Basejumper.com - archive

Just out of curiosity, I'm interested in knowing your lowest stowed jump. Mine to date is a 290 foot cliff with a steep Talus! My reason for going stowed was that the exit was so sketchy I needed my hands, so going hand held wasn't an option.

300ft A

Nice! I'm looking at an Object that is 280 over flat ground with a small LZ that will require a half turn, a lil spicy.

300' A. I typically go handheld below 350' unless the exit requires both hands. I am definitely not the limit-pushing sort of BASE jumper.

I went PCA off it first before I lasered it, thinking it was only 250, after opening really high with my non vented canopy, and breaking out the range finder, I'm thinking going stowed with my OSP is very doable. Just trying to grab a consensus.

I did a hanging jump from ~230' stowed. It was a 500' wide canyon with a large tyrolean bridge across the top. Hung from both hands about 100' from the cliff on one side facing down canyon. Let go, pitched, had a 70' left toward the talus and cliff wall. Quick on the brakes inadvertently swooping the talus and landed fine. Spicy. Not terribly low, but it's my lowest stowed.

350-foot A.

For what's it worth, I have 13 or 14 jumps from that A, and I've only made 2 of them stowed.

I'm with bm1 on this topic. Unless the exit demands it, stowed below 350' is unnecessary risk.

IMO this is a silly question. your reasoning is sound, only do it if you need to. some are more comfortable with it than others, it simply is a matter of personal choice and comfort.

that being said, i've jumped stowed from below 200. just because. of course, i personally don't typically stow below 240. hand held is just so much cooler.

i also know of people going stowed (sometimes not exactly by choice) from much lower.

It is a silly question, I admit, and I'm sure it is doable, just wanted to here other peoples experiences & thoughts on the matter!

If you're not taking a delay the PC inflates to the side and the swinging motion over your head to the left causes an offheading more frequently than going hand held.

Some are more comfortable, and some are more experienced, for sure. But many go stowed these days simply because it's so totally rad to go stowed.

A couple years ago I was getting ready to go hand-held off Echo, and from off in the distance someone yelled, "My grandmother goes hand-held!" followed moments later by, "That's been tripled!" (This person and I have since had many laughs over this, but the hand-held-is-for-pussies sentiment is out there.)

Watch some BASE videos these days and we routinely see people who are "going stowed". Their pilot chute is tossed before both feet have left the object, but by-god, they went stowed. ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN. But at least they'll be cool accidents.

We all know there are people on the BFL who wouldn't be if they had only gone hand-held.

Blitz, you're right, it's a personal choice. But asking around and getting some input is not silly. Going stowed too low has killed people, people who were experienced and heads-up jumpers, who simply missed that first throw and didn't get enough time to make a second one work. At least one of those fatalities was from a 486-foot object.

~ Chris

350' i think.

I think it's more rad to see someone go off tombstone handheld and take 4 seconds than to see someone do a stow-and-throw. If you go HH, you have *much* decreased risk of pilot chute hesitation. The more of a delay you take slider-down, the better your heading performance. Ground rush is awesome.

*shrug* I've taken 1.5 off 250' HH. Pitching up HH vs. throwing to the side stowed also makes for a big difference in opening height (or how deep you can go with the same margin for error).

Personally I don't get the "stowed is more rad" mindset. Kids these days

215.

215, sicko! How tall are the pillars on your object?

Because you are not smart. Ha ha DumB SlaMBro!

 he probably also threw gainer! Slambo's jumps aren't being factored into my decision making process! His pretty much "line stretch" into the lake is permanently embedded in my mind.

yeah man, i agree... totally not bashing the question, just saying that asking it probably means you already know your own comfort level. and again for the record, i believe handheld is way cooler... :)

you know what they say about statistics.

is it true that one is badass going stowed??
I have gone HH on all SD/O. It would be interesting to see the bravado. make a poll please.
take care,
space