Re: [freefal] What's your most surreal BASE jump story?
Well, I'm not sure if this is my most surreal, but it is the story of an image that will forever be ingrained in my mind. It is the story of my first ever jump from a construction crane.
I remember a couple of years ago hearing about a new condo project that had been approved for our fair city. 33 stories of luxury condominiums - first thought, that's gotta be high enough! And it just happens to be about a 3 minute walk from where I work.
I remember seeing the billboard go up with the rendering of what it would look like. And I remember sitting around for months - and months - waiting for the sales to go briskly enough to start the building process. And I remember the excitement the day they broke ground - all those people there, with all that equipment, and their dreams and visions of what this building would be.
And there's little old me walking by, with my own dreams and visions of what this would be to me.
As time goes on, they put in the foundation, and the first few floors. Then one day, I get a phone call from a fellow jumper. "Guess what I am watching right now - they are putting up the crane!" It wasn't very tall at first - at least not into my comfort zone of altitude. (I'm sure there's an Aussie somewhere that would have jumped it!). But that's okay, because eventually it will be tall enough for me. Again, time goes on, and the building rises. It seems to be growing quickly, and soon the construction crane gets raised. Higher, but still a ways to go yet. Another few weeks, and it gets raised again. Now I'll bet it's high enough. Now it's time for me to seriously consider this thing.
I've done dozens of walks around the site. I know it quite well by now - it's been over a year since I first stood at this spot and looked up at nothing, wondering where my exit point will be! But now there is a structure. Now I must contemplate how to get in, and how to get up there. I think about it as the weeks go by. I plan to go one night, but none of the friends I jump with want to go with me. I wait, and delay, sometimes for one reason, sometimes for another. A great weather night, and friends from work convince me to go out drinking. Another great weather night, and I can't arrange ground crew. It keeps getting put off.
Then one day as I drive in to work, I notice it - from much further away this time. Wow - they've raised the crane again. Probably another 50 to 60 feet of altitude. A gift - maybe this is why my previous plans were thwarted. Now, I can wait no longer. The decision is made - first good weather night, I am going. I didn't have to wait long.
The night comes - winds at 4 knots in the perfect direction. Full moon, clear skies. I call up the two guys that I normally jump with. One is exhausted from working constant overtime shifts. As he lives a half hour away, he didn't even want to make the drive. The other says it's not for him. For his own reasons, he doesn't think he wants to jump this crane. That's personal, that's his choice. But he says if I'm going, he'll definitely ground crew for me. So I guess it's just me and the crane.
We meet at my work place and head out for a drive by. Then it's off for a quick bite to eat, to talk about the plan, and to wait. It's still too early in the evening. Once we are done, we drive by again to have a look. Then it's back to my workplace to get my gear. We head back to the crane, park the car, and start to walk. We get to my nice secluded point of entry, under the fence, scramble up the little hill, and I'm in. Now where's that stairwell?
Some 30 or so floors later, I am out on the roof. Damn, what a view. I can see the lights of downtown just a short distance away. I can see airplanes coming in to land at the airport on the other side of the city. I go to the edge, and survey my landing areas from above. I should be able to make the park. It'll be a tight approach, but at least I'll be landing outside the construction site, and don't have to worry about fences. If not, well, I land inside and there's one spot I can get under the fence if I have to.
Then my ground crew radios up - "We've got a situation down here, stand by" One minute, Two minutes, three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes. Finally I can't stand the silence. "What's going on down there?" Well, it turns out that the security guard shift change happened to be right then, and the new guys decided to sit there with the door of the security shack open. Well, they might hear, but probably won't see, so I think I'm still a go.
I climb back down a couple of floors to where I can cross over to the crane. I gear up and get ready to go. Another ground crew hold. One of the two guys in the security shack came out, and started to walk over to the building I am now in. After it seems like an eternity, my ground crew spots him on the third floor - putting up some drywall. It's after midnight! And the guy is putting up drywall. Oh well, I'm still a go.
I walk over to the short catwalk which will take me from the relative darkness inside the building to the blinding light of the spotlights on the crane. You see, at the top of the vertical section of the crane, directly below the boom, are four massively huge spotlights. The kind of super heated lights that you could fry up a chicken on. It's nice - because they will light up my landing area very well. Add this to the full moon, and I've got great visibility. The only problem is, they will also light up me as I climb the last 80 feet or so of the crane until I can get out onto the boom. I've got no choice but to climb fast. So over I go. Out of the building and onto the crane. The crane that I had envisioned over a year ago. The crane that I have watched grow from nothingness into this beautiful object that I am about to hurl myself off.
On this night, it is my crane.
I climb as fast as I can (which isn't all that fast) I get right to the top, just below the boom. I am finally out of the light from the spotlights. But now I am below a grate which is locked. I can't get out to the boom. And I can't bypass the lock. I could climb out and around the gear and motor section of the crane, but after contemplating that for a little while, I decide that will terrify me too much! So here, in my tiny little section of no more than 10 feet of darkness, I try and come up with a different plan. So I wait, and I think.
About 20 feet below me, there is a very small catwalk on the side of the crane. It's got a nice railing - I can go from there. But two things wrong with that plan. First, I'll be exposed in the light of the spotlights, and second, about 30 feet in front of me will be the chain and hook that the crane uses to lift all the equipment to the top of the building. It is hanging about 20 feet lower than the catwalk. 30 feet out, 20 feet down, and pretty much right in front of where I would be jumping. Right in front of my face. Scary. I won't hit it, but what if my pilot chute toss catches it? Probably not, it's got to be too far out, but it is so huge up close that it's a bit scary. Well, if I go off a bit to the right, and I pitch further to the right, there's no way I'll snag it. Just hold a good solid 1 and a half second delay, and I'll be good. All it is going to do is add a gnarly visual to my freefall.
So it's settled. I climb down to the catwalk, get out on it, right into the spotlights. Now I'm totally exposed and visible. And immediately my ground crew comes on the radio and tells me to freeze - the second security guard who was still in the little security shack has just come out. As soon as I had just stepped into the light! So I freeze - totally motionless. I watch as the guard walks around a bit, goes over to his car, walks around a bit more, then stops. Is he looking up? I swear that if he looks up he'll see me. I'm directly below a couple of huge spotlights that are so bright they can give you a sunburn. Then he starts walking towards the building. Crap! Once he's inside, I call my ground crew. They lost sight of him when he entered the building, but don't think that he saw me. We're not sure, but I'm not turning back now. Even if I was seen, the quickest way of escape now lay in front of me, not behind.
So I pull out my pilot chute, get it all ready to go in hand. Moving as quickly and quietly as possible. Once I'm ready, I hop up onto the railing. I check with my ground crew, and they say that they have spotted the security guard. He's on the third floor, talking to the guy who's working on the drywall. Now's my time. Finally. Everything leading up to this has been scary. It's been over an hour since I got out of the car. But now I'm in my happy place.
I take a look around at the scenery one last time, then survey my landing area one last time, and go over then jump in my head one last time.
I start to count: 5 - 'am I ready?' - 4 - 'yeah I'm ready' - 3 - I feel the legs tense up - 2 - I start to lean - 1 - I start to push - See ya.
And that's when those spotlights, which had been both a blessing and my nemesis up until now, truly came into play . . .
My feet were barely off the steel. Once I felt I had a good head-high, chest-to-the-horizon launch, I took the opportunity to look straight down. You see, I like to get a bit of ground rush sensation every now and then. But what I saw was not what I expected. What I saw is an image I will never forget.
There on the ground below me, in perfect clarity, plain as day, was a shadow. A shadow of a person. The shadow of me.
It had to be 70 or 80 feet from head to toe. It was immense! I was so close to those spotlights, and they lit up the ground so well, that they cast a massive silhouette of my body in freefall. I couldn't believe it!
The next few moments went by like snapshots, or stop motion film. I watched as that shadow was in freefall. I watched as that shadow tossed its pilot chute. I saw the silhouette of the pilot chute inflate and go to bridle stretch. Then I felt the pins pop and the weight of the canopy lift off my back. In perfect sync, I saw a canopy coming off the back of that silhouette. By this time, I was falling with a bit of speed, and I could see the shadow getting smaller and smaller as I fell away from the spotlights. I watched as the shadow's canopy got closer to line stretch. And I felt the smile come across my face. And I heard my brain say "Dude - that was a cool two way!"
Then opening shock sat me upright, and I could see it no longer. I couldn't take the time to look for my new friend under canopy. I had other pressing matters to attend to.
I tried to set up for the park, but would have to sink it in too steep. So I chose to set it down back inside the construction compound. I landed nice and soft. Stuffed my gear in the stash bag real quick. I started to take one step towards the hole in the fence I could slip under. Then I took one last look towards the building - no security guard rushing out towards me. I don't think they had a clue. Then one last look up - at the building I was in, at the crane I was just on, at the full moon behind it and the one little wisp of a cloud. And at the exit point I had shared with myself!
Then off to the fence, underneath, into the car and we're gone.
Looking back at the jump, all the waiting, from first hearing about it, to watching it be built, to the extended process of getting in, and up to the exit point, all the hassle with the security - it took a lot to do that jump. And in the end, it was all worth it for just that one moment - a moment I will remember forever, a moment that blew my mind - the moment I looked down and saw my 80 foot tall shadow in freefall.
Every day since then, I have remembered that image. I have thought about that shadow. And probably will for many months to come.
For me, that visual was pretty surreal.
,actualy they has helped me 2 times as the guy off the house has warned me about a securety guard near the tower
If you afterwards think that what you did were stupied or beyon your personal limit,then practice to say no.