Basejumper.com - archive

Does anyone know if Jeb's flying dagger jump http://www.outsideonline.com/...e-Flying-Dagger.html has happened yet?

If not, good luck!
If yes, I hope Jeb's ok and someone post some video, please...

http://news.sky.com/...n-flying-dagger-jump

i thought he was going to fly a lot lower than that. anyone that is in the base races could have done that and not hit the fence.

Are we really going to criticize him for not scaring the fuck out of us? Or dieing in front of a few thousand people.

Personally I thought it was pretty cool. I just think the place looks pretty with some interesting possibilities for climbing and jumping.

Lee

I have two of the competitors from the base race with me and you should ask them what they think :) I do not think they will agree with you :) I covered 3 football fields in 5 second and for over half that distance the walls were about 25ft wide. It also was not vertical and I had to side slip as I flew it. It also had turbulence inside from channeling wind. There was only one landing area with zero outs that was covered in obstacles. I had only a 15 second canopy ride and just made it to the very beginning of the landing zone. Instead of trying to think of all the other pilots out there who you think could do this why don't you ask your self if you think you could :)

I can say that I would not do it even if I could. Happy your alive bru.... looked cool

I hope this was a deliberate troll, not a serious comment because only an effing whuffo would seriously say such an ignorant and utterly ungracious thing.

Thanks for reminding me though that www stands for whining web weasel.


44

i am curious what the two other WWL competitors have to say about your jump. from what i have seen in the video. jeb made a extremely dangerous jump look easy.

@dqpacker: Thank you for the link to the video.

Your comment, on the other hand, is a little surprising. Obviously, you are not a competitor in the base race. Otherwise, 1) according to your comment, you would have either done the jump yourself BEFORE someone else had the balls to prove it is doable; or 2) you would have written that YOU were able to do it. As neither is the case, I would be interested to understand on which facts you base the comment that anyone could have done it.

As a general comment: even IF you were right and other people had the technical skills to pull the jump off, why can you not simply congratulate a fellow jumper (assuming that YOU also jump, and not just troll on forums) for accomplishing something spectacular? This is not only about a jump, but also about the idea and the whole organization. And if you don't want to congratulate, just post the link and leave it at that. No need to put someone's efforts down who has not done anything to you.

Blue skies,
Flummi

Great job! But what really blew my mind is that software Jeb was using for practicing, so so cool :) Skip to 5:20 in the video to see it :)
http://www.youtube.com/...1le7oIpJqwuR7qY_AzfU

As an American living in Germany close to 20years, I fergit things as any 20 year old would do. There is something that comes to mind about an armchair and an American football position that comes to mind with some hideous band name... Armchair Nickelback., or was it Quarterback? Anywayz, I want my 20cents. . put up or...?
Take care,
space

That was cool.

I too thought he was going to fly lower, keep in mind, I, as I'm sure most people really had no idea what he was going to do to begin with anyway. When I saw the video from the ground looking up it was hard to tell how high/low he was. THEN, when I saw the video from Jebs camera, I thought "holy shit!" That was low enough! Great job Jeb! Glad your ok! When I saw the view from his belly/chest at first I thought he was going for the bigger "crack" on the right and when he went in the small crack on the left, I thought to myself "Wow! That was... In a word... "Speechless"

Again, congratulations!

Theres always people doing stuff and always people saying stuff even after they do it...

Its the internet trolls running about...

Congrats to him and pulling off the stunt....



be happy for him....


bj.com trolls always hating....

They see me trollin'. They hatin'...

That's sick! I want some of those

I was disappointed, I thought you were going to track it.

Hey Jeb, how fast were you going?

about 55m/s, or 196km/hr, or 123mph, or.....

.....the new dramatised unit of velocity...

.....3 football fields every 5 seconds!!!!111!1

...jokes aside, mad stunt! Nice Juan!

*Edited to satisfy Imperial nitpickers

American football or European?

Football field = 100 yards
100 yards = 300ft
3 * 300 = 900ft
900 ft / 5 seconds = 140ft/s
Roughly 95.45 mph

You're absolutely right; you see, I'm from Australia, and in Australia we use this thing called the metric system, where measurements make sense. My errors were merely lost in the conversion, and not knowing the actual length of a 'football' field.

Alas, none of that matters, what matters is that it was 3 football fields every 5 seconds!

given how humble jeb usually is.. that's a totally legit statement!

http://www.youtube.com/...KNibV0L4&t=5m10s

2.5sec inside so 3 football fields sounds a bit.. err.. fishy

Like many people, I was hoping he'd go lower after seeing pictures and such... but in the end, after seeing the LZ options and little room for error that was given on this jump, I'd say that he had to fly it that high. I'm sure he'd have flown it through closer walls and a tighter gap if he could have, but that's how high he had to fly it to make it work. All in all, good jump.

At first I saw the HUD data, and thought...ehhh seen that before, then I saw the rest pop up...ya definitely really cool!

It was freakin awesome! I don't care what any d-bag says.
Sure you can push things harder and passed your limits, but that's kinda how we've lost so many fucking people this summer to proxy flying.

There is a reason Jeb is still alive today. He knows his limits, and he flies "safely" within them.

Maybe not always :-)
But respect for doing this stunt safely and geared towards the media and big crowed audience and represent the sport in a good way.

By the way 900 / 5 = 180 ft/s
so
122.73 mph

Exactly as the President said it. There really is nothing that impressive in the flight it self, if one would spend one season in any of the central european countries with good density of big walls, one would see A LOT of equally performed flights from the local and visiting jumpers.

Then again what is nothing short of impressive is Jeb´s (and his crews) ability to sell and portray a reasonably mediocre feat as something "out of this world" -scale of thing to the big masses. So I would say well sold, well marketed and safely pulled off. Not too bad for a days work.

Well put Markus - Walter and myself could have probably done that jump :o)
But Jeb is one of the few who has seen the trend, that due to youtube, viomeo etc.......noone gets excited about base wingsuit jumps anymore and one has to move to a country with limited internet and TV to get this much coverage. Probably not an easy thing to pull of in a country like China.
In a few years it will probably be really hard to get this much coverage even in China - and people have to move on to other countries.
On that note: I saw pictures of a guy in a black affliction hoodie behind Denis Rodman in North Korea and rumors have it that a wingsuit with a portray of Kim Jong-Un has been spotted at a dropzone......
Great job Jeb - you are the second best basejumping businessman after Felix

I was one of the demo jumpers who helped out on this project along with my wife Kristina, Jhonny, Barry, Roberta and Jeff.

The outside video makes the line look straight forward, I don't know whether its the lens or the back lighting but watch Jebs POV and belly footage and you'll see this was a spectacular committed line, well executed - and to the enjoyment of millions worldwide.

Going any deeper / closer would have meant more risk (on live TV) and also missing the only landing area.

Good PR for wingsuit flying in my book, especially on the back of this terrible season.

Congratulations to Jeb, Frank and Iiro for putting the project together, a mammoth task in itself.

Mediocre feat :) That's a lovely back handed compliment :)

I would love to see these amazing flights you are speaking of where a wing-suit pilot engages terrain that's about 8m wide (for the majority of the flight) and where the proximity begins at an altitude of 875ft/266m. Then has to fly in this terrain for 900ft/274m horizontal distance with no way out while side slipping and loosing altitude the whole time. Then has to exit the terrain and deploy at around 300ft/91m over heavy steep narrow jungle just as they exit the terrain because their only possible landing zone is actually behind them and covered in concrete benches and concrete railing. Even without the crack flight the deployment requirements and landing zone made this jump super technical.

Don't forget I have been jumping 16 years and use to roll with Australians and Russians :) I know what a hard core landing zone is and in this one everything had to go perfect or you would get destroyed.

You're right though, you guys are doing this all the time in Europe :) You just don't show the footage to anyone because you are just ninja super hard core samurai doing this for nothing but your own pleasure so you don't even own a camera in the first place ;)

You work an awesome IT job that you love more then life it's self and wake up every morning with a smile skipping to your job with glee in your heart and soul :) Actually you love your job so much when you are base jumping all you can think about is getting back to your desk so you can touch the key pad just one more time before you die :) I of corse am just assuming this because you talk about earning a living base jumping like it's the single most horrible thing a human being can do next to killing a small country of people.

Sorry I have been earning my living with base jumping for 15 years and have probably twice the objects and jumps you do :) But if you can earn a living doing what you love then why shouldn't I be able to :) I love base jumping and have focused my entire life on nothing else since I was 16 years old. All the money I have earned, all my resources, all my time has gone into training base. I have lived, breathed and bled this sport.

With all the lovely press wing-suiting has been getting over the summer I think you should be happy that the news is covering a story that doesn't revolve around someone bouncing for a change.

Forgive me if I'm wrong Jeb, this may well be rumour, but am I right in saying you came from a rather wealthy and supportive background? Perhaps one that tends to make pursuing a 'career' in BASE a lot simpler than say for someone in a less opportune situation?

In other words, I'm sure there may in fact be many out there, who would, if they could, not hold a shit job, paying rent etc. getting through parachuting at a much faster rate than they can/could afford, leading to them becoming the next most super-rad Jeblix Corllsgautner.

Not to detract from your efforts and commitment over the years, not everyone is capable of the limelight you have 'endured', but maybe bragging about your career isn't the right way to go about this.

You are not alone, there are many greats in this sport.

I'm not so sure about that...
I would even say that It is very possible that Markus opend more objects than you have jumped off. But you will have a hard time finding vids of his jumps, he only shares them with his friends and not the media...
Like I said, I respect you for this jump but I respect Markus even more for his way of jumping...

My wealthy family just got me free room and board :) I had to work shit jobs to pay for my jumping. I worked as a projectionist in a movie theater to pay for my A license and it took me 3 years to get it. I had to save, do a jump, save do another jump. Don't assume you know me from watching documentaries made by producers trying to tell a story they wanted to sell to the masses...

He has how many jumps he's done in his profile and how many objects :) So you are not even close to being accurate :) It just shows how very little you know about me :) Trust me, I have double his experience :) Unless what he has posted as his object numbers is incorrect :) Which it could be. Super ninja samurais some times give out misinformation to their enemies :)

No assumptions were made, I made that clear in the first sentence.

...and fair enough, regarding your early progression, mind you, free room and board is a rather comfortable position in some countries, but the work/save scenario is what I was describing. Kudos to you then Jeblix!

All joking aside he has more objects then I do but not a lot more and I have more time and way more jumps :)

sucks for all 3 of you, my cock is bigger than yours.

ive fucked more slutty women than all of you!!!!!!

Hey jeb,

All i can say is that I'm honored that you as an international superstar took the time to enter this pissing contest with a worm of the earth like me... I bet your ehm... bridle is longer than mine as well. :) i never said it is a bad thing to make living out of base. You are right, i never wanted it and based on your msg it seems that for you it's all you wanted. Good for you that you got what you wanted. And when i wrote that i respect the fact that you can sell reasonably mediocre flights to big time audiences protraying you as the superhuman far above anyone else, I really meant it. I really do respect the marketing and business abilities of you and your crew as you guys actually have shown how it's done if you want to make big bucks out of base. And also you are right, pulling big media stuff like that in safe manner is good thing and i respect all that as well. As was written in my first post anyway. So flame on, tell me how superior to everyone else you are. I still think that you are an experienced base jumper, averagely skilled ws pilot with superior sales and marketing team. And if that makes your dream come true, there really is nothing wrong with that. :)

With a comment like that I wonder if you are able to exit the sport, whether you want to or not. Would you be able to survive without base?

I like to have outs, whether it's in base or in my personal life. Perhaps you have fuelled this lifestyle to the point where it has become your identity and you are not able to break away from it. this has been a fear for myself for a while now, but I have made adjustments to my life and I am now able to live with or without base if I chose to .

Honest question though, what will you do when you are not physically or mentally able to base jump any more?

P.s. this is not meant as an attack on your life choices I'm just curious what else lies out there for me.

Hey Jeb,

One more thing as we are on this pissing contest. If you actually have double the experience, double the jumps and whatever times the objects I do or whatever your claim was, why edit this part out from your post? As a pro i would think you would stand behind your claims and only write facts...

Lot's of love. :)

I edited it because I forgot an s to make one of the words plural :) My spelling and grammar are horrible :)

Then can you please take this back to DZ.com where skydiving belongs.

I too thought this was a Fixed Object Forum?

Cool jump but not a FO jump.

This was perfect!

since we're all jumping on the whiny-wagon and spewing our opinions...

the only thing more atrociously boring to me then solo wingsuit jumping from aircraft, is watching footage of someone else doing it.

but well done, i guess. i don't know though, i didn't watch it. also, Jeb, you use way too many smiley faces.

wow you are a giant douche bag. if only that balloon was another 6 inches lower we wouldn't have to listen to your stuntman speech.
and seriously your jumps pre wingsuits, all the low shit and jumps with flips and twist and shit were way more impressive.

who's the douche bag? aside from the jumping an proximity flying jeb has the ability to tell a story of base through his own work and documentary filmmakers around him. somthing that is missing in all the youtube film makers of today the stories of a jump are what captivate audiences. Audiences are what attract media and sponsorships. there are a great number of skydivers base jumpers and wingsuit pilots doing amazing jumps but the film or video ends there with only half the story told. jeb has taken the leap and puts himself out in front of the media for people to see who he is on tv and giving them a sense of who he is as a person and people can make judgements on good or bad. mabey if you did this you too could have people wishing you were dead

How about you confiscate his gear.... OR just take a bunch of psychedelics, hold on to the tree, and just get along

Markus and Mikki,

I've never met either of you, but I have great respect for what you've done as jumpers and as leaders in the base community. Your work in Suisse to gain and maintain access is a model upon which others should base their own access efforts.

But I gotta say I am immensely disappointed by your conduct on this thread. More than that, I'm astonished that you would denigrate and sneer at Jeb's accomplishment, and try to hide that denigration and sneering behind back-handed compliments.

Seriously, it's one thing for real worms of the earth to talk the kind of smack you've both talked, but you are both men of substantial accomplishments yourself, who have no doubt faced public and private criticism for both your organizational and technical leadership from people who have no clue what you are really about and what it really takes to do the things you do.

Your sarcasm and condescension and utter lack of appreciation (except as a platform from which to sneer and denigrate) is artless, graceless and tediously pedestrian.

Mikki trumpets your custom, Markus, of keeping video of your wingsuiting accomplishments to yourself and a small circle of close friends. Pray tell me why you don't do the same with your opinions about someone else's accomplisments? Really, I'd like to know what spurred you (and Mikki) in this instance to thump your chests and shout "me...ME... ME!! over and over.

And while you're pondering your answer, I suggest you visit the dork zone thread about Jeb's jump and see how real men (and a woman or two) responded to Jeb's accomplishment.


44

welcome to the forum dumbass but this is exactly why he is a douche bag. he has the uncanny ability to tell us how awesome he is. the reason why you dont hear about most base jumpers doing what we do is b/c we do it for ourselves instead of needing the validation of the masses. i have far more respect for those that are creating new technologies to make the sport safer that you never hear about them b/c they are behind the camera every day and allowing there experience and knowledge benefit the sport as a whole. Jeb benefits himself and his sponsors. Jeb has put our sport back more than he has benefited us by he amazing ability to fly a precise line.

His selfishness to fly closer and closer impacted those in south africa as they are having enough problems with their local terminal wall as well as his incident in New York City that he directly caused new laws to go into affect specifying BASE jumping as illegal and that you can be prosecuted.

I dont think you are a base jumper b/c if you were you would be afraid if he came to your city and you wouldn't be excited to see his name in the news.

Jeb, you were way cooler before you swam with man eating sharks.

I could seriously make a better documentary filming myself talking with Espen Fadnes with a beer in my hand after wingsuit race in 2012. Great jumper, super humble and with passion in his eyes. Documentaries about jeb are just cheap, poor fucking ways of getting attention by showing the dark side on base and concentrating on adrenaline-junkie thing and talking in detail how he flew through his best buddies body parts under a bridge in US or how he thought hes gonna die but he didn't die and death this and death that :/ I saw 2 documentaries where he pretty much describes in detail Dwains fatality with almost exactly same words and sounding like a total ass :/ What a way to respect your "best friend" by talking on national television how he flew through his blod and saw his leg laying on the ground after landing, I bet Dwains family loved that. I'm sorry but there could be no worse represantation for this sport than Jeb. I respect his flying, I respect the fact that he is still around but I absolutely hate what he shows to the public.

hope to see it someday i would watch it.

wow this guy really has a knack for becoming the center of attention! Love him, hate him, you gotta give it to him that he has been awesomely marketed...international media!

Considering that you have 6 posts here, 2 defending your hero JEB and rest asking for subtitles for "bridge to nowhere" to understand comments of fellow jumpers after a fatality, maybe you should just log on to some sick site with pictures of dead people instead like rotten.com or something? You seem to be very fascinated by death, if its so fascinating, how about you kill yourself without fucking it up for other people that actually have a life?

spot on! both comments... couldnt say it better than this... next time I see you at the dz beer is on me...

Isn't a bit hypocritical to whine about someone's behaviour online if you're going to throw stuff like,


around yourself?

Did you really just congratulate him on slapping a troll? I'll buy you a beer for making fun of a retarded kid too!

iam sorry, english is not my native language and plenty of things quite often get lost in translation...

both comments -> was supposed to mean both his reply to jeb and that troll...

Robin,

Why are you starting your answer in a polite way saying you respect both guys for what they did, while you have no honest clue about what they did, nor do you really care?

There is no need to be fake polite, it is much more honest and fair to write without adding sweet words..

Why are you degrading yourself to this senseless discussion defending Jeb, and doing so by stating facts that have very little to do with the subject? Why you have such a big problem accepting their opinion about the stunt Jeb did?!

Robin and Jeb, you guys both have a long time in the BASE activity , and I am surprised that both of you feel the need to publicly answer such debate in such a senseless way. Are you really thinking that other active jumpers ( those who really jumping and flying ) will ever have the same response and view to such 'stunt' as wide masses do? the whole "WOW" and "My hero!!" effect?

Are you really sure you can convince them, that that jump was so heavy and terrifying? I hope you know the answer, as if you expected anything different, you guys are being a bit naive.

Funny is that Markus get attacked while he actually congratulates Jeb on his achievement!
The whole point in any stunt is to get the big bucks for as little risk as possible! Damn it if Jeb isn't super good at this.
Check the ''Grinding the crack'' and see the views he got for a flight which is so easy. People with half a season of wingsuit jumping under their belt are doing it. All he came up is few balloons and choreography!

Jeb has 2 x more friends on FB than my whole country has a population!
If he lives for FB friends, than he is there. I agree that virtual life can be fun as well as virtual fame/celebrity status

Jeb does such stunt for a reason. That reason probably is: personal joy ( I hope is still there as it was at the beginning ) fame, money, etc..

The public to which he caters isn't the BASE society, as that society certain has their opinion about him already, and that is fine (and to be expected as well).

This senseless discussion can go on and on, without any final as both sides has some valid points. Arguments on the internet are like the special Olympics. Even if you win, you are still retard. The BASE society can not pay the amounts he is requesting either, so they are here to mainly wait with cola and popcorn and watch !

What do they they want to watch?! A big stunt of course!

As to my opinion.

This particular stunt was nice and demanding (not 'technical' as such term really isn't suitable, every jump is technical as there is more than one variable to care off ). IMHO the hardest part was to optimize the angle at which to fly, to get enough altitude to do a good landing. But that is more a calculation on angle, than it is hard to fly through any part of the crack itself. I admit I would be more worried about landing than flight itself. Jeb landed in his famous style again with frozen smile and I am glad he did it well. Congratulation Jeb.

The main problem is that often the video gives impression that execution was much harder than actually always is (that is why we all like Gopro , and / or Sony AS 10 ;) ) and since most jumpers know that, it is of course going to be hard to convince them of the opposite.

But in the end, it is super childish to compare jobs, as one can enjoy IT more than I can enjoy flying WS flying. And those 'stupid 9/5 jobs'

are also the audience paying for the jump (through buying toxic energy drinks). Why redicule your audience?

It is also childish to think that BASE as the job is so ABOVE those mortals who work 9-5, as different people have different views.

WS is nice, but guys get down to earth and lets just accept the fact that even terrain flying isnt so hard, especially if you compare that with any other complex sport. In terms of training and skills, we rank nowhere up there with 'real' athletes. An athlete page on facebook doesnt mean you are a sports man. Its not more than glorified hobby for most.

To be an expert in IT is fantastic, as next to that one can be also good piano player and expert in physics. For him BASE may 'just' be a hobby but guess what, he is damn good at it!

bravo good sir.

bravissimo robi!!

imho any public stunt should have well defined criteria that separates 'done' from 'not done'
in this case it should be an entrance 'gate' (balloons) below which he has to pass or stunt is not done
the gate should be where its already narrow so it defines a narrow and long path, not close to the top where its wide

not having such a gate allowed jeb to do a quicky dippy job
he flew from the rounded top corner of the right pillar where its def more than 20m wide to where its about 15m wide
he flew at most 400ft diagonally (300ft horizontally), not 900, in a mere 2.5s
hardly 'superlong' proximity he claimed in hte interview (10-30s lol)
who's he trying to bs with 900ft and 8m wide? jeb its ok to bs media and public but dont do it here!!

look at the map and see for yourself
open 2 windows with chinese crack and swiss crack @ same scale
that right pillar is only 300ft where jeb flew
swiss crack is about 1000ft long

what if someone just dipped 10ft into the crack for 0.2s and called it the most amazing stunt? jeb would be the 1st to laugh at it right? what if 30ft and 0.5s? still not impressive! 150ft and 2.5s? meh..... but thats exactly what jeb did

an arch sets such a criterion by its virtue - u either fly through or not
but with a crack like this and not having the natural 'entrance' gate like sputnik a gate must be set or its not a stunt its a wishy-washy bullshit

jeb
u underdelivered
rinse, repeat
be a better man today than u were yesterday
show to base community not to fb/utube fans that u r really an athlete in the 0.01% percentile

/nuff said

 

...or this ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTsT0dBB3cU
and many maaany others

Robi, there's an old saying in the USA that the word ASSUME makes an ASS of U and ME.

I was not being fake polite. I meant what I said and one thing I said was that I have not yet met Markus and Mikki, not that I don't know what they have done. I know about Mikki's organizational accomplishments and wisdom from this forum, and know of Markus's achievements through Mikki's comments and those of others.

And yes, I actually do care what they've done and said so in the post above! So for you to assume otherwise, especially in the face of facts to the contrary in the very post you condemn.... well, 'nuff said about that.

Bottom line: It is precisely because they are such accomplished, senior and respected members of the community that I take issue with their adolescent chest-thumping about what and how they pursue BASE jumping is so superior to what Jeb does. It is beneath them to act like they did about what Jeb and Iiro and Frank accomplished with that event, that's all.

I also find it ironic how much fake politeness there is about all those dead heroes littering the mountains of Europe after this summer. Every one of them was a capital fellow of great skill and conservative approach and not one of those dead heroes has been subjected to 1 percent of the vitriol being reserved for guys who do things right and stay alive but get a lot of media coverage doing so.

I called Markus and Mikki tedious in their screeds because it's all just a cheap imitation of the crap that was hurled for years at Felix because he too made a good living making jumps that "anybody" can do.

Yeah, right, so what? If anybody can do them, then how come nobody does until Felix or Jeb comes along?



Why? Because as I said in that post, what they said is not only tediously pedestrian, it's artless and graceless too, and peeps of their stature and previously demonstrated maturity should know better, that's all.

Moreover, I'm not defending Jeb: Jeb does not need defending. He pulled off a great jump in difficult circumstances under a lot of pressure to perform in less-than-optimal conditions.

All of these effing heroes who are supposedly so much better than Jeb but don't actively seek the glory... great, good for them. I'm one of them, actually. I don't jump much any more but when I do I do it only under optimal conditions and so too do most of those heroes that are all so much better than Jeb.

A quick aside to make a point: I was hired a few years back by an international organization that wanted me to put together a team of jumpers to jump from an object during a big protest action. I flew out to the site and scouted it. The object was about 600 feet high and had a fair number of landing areas but also a bunch of obstacles. It was definitely jumpable -- but it was not suitable for a public event. As I explained it to the event organizers:

"This is a very jumpable site but very tricky. The wind would have to be zero or blowing within a 10-degree arc at less than 10 mph to make it doable. That would be fine for a private jump in the middle of the night. We could sit there all night waiting for the right conditions -- and if we didn't get them, we'd just climb down and go home. No big deal.

"To do a public event, where people are counting on the jump not just happening but happening at a very specific time, is not feasible because the conditions have to be exactly right within a very narrow range to jump.

"On top of that, there will be pressure to jump in less than optimal conditions, so then you increase the chance that someone will get hurt or killed -- and if someone gets hurt or killed, it blows your whole deal because the focus changes from your message to the carnage incurred while trying to broadcast your message."

Being whuffos, they understood this immediately and didn't let their testosterone jangle their thought processes, so they thanked me for my assessment and cancelled the jump portion of their event.

The point of this story should be clear: All those private hero jumps Markus and the rest of you guys make are fine and fantastic and I respect you all and wish I was doing some of that myself, but doing events is a totally different animal than just going up on the mountain and being responsible for and beholden to no one but yourself.

Seriously, do you really want to dance at the absolute edge of the envelope when you have thousands of people watching in person and tens of millions watching on live TV?

Or do you want to give yourself enough margin to more or less guarantee that if you go you'll still be above room temperature when you shed your gear that day?

Yeah, yeah, I know there are so many "real" heroes who are soooo much better flyers than Jeb and who could eeeasily do that same jump, but you know, how many of them know how to navigate the ways of the world to get to the point where they are the ones who step out of that chopper and do the deed?

So far? Z.E.R.O.


I won't speak for Jeb, but for my part I briefly answered one rude and apparently clueless individual (leaving wiggle room if he was instead just a brilliantly devious troll), then dropped my hammer on Markus and Mikki because they both oughta know better and be bigger men than they exhibited on this thread.


I did not try to convince them of anything, Robi: I called them to account for their conduct on this thread.


Sorry, my brother from another mother, but I call BS on this one -- his "congratulations" were precisely the kind of "fake polite" comment for which you incorrectly castigated me: he used his "congratulations" to frame his artless, graceless and tedious disapproval... disapproval he should have kept as private as all of those hero videos he doesn't show to anybody except his friends. Because as Theodore Roosevelt famously said:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”


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I love you Robert :) I always have and I always will :) And you are 100% right about everything :) Also know I still have the same passion for this as I did the very first day :) I hope you are feeling better and I can't wait to see you again. I wish you were coming to the WWL because I really do miss hanging out with you. It's been way to long my friend, way to long...

Was this stunt as cool an amazing to us as it was billed to be? No, but this stunt wasn't for us. Was it as cool and amazing to millions of people and news outlets? Hell yeah it was. In my opinion that is what matters more to us as a community and as a sport. Jeb flew what the conditions allowed and only he knows what he truly intended to do. Was that it? Did he scale it back after seeing what it was really like? Did he scale it back due to the weather conditions? Did he flat out exaggerate the stunt knowing all along he was only going to be able to fly through the corner?

I don't know and I don't care, thanks Jeb for a mostly positive representation of BASE. I say mostly because I think many would like to see and would criticize you less if your message and interviews were more positive and you used your stardom to push access and an agenda that served the community more. Organize and bill a stunt, then invite mire mortals to fly it with you and promote how safe and amazing the sport can be. Noting but positive attitude. How risk assessment is done and what goes into deciding that it is safeish, not instant death for everyone BUT Jeb Corliss. Bring attention to the fact that we (you and fellow americans) cant do things like this in our home country. You have the fame and following to turn from being Mr. Black into Mr. Hero to the BASE community. Do more with it. WWL is a nice start, thanks for that too.

I do have one more criticism and I am surprised this has not been brought up. It appeared to me that you forced the stunt due to media, hype and pressure. When what you should have done was wait for better conditions...


Edited to add: I guess what I am saying is, I would be stoked if you became more of a promoter of BASE then a promoter of Jeb. You reached a level outside of our small world were your no longer needing to just promote yourself to get paid to do what you love. It's what seperated Shane McConkey from so many others that had the same or better skills then he had, he loved the sport and the people in it and showing others how great it was, not just how great he was.

Hey Robin,

I'm sorry, i have been out on a summer cottage for couple of days with my girlfriend and have not had time to answer all these lengthy posts... You know the ordinary boring life of the IT guy not living and breathing base jumping all the time. :)

But cheap shotting aside, you can call BS on whatever you like but when i congratulated Jeb on pulling this stunt off safely and having it broadcasted all over the planet, i really meant it. I really do think thag Iiro, Frank and whoever is working in jebs team made fantastic job to provide the coverage to him he needs to pull this stuff off. I don't know why this is so hard to believe but I truly honestly tnk so. When I said that i think that Jeb is at best and average wingsuit pilot with a superior marketing and sales team, I really did mean it. Because that's what I think about it. And nothing more. If you think that I should keep this impression as my own and not post it in public, have it your way but I've heard about certain country who has this ing called freedom of speech... :)

And reagrding my achievements or my secret hero videos or whatever other claims have been tossed accross... I have never claimed any of those. I'm first person to say that I'm average ws pilot in base at best. My only notable achievement in this sport has been to stay alive in it for the last 10 years and make some fun jumps because that's all I ever wanted to do.

So again... Based on the video of the much debated flight... Was I impressed on the flight? No i was not. Was i impressed about the media coverage, professionality of the event, etc? Yes I was.

How hard can that be to understand? I do wish Jeb all the best and success in his future projects (i really do but you can of course call bs on this one as well) but i also think i do deserve to have my opinion about the technical level of those flights in future as well. Because i do have this opinion about anyone elses fligths as well, including my own (and just to make sure, the technical level of my own flights is really really average at best). :)

Lots of love,
Markus

Nice work!

I love this thread, the most interest thats been on base jumper in a long time.

It was a cool stunt, but compared to a lot of stuff people are doing now, fairly average difficulty level. To be fair, theres so much just stupidly risky stuff now that set the bar, its hard to be impressed anymore. This falls into the "oh sweet, if I could try that I would" catergory, the same as the hole flight in china, where as Polli and his dumb ass small hole stunt falls into the "fuck that" catergory of desire to attempt. Its just the time we live in, unless youre super close to something for more than a few seconds, no one is really that impressed anymore.

PS, ive seen some of markus's ninja secret videos, and theyre fun, and I respect him completely for not posting them all over the world.

Thanks for always post nice stuffs!!

Hey Doc,

Didn't you read it from the thread that youre not supposed to say that out 'n loud? Because that's evil and bashing and all other bad things you can imagine!

What Markus said, but in difference to him I was not spending time with my girlfriend in a cottage, I was working a 60 h week in my office job (and I enjoyed most of the time) and I was to lazy to respond to your loooong post. I ment what I wroter, I respect Jeb, Iiro and the others for making this stunt happen! My English is not good enough foe sarcasm... Anyhow, its weekend now and I'm looking forward to some nice jumping from cliffs again...

Greetings from beautiful Switzerland,
Michi

Can you imagine the discussion we would get to have with Jhonny got to do his wingsuit stunt that is going to change the entire world???

Shame #change4goods thing didnt happen...would have been great to finaly get rid of them tsunami's and terrorist attacks...

Love back atcha, Markus, and thanks for your nicely worded reply.

And perhaps you'll accept my apology for not cutting you some slack on you writing in a language that is at least your second and maybe your third or fourth or fifth. As I've said many times on this forum, if I could write and speak any language but my native one1/10th as well as you and Mikki and so many others here do, I'd be very happy.

You make it much more clear in your note to me what you were really thinking about and in your note to me there's nothing with which I have a quibble.

I also know the "ordinary boring life of the IT guy not living and breathing base jumping all the time" because IR12 and I think it's pretty funny that Jeb bags on us desk jockeys because neither his YouTube revenue stream nor his posts nor this forum itself would exist without us. He is one blessed dude to find a way to make BASE pay and not have to live that "nightmare" he talks about of sitting at a desk, but not all of us can turn that trick.

Anyway, it seems as if we're all getting back on the same page, so thanks again for your thoughtful response, and thanks also to everyone else who contributed to the more positive direction in which this thread has now turned.


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What I said to Markus I say to you too, especially that part about the language thing and I extend my apology to you too for not also cutting you some slack on that.

Anyhow, it's the weekend now and I'm looking forward to some fun with my wife and daughter since all the good cliffs in my neighborhood have been "shut down" to show everyone how important the government is...


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''Robi, there's an old saying in the USA''

Robin , nothing is old in USA as far as I know
The white man history in USA is just 77 years older than my grandmother :)

Pilgrims in America 1620
Time since 1620 = 393 years
Robis Grandmother = 316 years old!
Robi = ???

Is there a reason we should know about your suits are called the "Vampire"... ;)

Robi,

Not counting the conquistador explorations of the southwestern US in the 1540s, the "white man history in USA" started in earnest in 1565 with founding by the Spanish of St. Augustine, Florida. The French and the Vikings visited earlier than that, but let's go with 1565. That was 448 years ago, meaning your grandmother is 371 years old.

Now, if for you the Spanish don't count as white men, the "white man history" of the British in North America started with the Jamestown settlement in 1607. If we go by that date, your grandmother is 329 years old.

And if you start the "white man history in USA" with the 1620 landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, then your Grandmother is 316 years old.

Now, I'm not going to assume anything here, so I congratulate you on having the longest-lived grandmother in the history of the world.

The start date of "white man history in the USA" notwithstanding, you are absolutely correct that "nothing is old in USA" -- especially when compared to places such as Croatia, where Dubrovik's founding can be traced to the 7th century. In fact, the total history of the USA is no more than a rounding error in many historical dates of European, African and Asian civilizations.

"Old sayings," on the other hand, generally refer to adages, aphorisms, axioms, bywords and maxims that have persisted for a generation or two or three, so by that standard, there are indeed "old sayings" even in the still-very-young USA.

But thanks for the note and I hope you and your child live as long as your grandmother... and thanks also, as always, for the incredible and monumental contributions you've made over the years to helping humans realize the dream of human flight. You rock, Robi!


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damn it hjumper33, this is meant to be for Robin as he would write at least 10 pages about my false statement! :)
Now you ruin the popcorn - cola evening :(

What did I say :) :)
He was just faster than I was in posting :)

You are welcome Robin !
We need more smiles here Robin

keep on, guys, please, this thread is epic :-p

Thanks, my friend -- but I would like to know if hjumper33 is onto something with Vampires and grandmothers who are three centuries old. Hmmmm.... did your ancestors migrate to Croatia from Transylvania?


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Great video. I found myself tilting my head at the screen to follow some of the lines. Also, this is an interesting thread, and I commend Jeb for a great stunt that went well. Bottom line is, Don't bounce on a demo. We can always go lower. The ground is the limit and too many of our friends found that out this summer. This sport needs all the good publicity it can get and Iiro, Frank and Jeb are showing the world that there is a logic and beauty to wingsuit flying and BASE jumping. When Carl Boenish began the concept of fixed object jumping as the sport of BASE in 1981, his mission is written on the back of every BASE card we issue, "...dedicated to the safety, advancement, and positive public image of BASE jumpers and BASE jumping throughout the world."
Seems to me that when highly publicized stunts go well, that can only help our image. Good job guys.

rickharrison + robinheid

u forgot to make a full disclosure that u were/are sponsored by WWL/panpacificentertainment/jebs empire

paid travel.. accomodations.. meals..
paychecks..

of course u like jeb and r impressed with his stunts! lol

being a lawyer and a journalist, u should be familiar with what full disclosure is

tsk tsk tsk




Full disclosure


n. (journalism) The disclosure of any connection between a reporter (or publisher) and the subject of an article that may bias the article.

n. (law) The need in business transactions to tell the "whole truth" about any matter which the other party should know in deciding to buy or contract. In real estate sales in many states there is a full disclosure form which must be filled out and signed under penalty of perjury for knowingly falsifying or concealing any significant fact.

That would be true if you replaced "USA" with "NZ".

what is NZ?

Pilgrims in America were subjects of the Crown of Great Britain until either the Declaration of Independence (1776) or the Treaty of Yorktown (1783), depending on who you ask. It doesn't really matter when the Vikings, St Brendan, Zheng He, Central Asian nomads, or the Resurrected Christ came to the Americas, our country is the United States of America, and it wasn't founded until the Revolutionary War and wasn't secured until the end of the War of 1812. So yes, that's only 72 years before the birth of Robi's babushka. :) ;) :) Sorry, I really wanted to make smilies too.

huh, are u realizing Stinkydragon that you'll get about 20 pages of explanation how wrong you are + special annex of another 40 pages due to fact that you as an American citizen showed the courage to write something in order to defend one Balkan born Transylvanian...
... but after all my grandmaa was accurate about ti!

Not exactly, old friend.


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P.S. And FYI, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp.

...says the whining web weasel without the eggs to tell anyone who she is.


44

its not important who asks the question
its important that u failed to address it
instead u made a personal attack
very unprofessional
thats your journalism ethics code eh?!

I love lamp.

Ha!

Don't worry my friend, but you sound like a Fox news buff who loves to argue while ignoring real facts. I helped as the exit point judge at one WWL race last year in China because I was a friend of Iiro who is President of the WWL. I barely knew Jeb. I jumped the Cave of Swallows with Iiro about ten years ago and we bacame friends. I only met Jeb the night before the 04 Super Bowl in Houston where he and several others jumped from the top of the Reliant Stadium Dome at halftime at the game. Iiro stayed with me that weekend and we had a ball in my old Firebird. Yes, they did cover my expenses in China, but no paycheck's involved. If you would like to read my post again, you'll find that my general position is that well executed stunts where no one dies or gets injured help promote the positive side of BASE or wingsuits. I wish the interviews did not emphasize the danger aspects as much as the fact that this sport can be done safely if we play by a few rules of common sense. That is part of the marketing and showmanship for the whffos but Jeb could be a bit less dramatic about the death aspects, but all in all the WWL and Red Bull generally have promoted a positive side of this sport. The more the public gets used to seeing stunts that go well, the better this sport will be accepted. So yes I'm a lawyer, but this thread hardly counts as a business transaction or a courtroom. If it were, I'd love to cross examine you. As the Exec Director of the USBA, I'm all about good publicity for BASE in general so if you want to be all negative, it's your business. Just don't try to drag others into the gutter with you.

And boom goes the dynamite.

Babushka? You mean bobi?

Jeb,
Great jump. No, bad ass jump but I do have to jam you up on the triple use of colon-open parentheses. About two is the most you can get away with now days.

Telling and impressive story is like telling a funny joke.
If you have to explain why you think your joke is funny, it's safe to say it is not.
In a community of wingsuit fliers, it's not supprising that the most impressive part of this stunt was the organisation and planning, that is after all the part that most here would find most difficult and indeed I am impressed by that, it was a job well done.
The flight itself would be be regularly done by pilots with half a season of WS base if a heli was not required for the access, that says as much about the participants of this activity as it does about the jump tho.

Wankers !!!

http://youtu.be/IRBXF_Unwm0