Basejumper.com - archive

Here are the stats of the event: 313 jumps made by 150 (out of 205 who registered) jumpers from 3 countries and 29 states. The weather was perfect at 9:00 with no wind, but by 11:00, winds up top were 20+. Once the wind picked up, the LZ could go from no wind to strong gust and back in a few minutes. 80% of the time it was reasonable, 20% of the time it was very sketchy. By 10:30, everyone had their first jump off, so no one missed out on getting one in during the early morning calm.

There were 3 medical transports, 2 with lower leg fractures and one who just hit hard enough to be knocked silly for a while. A 4th was advised to be transported but refused and we were advised by the medical team to pull his pass (he wanted to jump again).

If we go by the feedback of people who attended, everything ran smoothly from check in, transportation, the actual jumping, and of course, an epic party. If something went well, it was solely due to the incredible support and hard work of the staff and volunteers who jumped in and made this thing work. (I hope I have remembered to thank all of you enough) If something didn't go as well, it was due to my lack of planning or experience with the overall event. Working at an event for a dozen years isn't the same as running it, and I'm sure there were things that could have gone better. However, according to all of the stakeholders in the event, we did pretty well. The people who think we did well include the Bridge Day Commission, the NPS, WV State Police, Whitewater Photography, water rescue, and as I'm told, pretty much all of the local politicians and civic leaders around the area. If they have any constructive feedback, I'd love to hear it.

The most common comment I heard was that the event was laid back and relaxed with a very community minded, old school vibe. Those comments came from jumpers and non jumpers, including the NPS? If there were any hassles with event security, I didn't hear about it. Out of all of the jumpers, only 62 sent in the background check, while the rest opted for the scan and had no issues with it. People came to have fun and help other people.

The new exit platform worked out really well and has been donated to the Chamber of Commerce to ensure the future of the event. We had music jamming at the exit point, and most people seemed to like it including the crowd. This also led to an interesting conversation with ranger Frank Selers about how Chris Cornell of Soundgarden has not done a lot lately. Who would have known that Frank really likes to rock out?

When the jumping was over we had the obligatory pizza along with a couple of kegs of local microbrew courtesy of the chamber. At the de-briefing meeting we watched video of the day and gave $500 cash to Craig Nadler for winning the accuracy competition. The Dry Faster than You Heal (DFH) went to Brian Britton (who caught a really bad gust during the 2 way we did). The party more than lived up to Bridge Day standards and went into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The most common question I received all night was, “will you do it again next year”? I don't think so. My goal was to keep the event alive through a withering shit storm, and to make it possible for others to run the event without having to make large investments of time and money. We achieved both of those goals. I am both lifted and humbled by the thanks and appreciation that was shown to me all weekend. To all of you who attended, I am very happy to have been able to spend a fantastic weekend with you. You made it all worth the while.

Cya

My goal was to keep the event alive through a withering shit storm, and to make it possible for others to run the event without having to make large investments of time and money.

Oh I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? Well allow me to retort, The hotel was filled and everyone in the local area besides the jaded, angry, former organizer is happy, including, and most importantly, the jumpers. Here is what the people who matter most at the event had to say:


I wanted to thank you and the others for an amazing weekend, your strength and perseverance through all the BS, and for keeping the event alive. You are an ambassador of the sport and an example of the true spirit of what we do. You made a difference in people's lives and helped us to create some amazing memories which will help us in turn push more positive energy to the world. Thank you for everything.

Blue Skies,
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

Hey Tree!
It was my first year as you know, and I loved it. I am very excited to come back and do it again. I think you did an amazing job! I can't even fathom how difficult it must have been to coordinate everything!! My favorite part was that I have never felt so welcomed by locals -except those in the hotel bar!. The lovely gift bag and amazing perks for being a jumper were so awesome. Did you know we were walking up to the bridge Saturday morning (we drove and had to park really far away along the road) when the police said "oh, you're jumpers? you know you can park all the way up by the bridge?" So JR got to pull up close. Then, when we were at the entrance we were again allowed to skip the line and walk on early at like 845! We were really excited.
Hope to see you at Delmarva soon!
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

One question that I curious about but not sure if any data was kept on of those that jumped how many were female jumpers? By my quick count I figured at least eight, just wondering.
Thanks for a great bridge day
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

Hi Mark,
Thanks for everything. I didn't notice much of a difference between years past and this year. Good job. I didn't notice were we could find photos of the jumps for purchase. Is there a website for that?
Thanks,
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

Huge thanks to you and everyone that ran the event. It was awesome!
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

Mark,
I wanted to thank you for stepping up to keep Bridge Day alive and well. We had a fantastic time as always and can't compliment you enough on how everything ran. Everything was super laid back and drama free from what we saw and experienced. You told me at the event that it was no big deal but I know first hand, after running several boogies, how much goes into organizing any event let alone one filled with Skydivers and base jumpers while making it look easy.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a quick note to say thanks.

See you next year,
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil


Although I was "one & done," thanks for hosting Bridge Day! I am very grateful for my jump off the New River Gorge bridge!
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

Thanks. I had a fucking blast. I think this was my favorite bridge day off all time. Been going for 5 years now
Name deleted to protect you from the dark forces of evil

and from Whitewater Photography:

Mark- Thanks for all the help. You did an awesome job. Just left the BD commission, nothing but praise for you and Marcus. Thanks again
Terry. (too tough to need protection from the dark forces)
bridgedayphoto.com


Pretty good reviews for my first year out. You know, I really wasn't interested in doing this going forward, but since a lot of people (the ones who actually showed up and jumped and had a great time) have asked me to do it again, it might be worth it just to keep the cancer growth from returning to the event.

In this newspaper article, you were quoted as saying:

"Of the two security options, Kissner said most BASE jumpers opted for the background check."

Now you claim most got fingerprinted. Which is correct?

Also, you can't play music at the exit point without paying an ASCAP fee. They'll probably send you a bill, so no worries. Wink

Bridge Day is not supposed to be laid-back and never has been. Just ask the owner (Dan) of the Holiday Lodge, who couldn't fill half his rooms with jumpers when we normally sell all of them in 30 minutes. Do you think Dan is cool with a laid-back event and no videofest? Do you think Terry at Whitewater Photography is OK with only having 30% of the jumpers and 33% of the jumps we normally make? And what about the Chamber of Commerce, who might have grossed $10,000 total this year ($50x200 jumpers). With a $7000 water rescue bill and no major sponsors due to fingerprinting, do you think they're happy? I'm thinking they're pretty upset at the low turnout.

The new BASE advisors ruined the event for jumpers and hurt the local community financially by stepping in. Jumpers could have gained so much by standing firm until demands were met. Then the hotels would have been filled and normal jumper attendance realized. But what do I know, having only attended Bridge Day since 1992 and organizing the BASE jumping there from 2002-2014.

Now is the time for someone with real organizing skills to step forward and organize Bridge Day 2016.

Though I will give you that on BD, it does resemble Nazi Germany.....

That's a bit of a stretch, it's not like they are detaining us without reason to check out our background "papers" or numbering us and putting us into some kind of database to recognize who we are like the Nazis did.

......wait a minute.

Can't believe it took that long.

Here are the stats of the event: 313 jumps made by 150 (out of 205 who registered) jumpers from 3 countries and 29 states. The weather was perfect at 9:00 with no wind, but by 11:00, winds up top were 20+. Once the wind picked up, the LZ could go from no wind to strong gust and back in a few minutes. 80% of the time it was reasonable, 20% of the time it was very sketchy. By 10:30, everyone had their first jump off, so no one missed out on getting one in during the early morning calm.

There were 3 medical transports, 2 with lower leg fractures and one who just hit hard enough to be knocked silly for a while. A 4th was advised to be transported but refused and we were advised by the medical team to pull his pass (he wanted to jump again).

If we go by the feedback of people who attended, everything ran smoothly from check in, transportation, the actual jumping, and of course, an epic party. If something went well, it was solely due to the incredible support and hard work of the staff and volunteers who jumped in and made this thing work. (I hope I have remembered to thank all of you enough) If something didn't go as well, it was due to my lack of planning or experience with the overall event. Working at an event for a dozen years isn't the same as running it, and I'm sure there were things that could have gone better. However, according to all of the stakeholders in the event, we did pretty well. The people who think we did well include the Bridge Day Commission, the NPS, WV State Police, Whitewater Photography, water rescue, and as I'm told, pretty much all of the local politicians and civic leaders around the area. If they have any constructive feedback, I'd love to hear it.

The most common comment I heard was that the event was laid back and relaxed with a very community minded, old school vibe. Those comments came from jumpers and non jumpers, including the NPS? If there were any hassles with event security, I didn't hear about it. Out of all of the jumpers, only 62 sent in the background check, while the rest opted for the scan and had no issues with it. People came to have fun and help other people.

The new exit platform worked out really well and has been donated to the Chamber of Commerce to ensure the future of the event. We had music jamming at the exit point, and most people seemed to like it including the crowd. This also led to an interesting conversation with ranger Frank Selers about how Chris Cornell of Soundgarden has not done a lot lately. Who would have known that Frank really likes to rock out?

When the jumping was over we had the obligatory pizza along with a couple of kegs of local microbrew courtesy of the chamber. At the de-briefing meeting we watched video of the day and gave $500 cash to Craig Nadler for winning the accuracy competition. The Dry Faster than You Heal (DFH) went to Brian Britton (who caught a really bad gust during the 2 way we did). The party more than lived up to Bridge Day standards and went into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The most common question I received all night was, “will you do it again next year”? I don't think so. My goal was to keep the event alive through a withering shit storm, and to make it possible for others to run the event without having to make large investments of time and money. We achieved both of those goals. I am both lifted and humbled by the thanks and appreciation that was shown to me all weekend. To all of you who attended, I am very happy to have been able to spend a fantastic weekend with you. You made it all worth the while.

Cya

Has anyone here gone to Europe to jump? Malaysia to jump? China to jump? Did you have to give up your fingerprint to do so? Did anyone here refuse to leave this country because they were unwilling to be finger scanned by another country?

If my jumping bridge day pisses someone off, then so be it. don't jump with me.

And quite honestly, in todays internet world, I am more comfortable giving up my finger print then handing over my social security number, name, and adress and assuming it won't be used inappropriately.

Did you know Hitler was a vegetarian too?
Godwin's Law! It finally happened! Well done you two. Can't believe it took that long.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Has anyone here gone to Europe to jump? Malaysia to jump? China to jump? Did you have to give up your fingerprint to do so? Did anyone here refuse to leave this country because they were unwilling to be finger scanned by another country?

Have you ever been outside America at all, or have you been brainwashed into thinking the rest of the world is a collection of totalitarian police states in comparison to the good ol' US of A?

'Cos seriously dude, those are some wierd questions