Basejumper.com - archive

Hey guys,
I gotta write a little paper for school. Was hoping y'all would be willing to answer a couple questions if you got a second (I already know you do). Feel free to answer 1 or all of them, and pm me if you'd prefer.

Where are you from?
How old are you?
sex?
What do you do for a living?
How long have you been base jumping?
Do you currently jump a lot or a little?
Have you been busted before?
Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized?
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents?
Do you ever consider quitting? If so, for what reasons?

Much appreciated

washington
35
stupid shit
a couple years
do you consider 250 a year a lot?
no
yes, once
yes
not yet

Cool paper topic bro...

1. From utah, now colorado
2. 37
3. Engineer
4. 6 yrs
5. Moderately
6. No
7. Yes, hospitilized
8. 4 friends
9. Not yet
Edit to add, female.
Good luck on your paper!

South Africa
-25
-Equity analyst
-5 years
-a lot
-Yes
-Yes
-Yes
-Yes
-Yes
-Stress from my own incidents and close calls.

Washington
34
Retail
3-4 years
A little more than a little
Yep
Do feelings count?
Yep
Sometimes. I really want a new telescope, if I sold everything I could get a really nice one.

Tennessee
40 something
Male
Techy
8 years
A little less than a lot and a lot more than a little.
Yes
Yes, no
Yes
Yes, because BASE is BASE

How much is 70-ish BASE jumps per year?

A Little or A Lot

Where are you from? Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
How old are you? 38
sex? Male
What do you do for a living? IT Strategy and Risk Management
How long have you been base jumping? 3 years
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? True
Have you been busted before? Yes, once.
Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized? Not yet. (Not injured in BASE yet. I have been busted up skydiving.)
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Not yet.
Do you ever consider quitting? If so, for what reasons? Yes, because humans are humans, and I realize we're always just one mistake away from an accident, and I'm just barely smart enough to know logically that "it can't happen to me" is false.

Arkansas, then Virginia, now Colorado
29
M
GIS
4+ years
Average
No
Yes, Hospitalized
Yes, x>1
Sometimes because I know I will just keep jumping until I kill myself.

Brazil
38
Male
IT
6 years
A lot
Yes
No
Yes
Not yet

 

Where are you from? MD, currently
How old are you? 35
sex? M
What do you do for a living? hunt the bad man
How long have you been base jumping? 10years
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? on a break
Have you been busted before? yes, but i know people
Have you been hurt? once. if so, were you hospitalized? 3 months
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? way too many, losing track
Do you ever consider quitting? every day If so, for what reasons? when i'm not jumping, i consider it. when i make a jump and land, i can't wait to do it better the next time. death comes for us all, but we're a bunch of selfish assholes, so why stop now?

1. Norway
2. 24
3. M
4. Security guard and car mechanic
5. 4yrs
6. Alot
7. Yes
8. Yes, but no hospital.
9. 3 friends
10. Yes, because of the close call me and my friends have had.

What HAVE you been arrested for Tom?

Where are you from? California originally, Texas now.
How old are you? 22
sex? No thanks.
What do you do for a living? Not much.
How long have you been base jumping? Almost a year
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? ehh? About a 100/year
Have you been busted before? No, but close.
Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized? Not hospitalized, but doctors visits.
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Yes.
Do you ever consider quitting? If so, for what reasons? Sort of. I just wonder what my last jump will be, and how it will go.

Where are you from? Switzerland
How old are you? 42
sex? Male
What do you do for a living? HVAC Engineer
How long have you been base jumping? 10 Years
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? Normal average 70 to 90 jumps per year
Have you been busted before? No
Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized? Yes, base canopy swooping accident, no hospitalization
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Many, many friends, I stopped counting, it is to frustrating
Do you ever consider quitting? If so, for what reasons? Yes, a couple of times but the urge to jump was always bigger.

Where are you from? CO
How old are you? 37
sex? M
What do you do for a living? Veterinary Surgeon
How long have you been base jumping? 10years
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? on a break
Have you been busted before? no
Have you been hurt? nope!
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? a couple
Do you ever consider quitting? nope
If so, for what reasons?

I'll play-

TX.
42
M
Printing
About 5 years
As much as I can, averaging twice a month currently
Yes, plus 2 close calls
Yes/ Yes
Yes
Yes, when I'm chugging coffee to make it through work after weeknight jump.

1. Houston Tx
2. 26
3. M
4. Control Systems Design
5. 6 Years
6. A Lot
7. Yes, twice
8. No
9. Yes, several :(
10. Yes. I did quit for a couple months when I thought i was having a child. I would only quit if I become a father.

Awesome guys, thanks so much for taking the time. Keep 'em coming

1. Everywhere, now in NC, USA
2. 27
3. M
4. Military
5. 5+ years
6. A little? (couple times a month)
7. No
8. No
9. Yes
10. Yes...job, friends, family, risk/reward ratio, other interests, basically just life...more a question of "how active do I want to be?" than "should I quit?"

Where are you from? Baltimore originally, but I'm a gypsy
How old are you? 39
sex? F
What do you do for a living? Global Health
How long have you been base jumping? 3 years
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? 104 this year is a lot for me!
Have you been busted before? Nope, I'm no ninja and I know it
Have you been hurt? Yep. if so, were you hospitalized? For one night, but 6 mths no jumping
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Yes :(
Do you ever consider quitting? Yes, every time I get uncurrent. If so, for what reasons? All of them

1. VA, MI, UT
2. 36
3. M
4. engineer
5. 4.5 years
6. 111 jumps/year
7. yes
8. yes, yes
9. yes
10. no

Where are you from? Perth, Australia
How old are you? 28
sex? Male
What do you do for a living? Mining technical sales
How long have you been base jumping? <1 year
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? Little
Have you been busted before? No
Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized? No
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Yes
Do you ever consider quitting? If so, for what reasons? Yes, because I'm not ready to die because I want to do heaps of jumps off cool shit which therein lies my dilemma...

Do you ever consider quitting? every day If so, for what reasons? when i'm not jumping, i consider it. when i make a jump and land, i can't wait to do it better the next time. death comes for us all, but we're a bunch of selfish assholes, so why stop now?
Not EVERYDAY, but after a brief stint of non jumping... then like you said, get that next jump and im off to the races again!

This is the very question I ask myself every week.

I have quit Twice and Retired Once.

Yet I jumped again last week!

I am and have been so very torn between true love and pure hate for our sport. Its a mind vs. heart thing really. Mind is telling me to get out while I'm ahead/alive/unhurt. Start a family, have a Career, take life more serious and stop fucking about!
So I do, I quit, Twice, then I "retired" cause quitting didn't work. But in the end its the same result every time, my Heart Aches for me to return, to make another jump, Unsatisfied with something.

Its a proper Fucking Really!

This sport has a level of control over me in a way I never thought it could. And it has changed, slowly and over-time, my psychological state.

A sure sign of weak moral character, if you ask me


Very interesting. Any desire to elaborate? Would you compare it to a psychological drug addiction?

Where are you from? All over the USA, currently KS

How old are you? 29

Gender: Male

What do you do for a living? Soldier

How long have you been base jumping? Eight years

Do you currently jump a lot or a little? Currently, just a little. :-(

Have you been busted before? No, but came close a couple times.

Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized? I broke my L1, L3, and C7 skydiving (yes hospitalized), but in BASE just bumps and bruises so far.

Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Yes.

Do you ever consider quitting; if so, for what reasons? I have taken breaks from BASE for as long as two years because work, injuries, deployments, etc, and have considered not returning to it for reasons such as risk/reward quotient and responsibility to others, but I always come back. I've found myself on top of objects alone after periods of uncurrency saying to myself, “this is retarded, why the fuck am I doing this?” Then I jump, and I remember why the fuck I’m doing this. I've done a lot of other fun things, but there's just nothing quite like it, and the people are too awesome to stay away from. I don't just BASE jump; I am a BASE jumper. It's become part of my identity, and the bottom line is if you want to be a BASE jumper you've got to BASE jump... for better or worse, so I’ll take my chances.

Sitting here in Moab, with 4or 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground and socked in, so,....

-Transient
-Old (did that young **** really call me a Pterodactyl? )
-Skydive
-24yrs
-actively jumping a fair bit
-Two trespassing charges within one month (18yrs ago)
-Hurt? just my bruised ego, a few cuts and scrapes, and a few cactus needles in my fingers while packing.
- BFL#'s 7,19,21,43,48,56,63,66,72,74,94,103,112,121,148, 168,190,193,197,204,206,207,214,220, among many others from aircraft, the BFL is a great source of information, I refer to it all the time to remind myself of what not to do,...
-I hadn't really thought of quitting since I like to hike up Mountains and hiking down is a little tough on the knees,....and there are a lot of great people in the sport however, it's been getting a little crowded on some exits lately,....

Interesting Thread, hope you got a good grade on that paper, Regards,B.

Where are you from? Sweden
How old are you? 28
sex? Male
What do you do for a living? Software Engineer
How long have you been base jumping? 2 years
Do you currently jump a lot or a little? I am one of the most active in Sweden at least.
Have you been busted before? Yes, a couple of times.
Have you been hurt? if so, were you hospitalized? Only minor stuff, worst was a broken hand which didn't require surgery.
Have you lost one or more friends or acquaintances in parachuting accidents? Yes I have lost a couple of good friends.
Do you ever consider quitting? If so, for what reasons? Yes I think about quitting once in a while, because of risk/reward.