sacraficed. I sacraficed an hour of pay last week due to base jumping. I was late for work because I had to wait for the wind to die down. Oh...how I've suffered.

If you were a candy bar, what would you be?

I started saving change in a big water carboy when I was 14 because I knew I wanted to start skydiving the day I turned 18. Low and behold, in those four years - not only did I manage to make it through highschool - but that water jug was 1/2 full with change I found - more than enough to learn to skydive and get a nice rig when I turned 18...and a trip to Europe wan't hard with the money I saved mowing lawns, shoveling snow, fetching wrenches or working at Taco Smell. Working hard to get what you want is part of life for most people, try to enjoy the process.

One of my most memorable jumps was one that took me almost three years to plan before I could finally do it. The location was well guarded and difficult to access for many reasons, not to mention pretty dangerous if we made any mistakes! The patience and perseverance I had learned in other disciplines (like science and my career) are why I was able to do that jump without any injuries or legal fees - school is a pretty good place to learn patience - it's tough for me to sit still that long and I somehow I have a doctorate! The same skills have led me to be able to evaluate and safely perform BASE jumps.

Hang out at the DZ if you can - become a packer or a tandem toggle catcher in high winds. I didn't live near a DZ so I just focused on other things back then like rock climbing and school.

BASE is sort of the ultimate in personal responsibility and with such consequences it's nice to be able to know your limits before you get into it - skydiving is a much safer place to learn about your reflexes, emotions, skills etc... plus it's fun. It is expensive, but so is everything that is cool. Save your money and find ways to make lots of money, I bought my first BASE rig selling my plasma (178 liters of blood!).

Drew is a computer geek and can't climb rocks very well - but he's right about BASE jumping being dangerous. If you want to have fun for one jump - it's easy, but if you want to have a long life of fun, you'll want to get pretty good at landing parachutes before you huck a cliff!

 Well said...... oh Dr. of four legged beasts!!!! Hope you are doing well.

Good seeing you in Moab primo!!! And yeah well said Dr. Sneaky!

I'd be a nut log.

nutrageous!

Hershey's milk chocolate

13 year old Mark, extreme sports enthusiast asks
..." Is it expensive ?"
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