Basejumper.com - archive

Just curious of other people's experiences. Fun stories welcome

They would probably wonder who the possibly dangerous looking weird strangers are on their property after dark, in the woods, all wearing black, covered in body armor, prepared for WW 3, with large black bags on their backs, covered in sweat, deet, and stinking of adrenaline, as well as the surprised looks, and all with paranoid bad attitudes and eyeballs . If I owned a tower, I would surround it with a moat full of mines, but that's just me. Anyway, the key to this is to act like the biggest diplomat in the world - like you are working our a Middle Eastern peace agreement with the best intentions - explain and say your are sorry.

I was going to try that, but instead got in the car and floored it as he rammed the back of our car. It was full on combat driving and then the gun confirmed it.

Yes, this red neck popped off maybe 5 shots as the whole car ducked for cover and drove like our lives depended on it. We cant open the trunk anymore due to the damage.

good poll
bit late but would be good to know which countries these happened in
obviously the gun ones are the US

Two of our regular objects involve land owners who have absolutely fallen in love with us.

On one of those objects, the owner was watching as one jumper flew straight into the top of a 60-foot tree, collapsed his canopy, and fell through the branches to the ground. As the jumper and broken tree limbs tumbled into a pile, the owner made a comment about how he had planned to 'cut some firewood out of that tree anyway'. And we continue to jump that antenna regularly.

Incident report: We ran toward the tumbling jumper fully expecting to render a bunch of first-aid. But when we got to him, he looked up at us through the pile of branches on top of him and said, "I didn't scream like a little girl, did I?"

Hey, he was just standing his ground under the 'Stand your ground law,' but I suppose you may have interfered with his meth lab operation.

Truck with two farmers pulls up right after I jumped a fence covered in no trespassing signs. All flat fields, no where to hide, so I decided to play it cool. They asked what the hell I was doing on their land. I told them I had a paraglider in my suspicious black bag and was looking for an open field to launch it. "I didn't realize I was on private property sir". They had no idea what I was talking about, so just told me to find somewhere else for my activity. I walked back to my car and drove as fast as I could. They followed me all the way to the highway.

WANDA = Zach and I are on top day blazing
waiting for a pick-up truck of workers to leave.
They pull up, get out, and stare at us.

Zach asks what to do, I say, well if she is burnt
I at least want my last jump so let do it, we both
get off, he lands in the field, I land next to them
and start talking.

The Eddie Haskell routine got us a chill day blazer
for over 3 years where numerous people did their
first Antenna and a few even lost their virginity.


BLANCHE = had been sneaking over there
occasionally either solo or with Avenfoto but then I
took the "Cop Magnet" with me and a grumpy fat
neighbor with Harley stickers but no bike told us
he checked with his cop friend and BASE is illegal.
Now I have to park half a mile away and walk in
at 4 AM dressed in black to huck this gem.


Mary ANN = worthless 200 foot freestander,
Jeff and I climb down from a head wind, big ole
fat country guy in over-alls asks us if he can help
us, I blather about doing a required annual OSHA
inspection, everything is good, and then we hop
into my buddy's handi-van and leave, the whole
time neither of us ever stopped walking ;-)

I am always polite and try to smooth things out
but truth is unless you have a gun or a smile I
am not going to stick around to chit chat

I wanna see the video of that one lol

a buddy hooked me up when i moved out to the east coast, theres a decommed tower with 2 neighbors right next to it. he told me that they knew that jumpers came out and that they seemed to be ok and to drop his name.

i went out for my first jump off this thing, solo, and as i was walking around the neighbor pulled up. i told him exactly what i was doing and that i would leave if i was being a nuisance. he replied "nah man, do your thang, hang on a minute"
came out with a case full of beers and we drank one. everytime i went out there after that him and his brother who owned the property would feed me booze and we would chitchat. super cool people. awesome fuckin 280' freestander

Is this the one we had my birthday cake together on top?

I think a distinction needs to be made.
The 'Landowners' that you are speaking of are the owners of property around the towers and not the actual owners of the towers.
These landowners usually don't have the authority to allow access to the towers but they do have the an interest in the surrounding area and can alert the police or the tower companies of the activity. It's a bit of a crapshoot... will you get someone who is laid back or someone who is ultra protective of 'their' area? I've met both.
Are most parcels of land leased or sold by the landowners? I was under the impression that the parcel was surveyed off and sold for the longlines towers and the newer cell towers are mainly leased parcels.

Sounds like a nice place!

I think jumpers need to do more of this if they find cool neighbors.
Hang out with them, be friendly, don't rush in and out. It will make them feel more at ease with the activity and not feel like you are just using them for the tower. Many times you might find that they like to do crazy shit too! Heck one time we did some jumps while one of the neighbors flew his plane around the tower!