Posts Tagged ‘parachutes’

Basejumping is the extreme sport of parachuting from the tops of very tall natural objects or constructions such as cliffs, towers, or buildings. The margin for error in BASE jumping as compared to wingsuit flying or skydiving is much narrower. Once they jump, they have only a few seconds to deploy parachutes packed specially to fill with air quickly.

Correctly spelled, basejumping should be BASE jumping, with the ‘BASE’ being capitalized. It is an acronym for Buildings, Antennae, Spans, and Earth, in other words the sort of things one can jump from via parachute. ‘Earth’ replaces cliffs because BASC jumping doesn’t have the same panache does it? In French it is ‘le base jump’ – which has more panache than ’saut d’un point fixe’!

The Perrine Bridge over Snake River, Twin Falls, USA is the only manmade location in the United States where so-called BASE jumpers aren’t required to get a special permit for year-round jumps. Here you have a 3-second freefall before pulling the ‘chute during a 486ft descent. zulufan1 posted this video of Perrine Bridge.

Just like any other extreme sport, BASE jumping can result in injuries or even death. Even if you’ve had extensive training, the best gear, perfect weather conditions, and you’re smarter than the rest of the jumpers in your group, you can be injured or killed.

In most of the United States, jumpers often face arrest. The National Park Service doesn’t permit BASE jumping anywhere, including from the monoliths of Yosemite National Park, where six people had died, one of these being a woman who was protesting the ban. An 876-foot bridge over West Virginia’s New River Gorge is open just once a year.

Wingsuit flying, on the other hand, is the art of flying the human body through the air using a special jumpsuit, called a wingsuit (or squirrel suit), that shapes the human body into an airfoil which can create lift. The wingsuit creates the airfoil shape with fabric sewn between the legs and under the arms. A wingsuit can be flown from any point that provides sufficient altitude to glide through the air, such as skydiving aircraft or BASE jumping exit points. The flier will deploy a parachute at a planned altitude and unzip the arm wins to they can reach up to the parachute control toggles and fly to a normal skydiving or BASE jumping landing.

Thanks to FRICKMAN for this one and the BASEjumping beside the waterfall.

And I’ll end with an amazing video from ChrisGronski. Just watching it raises your adrenaline levels … nerves of steel those guys must have.

A cautionary tale.

Since 1981, there have been at least 123 BASEjump and wingsuit fatalities around the world, according to the World BASE Fatality List, a Web site maintained by a BASE jumper. Those risks haven’t kept about 1,500 BASE jumpers/wingsuit flyers around the world from making an estimated 40,000 jumps annually, said Martin Tilley, owner of Asylum Designs, an Auburn, Calif. company that makes equipment for BASE jumping. “BASE jumping (and wingsuit flying) is never going to go away,” he said. “You’re never going to eliminate the desire for people to thrust themselves off fixed objects and float safely to earth with the aid of a parachute.”

These are INCREDIBLE photographs aren’t they…

This is Dean Potter, one of the world’s best climbers, walking between ledges of a U-shaped rim above Hell Roaring Canyon, a 400-foot sheer sandstone wall on his right, a 900-foot drop to a dry riverbed on his left. He is using no leash to tether him to safety but is relying on a parachute to save his life if he should fall, as he says “now instead of dying, I am flying!” Even then there is danger involved. If he has an ‘unplanned’ fall his ‘chute could snag against the rock sides or he himself could be blown into the cliff sides. It is better to jump when you realize that you are about to lose your balance so you have a controlled departure!’

At 35, Potter has long stirred wonder as a climber. Six years ago, in Yosemite National Park, he became the first person to free climb El Capitan and Half Dome together in less than 24 hours, meaning he used ropes only for protection in case he fell, climbing only with his hands and feet for a vertical mile. It was an effort requiring remarkable concentration and speed that would be unthinkable for an average weekend climber.

He is believed to be the first person to combine the adventure sports of highlining and BASE-jumping and renaming it Baselining.

Highlining is a high-wire version of slacklining which in itself is an extreme cousin of tightrope walking in which no pole was used for balance and the rope was elastic.

“When there’s a death consequence, when you are doing things that if you mess up you die, I like the way it causes my senses to peak,” Potter said. “I can see more clearly. You can think much faster. You hear at a different level. Your foot contact on the line is accentuated. Your sense of balance is heightened. I don’t seem to feel that very often meditating.”

Dean Potter is pioneering the new extreme sport of baselining!

Dean Potter – one of the world’s best mountain climbers
Jim Hurst