Basejumper.com - archive

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and was hoping to get some guidance from from people like yourself who have been down the road I'm starting. My goal is to base jump from Pulpit Rock in July 2015. After skydiving a couple times a few years ago I always wanted to try base jumping. I'm headed to Sweden and Norway next July to visit relatives. I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to visit, so I want to make sure that I take full advantage of the opportunity to base jump those beautiful cliffs.

The first step is to get certified, so I was wondering if anyone has suggestions of a good place to start. I live outside of Philadelphia and I have been to Freefall Adventures twice. I'm not familiar with any other places, but I want to make sure that I start off on the right foot. A year seems like a long time, but I feel like I'm going to have to do a lot of jumps in order to be prepared next July.

I have a lot of research to do, but if anyone can suggest what gear to buy first, places to get trained, groups to join (none of my friends are into this, so I'm going solo), or any general education that would expedite the process would be an enormous help. Once I'm done taking the bar exam next month I would like to get started.

Thanks for any help and I hope to get acquainted with all of you over the next year.

Go to the closest skydive center to your house. That way you can make it there as often as possible. As for the other questions you have, talk to your skydive instructors. They will have a vested interest in your safety, while people from the internet are mostly looking for a good laugh. Once you start skydiving regularly, everything else will fall into place.

I give this a 0% chance of happening. And that's being generous.

Why Pulpit Rock (difficulty level7)? Are you a victim of wide angle lense camera? I think that by the time you get enough experience to jump Preikestolen you will see that there are more awesome places to jump in the area that are safer.
take care,
space

Thanks for the sound advice Gnirke. I'm still looking around and trying to gather info on drop zones. The only place I have been to is Freefall and I hear mixed things. I realize that this is the first step and want to go to the place with the best instructors.

I know I should wait to buy most of my gear, but are there any items you recommend I purchase or should I just rent and wait?

Sounds more like a challenge than advice bluhdow. Thanks for the motivation.

Base283: You are 100% correct. I am probably a victim of the wide angle. I actually picked that cliff because in my view as a beginner it looked high enough and protruding far enough from the face that I would have less variables to consider. I'm probably putting the cart before the horse, but any safer choices that you could recommend would save me a little of research time.

Thanks again for the advice.

I say just rent the gear and go for it.

Lol. I feel like getting on a plane to Norway and jumping tomorrow brother. I know there's not a set number of jumps before you're ready, but I figure around 150 should be my goal. With nearly 700 jumps in 4 years you're making me think I got a decent shot of meeting my goal.

Pulp rock although looks high is really only maybe 6-7 secs to impact on the talus rocky ledge below and unless you have a heap of wingsuit base jumps then this one is not for you.. Also the logistics of the place are crazy you will need a boat for standby and then you will be landing in the fjord (cold water ) and not to mention ground crew to help so I think your best bet would be to forget that one and go skydiving for about 200-300 skydives then after that look up these guys http://www.basekjerag.com they could help you jump from a much larger rock (Kjerag) and get atleast 17 seconds of freefall before impact... and if your really good and did all your training correctly in skydiving and turn out to be a medium skilled tracker using the tracking clothes you could get 28 secs freefall.. But not many make that many seconds..

Good luck on your journey go skydiving buddy

Thanks MBA-PATTO. I completely agree with you guys. I made a poor choice with Pulpit Rock. I greatly appreciate the advice from experienced jumpers like yourself. One question I have is regarding the number of jumps recommended prior to my first base jump. I know that this is an extremely subjective question and one that would be best answered after 100 jumps, but is it possible to be prepared to base jump with 150 skydives. This would be a jump from a forgiving spot like you're recommending of course.

Your sig line is fucking boss bro!

Edited to say, Patto just told you 200-300 skydives and you replied by asking for someone to please tell you 150. 200 is the standard, and most people recognize that's the bare minimum and spend more time skydiving than that.

Your goal is very, very ambitious. And unless you've got wealthy parents who will bankroll your full-time training I'd say highly unlikely at best. Just go skydive for a while and BASE will come with time. If it's the most important thing on your list, you'll make it happen eventually.

LOL. I knew you would like that. I know its an ambitious goal, but not impossible. Worst case is that I get a jump start on my training for the future. Best case I edit the sig from 0% to 100%.

That sounds more reasonable. In the meantime, I think you'll find more relevant information to your sky training on www.dropzone.com.

Thanks bud. Already on there. See I'm a quick learner. Same sig as well. lol.

I found myself in the same boat as you almost two years ago. I set a goal of 2 years to gather the experience required to BASE jump. Realistically, I'm at least another year away from even doing Bridge Day, lol. As is often said in these sports.... "You don't know, what you don't know!" No point in rushing cause there is so much to enjoy on the way to your goal. The mountains are always gonna be there when your ready. There is much wisdom in this forum to help you do it right.... best to listen to those with experience.

Cross Keys is my home DZ... if you decide to jump there for your training... I'd be happy to help in any way I can when it comes to the sky.

Thanks for offer to help out Highradwarrior. I'm pretty sure FFA is the nearest DZ for me, so I will take the AFP program there in August. I had them send me over the price list and info. I'll let you know when I start the AFP and perhaps I'll see you there.

say hello to rob stanley

What you should consider is that season will end in October so waiting until August to make your AFP will delay your progress.

Depending on how you're doing, you will be lucky to get your license before the end of the season... and that's minimum 25 skydives. So now you're looking at jumping in cold/crappy weather (so you won't make that many jumps because the plane won't be flying as often) or going to a sunny FL/CA dropzone for the winter and jumping full time for maybe even a few months in order to get your target of 150-200 jumps.

Maybe you could make 100 jumps in one month as a fun jumper if you're really determined - but like everyone said that means living on the dropzone and trying to jump every day. Multiple times.

Have fun and good luck buddy.

Mate… enjoy the amazing skydive experience and come join us when you are ready

Yeah that is going to be a big hurled. I talked to some people and will try to head down south at least once a month. I would love to start right away, but I have to study for the bar exam. The exam is at the end of July. After that I will probably sleep for a few days then get started. Florida would be fun if I can head down there for a week during winter and get some jumps done.

Dunny It would be great to join you guys for a jump when I get there. If all goes to hell and I'm not ready for BASE I would still like to see how you guys do it. My grandmother is from Selje and I finally got to meet some of my relatives from there. I found out that I have been saying my middle name wrong my whole life. That was weird. My middle name is Sigvald, but it sounded great when Norwegians said it.