Eugene Skydivers and City of Creswell Find Common Ground
CRESWELL, Ore—Eugene Skydivers and the City of Creswell found a resolution to the long running dispute about skydivers landing on the Creswell Airport. On August 15, the city council addressed the matter during a public meeting. Community members were given an opportunity to voice their support or concerns about skydiving returning to the airport.
Two key questions were at issue for the resolution to move forward. The first was to allow skydivers to cross the airport’s runway, and the second was to settle a lawsuit filed by Eugene Skydivers’ owner Urban Moore. Following public input, the council voted to accept the agreement by passing the two issues. The votes to affirm the runway crossing and the settlement were decided by a 5-2 and 6-1 decision, respectively.
The agreement will end an eight-year battle between Eugene Skydivers and the City of Creswell. Moore declined to discuss the terms of the agreement, but states, “It’s a shame it took this long, but I’m glad the agreement is moving forward. If the resolution holds up, I look forward to a new working relationship with the city as we reintegrate onto the airport.”
A time frame has not been set for when skydiving operations will resume at the airport, but Moore expects it will take some time for all the details to be worked out. The council’s vote “definitely helped pave the way for skydiving to resume, full time at the airport, much sooner than if we continued our litigation”, stated Moore. For additional information visit www.eugeneskydivers.com or the City of Creswell’s website www.cityofcreswell.com.
About Eugene Skydivers
Eugene Skydivers opened for business in February 1992 at the Creswell Airport. The organization has served the Eugene area, Southern Oregon, and Northern California for the last 22 years. Highlights for Eugene Skydivers include exhibition jumps for businesses, charities, political campaigns, and hosting a successful Oregon State skydiving record attempt. This year more than 1000 tandem jumps were safely performed. To date, Eugene Skydivers has executed an estimated 68,000 skydives. Business operations are Thursday thru Sunday and by appointment.
Michiko Kawaragi - Sweet Dreams Come True
Twenty- three year old Michiko Kawaragi has made the trek from Japan to Skydive Arizona twice in the past six months. Her goal, to make as many skydives as she can afford. With 600 + jumps to her credit, this quiet yet friendly young woman has a dream, and that dream is centered on competing in the Open class division of freestyle skydiving.
To become skilled in any sport it requires, dedication, discipline, a great deal of practice and a first-rate coach. Michiko's limited funds would not afford her the opportunity to hire a coach let alone do the volume of jumps required to reach her objective. Sometimes however, good fortune smiles down upon us and we receive a gift when we least expect it. Such is the case for this aspiring young flyer.
At the behest of a close friend, Michiko was encouraged to enter an online essay contest sponsored by Snickers® candy bar entitled: "Dream Support." The criteria set forth was to write a 200 word essay detailing the dream and what it would take to make it come true. The winning entry would receive $10,000 U.S. and those funds would have to be spent within a 3 months period solely on the pursuit of that dream.
Michiko received a phone call at 3:00 am one morning while in Arizona informing her that she had won the essay contest!
Early the next morning, Michiko went in search of former World Freestyle Champion Omar Alhegelan. Michiko was in high hopes that Omar would have room in his busy schedule to coach her. She was thrilled to learn that he would indeed have time. Michiko was soon on her way to making a dream come true.
Michiko admits that there is a great deal work to do before she has honed her skills enough to compete as a guest at the U.S. Nationals. She does aspire at some point to be invited to a World Meet. For now she is eager to continue her tutelage under Omar, and feels honored and privileged for the opportunity. Michiko offers that with proper coaching she has been able to make some very noticeable progress, none of which would have been possible without a sweet dream or a sweet tooth.
Photo: Jason Peters
The Loss of Two Legends - Pat Works and Scotty Carbone
This week saw the loss of two skydiving heavy-weights, Pat Works and Scotty Carbone, in separate incidents not related to skydiving. Both Pat and Scotty were long time members of dropzone.com and legends within the skydiving community as a whole. Pat and Scotty couldn't have been more different in personalities, though they garnered both love and respect from fellow skydivers in their own individual approaches to life.
Scotty Carbone
It's difficult to say anything on Scotty that hasn't been talked about already on dropzone.com. In fact, a thread started way back in 2002 sought to bring together both stories and rumors relating to Scotty, titled "Who is Scotty Carbone?", which gathered more than 150 responses including individuals such as Bill Booth who shared his own story on Scotty.
Although controversial at times, Scotty's brash nature and loud personality was accompanied by a willingness to help others and an unmatched ability to bring smiles and laughter to those around him. He will always be known as a man who followed his own path and didn't allow others to dictate how he should live.
Not only was Scotty a well known personality in the community, but he was also a skilled skydiver with plenty of jumps behind his name and 'more cutaways than most people have jumps'.
Scotty Carbone Memorial Thread
Pat Works
Pat Works will always be remembered for his contributions to the world of skydiving. He was a key participant in the creation and overall establishment of the relative work (formation skydiving) discipline back in the 1970s. In the 1990s he again played a crucial role in the development of VRW or vertical formation skydiving as it is now known.
An extremely skilled skydiver with more than 8000 jumps behind his name, Pat sought to share his knowledge of the sport through his writing and authored several popular books, including: "United We Fall", "The Art of Freefall RW" and "The Art of VRW: The Way of Freefly"
Pat was truly spurred on by his eagerness to teach and was never shy to hop onto the forums and share his knowledge with others. He was also a member of the Skydiving Museum with roles as historian, museum curator, collections and curatorial committee.
Although he has left us, Pat's contributions towards the sport shall be noticed for decades to come.
Pat Works Memorial Thread
We thank Pat Works for his considerable literary contributions to the sport and Scotty for being himself and bringing a smile to those around him.
BSBD
SkyVenture Colorado on Track
I'm sure by now you have heard the buzz in the Skydiving community about the newest SkyVenture wind tunnel being built in Lone Tree, Colorado. Well, the buzz is true; finally Colorado will have its very own indoor flight chamber. All of SkyVenture's latest technology wrapped in a single spectacular package and placed in the middle of The Entertainment District next to Park Meadows Mall located at 9230 Park Meadows Drive, in Lone Tree, Colorado.
SkyVenture Colorado tunnel has all the latest improvements in design. The first thing you'll notice is the building is a single fully contained facility. Behind the unique architecture you will find a massive amount of very sophisticated components making up what is referred to as a "re-circulating tunnel". This technology has many advantages. By re-circulating the air they can maintain a very comfortable 70 degrees in the tunnel even when it is snowing outside. By virtually eliminating all influence from outside wind gusts and channeling the air early on it gives the ultimate smooth as silk air. Combining extremely tight tolerances on aerodynamic design and 1200 hp they have created the finest, smoothest 160mph+ air available in the industry.
SkyVenture Colorado LLC is a private Colorado based company formed to own and operate the most technologically advance and realistic skydiving simulator in the world. A group of investors headed up by Norm Rosendale are not new to the world of entertainment. Norm was involved in the SkyCoaster amusement ride business and served on the Board for Sky Fun 1. He has flown hang gliders for over 25 years and owned and operated his own hang gliding business. Norm's mission is to create a comfortable atmosphere for the skydivers and non-skydivers to relax and interact with each other and share their dreams and experiences of flight. "If we all don't walk away with a smile on our face then we are not doing it right".
Construction is going very well for a late December early January opening. Please sign up for e-mail updates or buy now and make your reservations to be one of the first fliers at www.SkyVentureColorado.com
First jet powered Birdman flight
Tuesday 25th October 2005 - It was an untypical crisp October morning in Lahti, Finland when Visa Parviainen and the BirdMan Rocket Team attempted to make the first ever jet powered, birdman flight.
The team set up camp in a small park in downtown Lahti, to prepare for the jump. The locals appeared to be not-at-all phased by the fact that some person was igniting a jet engine in their tranquil little park while they were walking their house pets.
The launch platform selected for the day was provided by the famous Finnish Balloon Bros, who graciously offered their services for this historic event. Visa had designed a unique launch platform to hang outside the balloon to avoid 'cooking' the balloon occupants during the ascent to altitude from the exhaust gases of the jet engines.
Once Visa had adorned his birdman suit and rig on the ground, it was time to test the rocket boots. Each jet engine provides around 16kgs of thrust, and is primed with a mix of butane and propane. Once ignited, the engines rely on a steady supply of kerosene (JetA1) fuel. This fuel burns at around the rate of 0.5 litres per minute, on full power, for each jet engine. The combined thrust of both power plants was calculated to be enough to sustain level human flight in a wing suit for an average weight skydiver.
Once all the gear checks were made and rigorous safety procedures executed on the ground, it was time to inflate the hot air balloon for the ascent. The Balloon Bros provided a smooth and relaxing ride up to altitude over the beautiful vista of the humble town of Lahti in middle Finland.
The Balloon ascended over the unpopulated areas around the lakes and forests of rural Lahti, visa primed and started the rockets prior to exit. After warming up the engines in the cold surrounding atmosphere, it was time to make the attempt. The high pitch whine of the jet engines sounded surreal in the calm stillness of the hot air balloon. Tensions were high that this attempt would be a successful one. It was time to go, as the fuel was rapidly running out, Visa gave the all clear sign (a quick grin) at around 2300m (7000ft) before 'edging' off the platform into the first rocket-powered-human-flight attempt.
The exit was stable and on-heading, after attaining normal bird-man flight, Visa requested full power from the engines, which responded smoothly in horizontal acceleration. After checking the altimeter several times, it was apparent that there was no appreciable loss in altitude for this period of time. Visa next changed his angle of attack by redirected the thrust and changing his body position to attain vertical climb. This caused a loss in horizontal speed, and stalled (the body?). Recovering from the stall was made easy because of the agility of the human body to change flight profile easily.
A few more attempts at this exercise yielded the same result. Pretty soon it became apparent that fuel consumption would soon terminate the level flight portion of the jump. Visa simply rode out the rest of the jump in level flight following the highway until the fuel ran out. Visa then continued in normal bird-man flight until deployment altitude. The deployment sequence was normal, and the landing was uneventful.
The jump has proven empirically that level human flight is possible and sustainable using the combination of jet engines and a bird-man suit. The strength required to control level flight was relatively easy, and controlling the direction of flight feels surprisingly natural. The duration of flight is simply a factor of the consumption of fuel of the engine(s) powering the flight.
Visa Parviainen has proven that with a little innovation, determination and courage it has been possible to realise the dream of uninhibited human flying.
Skydivers interested in renting at Garrett
MCHENRY -- Tandem skydiving may come to the Garrett County Airport if the Pittsburgh Skydiving Center Inc. meets four requirements set by the Garrett County Commissioners on Tuesday.
Saying an agreement should be no more restrictive nor more liberal than others operating out of the airport, the commissioners agreed with the recommendation of the Garrett County Airport Commission.
Director of General Services Gary Mullich presented an official request from the Pittsburgh Skydiving Center in December for a formal lease agreement with the airport by Jan. 31.
The commissioners approved the request but did not agree to a waiver of liability insurance. The county does not have any building space to lease to the center, and area for land lease would need to be added to the Airport Layout Plan and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Electricity and water are not provided to land lease tenants; they provide their own.
"You would have to have a good reason to deny anyone the use of the airport," Mullich said, since it receives federal funds. The skydiving center would have to give the county a hold-harmless agreement and would have to have an agreement with the county if it uses the airport as a base of operation.
Don Bick of the skydiving club, which operates out of Connellsville (Pa.) Airport, met with members of the advisory group in December. He would like a standard three- or five-year lease, beginning May 1, with an option to renew. The group is interested in leasing appropriate building space or installing a mobile office.
The county requires $1 million general liability coverage. The skydiving group has $1 million in premise or "slip and fall" insurance, and $50,000 in third-party insurance for all licensed skydivers through the United States Parachute Association, but says it cannot get general liability coverage, Mullich said.
Bob Railey, a local pilot, said the group seemed to have a pretty smooth operation at Connellsville. He said it might be possible for them to just use a trailer as an office on weekends. He felt it would be an attractive business for the county and could not see any airplane operations vs. skydiving issues that would hinder either activity.
Ken Wishnick, president of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce, said the skydiving club had joined the chamber and asked if any staff members wanted to jump. "A few are actually considering it," said Wishnick.
"I would love to do this myself," said Deb Clatterbuck of the chamber. "You would be jumping with a jump master," she said, stressing safety must be first.
The addition of the skydiving, Clatterbuck said, "would be an inclusion of another adventure sport and of course, the increased amusement tax received off that." Also the number of take-offs and landings at the airport would help make it eligible for an increased runway.
"Dick assured us the jump would not interfere with any planes coming in, and would not take up much room at the airport," said Caroline Hill, co-manager of the Garrett County Airport. "He said they were quite busy up in Connellsville. They haven't had any problems, but there are a lot of questions to be answered.
"Some local people have supported him and I think there is an interest," she said. She is worried some about parking problems because of the participants and curiosity-seekers the event would draw.
Avalore Freefly Courses
When first learning to freefly the members of the Avalore Freefly School received a lot of 'coaching' from small freefly schools that offered little more than a good video of flailing attempts of headup flying. This gave them the idea of running a freefly school that provides a high level of customer service and support. They aim to help students with every aspect of their coaching trips from booking hotels to getting a reserve repack as well as supporting them after their coaching as much as possible.
The school has spent a considerable amount of time improving their flying and coaching technique from the likes of Max Cohn, Chris Fiala and the UK Sports Council. They have developed numerous resources to help their students from written articles to training videos.
As well as the normal coaching jump options the Avalore Freefly School (http://www.avalorefreefly.com) offers freefly courses aimed at beginner freeflyers as well as the more advanced freeflyer.
The courses are for the individual wanting to learn to fly in a headup orientation or wanting to gain their BPA (British Parachute Association) FF1 qualification. Much like an AFF course, they are split up into levels to learn different skills. Courses usually last 4 days and consist of an average of 20 coached jumps, which can take you from having done no freeflying to having your FF1 qualification.
The advantage of running courses is that as well as covering all the skills needed to fly in a headup orientation you also learn every other aspect of freeflying over the duration of the course. Everything is covered from exit orders, group separation and gear issues to planning successful safe freefly jumps with your friends.
The courses include thorough briefs/debriefs, a copy of your coaching jumps on DVD and a comprehensive course manual covering everything you need to know. Your coach is always on hand after the course for continuous advice and support.
The school has received excellent testimonials from their students all of which have returned or have booked to return in the near future. Some comments from their students are quoted below:
Billy Gibbons, January 2006: "Contact was established quickly and maintained right through up until my visit, even with Louis taking time to offer hints and tips via e-mail for me to try at home and in the air which I found invaluable and which in my mind displayed excellent customer commitment."
Kevin Dawes, November 2005: "During these jumps my coach quickly helped me overcome some of the bad habits I had obtained over the years. The detailed briefs he gave me before and after each jump helped improve my understanding a great deal. He also ensured that before we exited the plane I was in a relaxed state and was not rushing. This made all the difference and helped focus my mind."
The Avalore Freefly School has locations in Ocana, Spain and also at the Black Knights Parachute Centre in UK. The head coach is Louis Harwood who is based in Spain and Rob McVey is the UK coach. All of the coaches have been trained as coaches by the UKCC.
Coaches from the school Louis Harwood and Rob McVey train along with David Downham to form the Avalore Freefly team. They don't claim to be champions but enjoy competing and use it to improve their own skills and also their coaching. They believe you don't have to be a world champion to run a successful freefly school. They have worked hard to become good coaches and run the school the way they wanted to be coached when they first started. It goes to show that commitment and hard work does pay off!
Feel free to contact the school to book your course or ask any questions you might have. You can also have a look at the website for more information.
Louis Harwood
Avalore Freefly
http://www.avalorefreefly.com
[email protected]
(UK) 01212880618
(ES) +34662021951
The Mile-Hi Skydiving Center lands a fine
LONGMONT — The Mile-Hi Skydiving Center has landed in legal trouble.
The business was fined $500 and ordered to pay $138 in court costs Monday after the company's attorney entered a guilty plea to a third-degree trespassing charge, a misdemeanor.
The plea avoids a trial scheduled to begin today.
In August, the company's president Jeffrey Sands, 37, landed his helicopter on a farm to retrieve a cut-away parachute that fell on to the property at 7457 St. Vrain Road, according to a sheriff's report.
A drop zone staff member got out of the helicopter and told a woman who rents horses on adjacent property that he was retrieving the drop zone's parachute. William Jones, 70, whose wife owns the farm, called the Boulder County Sheriff's Office to file a trespassing complaint.
Jones said Monday all he really wanted was a letter from the district attorney or sheriff's office telling Sands to stay off the property.
"A lot of the neighbors have had problems with the skydivers," Jones said. "In the past he (Sands) has had no respect about going on to people's property."
Jones said he was unsure if Sands received a letter but that "he was told if he comes on the property again, it will cost him some more money."
Deputy District Attorney Ken Kupfner said he specifically requested that the misdemeanor charge name Sands' business in hopes that Sands and his employees will be more accountable for their future actions.
Sands said he does his best to be sensitive to the community. To avoid problems, he said his company — operated out of Vance Brand Airport since 1995 — stopped using detachable rip cords in 1998. The company airplane flies double the 800-foot requirement and reduces the propeller's rpm when flying low to avoid noise complaints.
He said the company policy is for a land crew to seek permission from property owners before retrieving items that inadvertently fall on private lands.
"I want to be a good neighbor," Sands said.
He called the August incident of landing a helicopter on private property "a fluke situation" because the woman the staff member got into an argument with had complained about noise before and threatened to steal and damage the next parachute she found.
He also said that he thought he landed on Boulder County open space land and did not intentionally land on Jones' private property.
Dropzone Unknown
With all of the worldwide disasters happening, have you thought about joining in and helping out somehow? Skydiving skills, to reach people in isolated areas, are being used by Remote Area Medical, to bring in help where it is needed yet where it is inaccessible by conventional ground transportation.
Remote Area Medical - RAM Airborne
Remote Area Medical, RAM, has been providing humanitarian aid to people worldwide since 1985, with the airborne division currently on the rise and seeking skydivers. Founded by Stan Brock, from the show Wild Kingdom, RAM and its volunteers are “Pioneers of No-Cost Health Care” with well over 400 missions in the US and abroad.
The first RAM Airborne mission was to Tennessee in 2005, proving that skydivers and cargo can be dropped into an unknown area, on top of a hill in the Appalachian Mountains. The next RAM Airborne mission is to Guyana in South America, to clear trees from existing grass runways; making them accessible once more by airplanes. From March 26 to April 9, RAM’s mission to Guyana will provide air-ambulance access to the people living in the nearby villages. This is a non-medical mission, but medical support is needed, in the event of an injury or medical emergency during the mission.
An additional trail team is being recruited, not requiring skydiving skills, to re-clear a trail in the Amazon forest, connecting two villages to another airstrip which was repaired by a RAM team in 2004.
This will be a physically demanding mission, to clear large trees and thick undergrowth, while living in a tent or hammock. Hiking through the Amazon forest is no walk through the park either, with machetes in hand and packs on your back; these are a few things to keep in mind, and a few things to savor, for those who want to come for the adventure.
Skills Being Sought:
Skydivers must have a B-license or better, with an average of 100 jumps as a minimum; good canopy control and a canopy wing loading of 1.3 or less are expected, because there’s no room for error, and no hospitals to go to if you biff your landing. As you may have guessed, no hook turns allowed. You bring in your own gear for camping, and you pay for your own airfare to and from Georgetown, Guyana – but it is tax-deductible, since it is for a humanitarian effort. It is the most direct way to give, by providing your skills directly where it is needed!
RAM is also seeking people with medical skills, to handle any potential injuries that may happen, one per team at a minimum – more if possible – plus some basic medical supplies. The rest of the team is not required to be medically trained but everyone must be physically prepared – this is not your typical working-holiday trip overseas – it is hard work and it is worth it.
Videographers are also being sought, to help document this first-time-ever event. Proof of skills will be necessary, to ensure one’s safety, and others’ as well; video cameras may also be provided, as details are confirmed. Videographers would be the first to land, then film the others as they land; the case-of-beer policy will be waived, mainly because there are no stores to go get any and no refrigeration either.
If you or someone you know is interested – here are some things to begin doing:
Work on hop and pop exits and accurate landings
Gear up your camping supplies – for a two-week camping trip
Get in shape – it’s a load of work and physically exhausting
Join RAM as a volunteer – send an e-mail to karen @ karenhawes.com for further details, or go to
http://www.karenhawes.com/ram/RAM-Mission-FAQ.htm
RAM Camp
If you want to work on the skills necessary for this type of skydiving mission, there will be a “RAM Camp” training program offered in mid-March at Skydive Arizona, prior to the Guyana mission from March 16 - 19, to hone or develop your skills in:
Spotting, exiting and landing in unfamiliar areas
Cargo-bail preparations and air drops
Basic field-medical skills, stitching open-wounds, making traction splints
Basic camping and navigation skills
Other survival tips and tricks to know, plus pitfalls to avoid
Prospective volunteers, who complete this course and display the necessary skill level required, will be selected over volunteers who do not. For more information about the RAM Camp, go to http://www.karenhawes.com/ram/RAM-Camp.htm
This course will be taught by three RAM volunteers, with years of experience in the areas of skills being taught:
Rene Steinhauer – Medical Aid in Remote Areas
Bryan Burke – Cargo/Spotting/Airdrops and Navigation
Karen Hawes – Travel Tips (for men and women) and Gadgets in the Wild
RAM Camp Instructors
All three trainers will cover their own areas of expertise, and survival skills training, based on actual in-field experience; with personal experiences ranging from domestic and international relief efforts, everyone has something to learn in this course.
Here’s a brief background of each instructor:
Rene Steinhauer RN, CFRN, EMT-P – Rene is a currently working as a flight nurse in Antarctica till February 2006. He has worked on humanitarian projects around the world and has also worked as a combat medic on the front lines in Iraq. He has trained civilian and military personnel in remote and combat medicine for years. He is also one of the founding members of RAM Airborne.
Bryan Burke – Safety and Training Advisor at Skydive Arizona, with two decades in the sport and 3,200 jumps. Although he is known in the sport as the organizer of numerous boogies and competitions, he also has considerable experience with parachute testing, skydiving for the entertainment industry, and other applications that require precise airborne delivery. Most of his off-DZ time is spent kayaking, backpacking, or rafting in remote wilderness areas.
Karen Hawes – A Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin, with 500 jumps on 6 continents in 12 countries and at over 100 dropzones, she has been a RAM volunteer since 2004. She is the current RAM Airborne recruiter, with three missions to: Guyana (airstrip repair), Sumatra (tsunami relief), and Tennessee (first RAM airdrop mission). A fourth RAM mission to New Orleans is scheduled, for the second week in February 2006. She is also working on configuring solar power sources for hand-held electronic devices, to be used on remote-area missions.
For More Information and to Sign-Up
For more information on the mission in March and the RAM Camp, go to:
http://www.karenhawes.com/ram/RAM-Mission-FAQ.htm
http://www.karenhawes.com/ram/RAM-Camp.htm
Come One, Come All!
If someone you know is interested, but not a skydiver, then now is the time to begin training and cap it off with one of the RAM Camps, to be ready for future missions. If you already have the skydiving skills, you can take advantage of this unique opportunity to add “Humanitarian” to your list of skills and world experiences.
Find out more about RAM at www.ramusa.org and join the adventure!
Seven Years In Nepal – The Story of Everest Skydive
A Himalayan Adventure That Continues To Reinvent Itself
In late October 2014, Everest Skydive is set to enter into it’s seventh year of operation and make it’s eight expedition into the Nepali Himalaya bringing skydiving back to one of the earth’s most remote locations. In between the traditional scenery of climbers, trekkers, sherpas and porters, skydivers and their parachutes will once again be seen flying through the skies of the Khumbu region and Sagarmatha National Park. Arriving at this point, entering a seventh year after the first skydives were made in 2008, has been a path as challenging as any of the paths that lead to Everest Base Camp. Each year, as logistical challenges emerge and operational needs change, the expedition faces a year long challenge to bring skydiving back to Nepal. “Eleven months of hard work for one month in the Himalaya working even harder” has been the mantra of the team and expedition, composed of an international mix of skydivers and mountaineers.
Over the years Everest Skydive has seen many changes. Whether it was aircraft support shifting from the Pilatus PC-6 to the AStar B3, or helping promote charities like Global Angels, to opening up new remote dropzones, the Everest Skydive expedition has constantly evolved to meet the needs of the local Nepali tourism industry and to bring high altitude skydiving and canopy flight to higher and higher dropzones. Seven years ago, the idea of safely landing sport and tandem parachutes at 12,350ft MSL was considered by many to be an impossible task. Yet, as each expedition successfully ventured further and further into the Himalaya, landing parachutes closer and closer to Everest Base Camp, this team of international skydivers proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that with today’s modern parachute designs providing cutting edge technology and performance envelopes, that high altitude parachute landings were not just the realm of stuntmen and world record seekers. As each year came and went, stand up landings at dropzones at 15,000ft MSL in Ama Dablam Base Camp, or 16,900ft MSL into the Gorak Shep lake bed, or even 17,192ft MSL onto the Kala Pattar Plateau proved that modern canopy flight and landing was sustainable at these altitudes.
As each expedition would come to a close however, the team would search the Nepali landscape for new and exotic locations to bring skydiving into. After establishing those four dropzones in the Eastern Himalaya, the team’s founder Suman Pandey suggested the team head west to Pokhara, a lakeside Nepali tourist location beneath the Anna Purna Range of the western Himalaya. With a DZ elevation of 3,300ft MSL, Pokhara Skydive allowed for the Everest Skydive Himalaya experience without the added cost and complexity of the bail out oxygen systems that the higher eastern Nepali Himalaya region required. Pokhara Skydive then evolved into Everest Skydive’s first “consumer friendly” (not incredibly expensive) skydiving expedition for local tourism based sport and tandem skydiving. Not to be content with just bringing skydiving to the western Himalaya however, the team “borrowed” an AStar in 2013 and went scouting for another remote high altitude location. They found it in a village called Manang, located in a valley with an elevation of 11,500ft MSL, and with the help of the local government, were able to create a sustainable high altitude dropzone in Manang, Nepal as well.
With all the exhausting effort put into creating successful skydiving expeditions into the Himalaya each year, the staff was known to periodically take a week off together after Everest Skydive and trek on foot up to Everest Base Camp to connect with the local friends and families that they had become a part of over the years. This expedition to Everest Base Camp received so many questions from friends and family back home over the years however, that the team began to open up the trek and invite others to join in on this life changing experience of making it all the way up to Everest Base Camp. What started out as a handful of friends, turned into a group of twenty people hitting the trails in two stages in 2013 and the 2014 expedition looks to bring between 20 and 30 skydivers and friends of skydivers on a trek to Everest Base Camp with skydiving in the western (and way more affordable) Himalaya region of Pokhara after the trip to Everest Base Camp.
One of the strengths of the Everest Skydive expedition and it’s Everest Base Camp and Pokhara Skydive evolution is in the company that the team works with. Fishtail Helicopters has been providing Everest Skydive and their guests with the world’s most reliable high altitude helicopter support. And in a region like the Himalaya, the word “reliable” can be the difference between skydiving all day in a remote location or sitting on a hillside wrestling a parachute container away from a local yak…….Helicopter support for jump operations, helicopter support for medical evacs if needed and most appreciated it would seem……helicopter support to depart the Himalaya after reaching Everest Base Camp. Most everyone that reaches Everest Base Camp feels a little tinge of anxiety as they start to head back down the mountain, as they suddenly realize, with their goal behind them, that they still have a 3 day walk back out of the park to catch a Twin Otter back to Kathmandu. Not Everest Skydive and it’s group however……since the team works directly with the AStar owners, they coordinate flights out from the Himalaya the day after reaching Everest Base Camp. Facing a 3 day walk, instead the team flies out on an 8 minute terrain flying AStar flight back to Lukla Airfield, back to the world. The word “epic” can be a cliché at times, not here though, not on this flight. It has to be experienced to understand it, but for those that already have, they know.
That’s the story more or less, seven years of hard work by a small group of highly motivated international teammates that continue to bring the “top of the world” within reach of the skydiving universe. It’s an expedition that continues to grow and evolve like the remote ecosystem around it. And at the end of the day, whether it’s skydiving beside Mount Everest or sharing a lemon tea with a sherpa family and friends, the Everets Skydive expedition continues to make the world a little smaller by bringing people together from different cultures and countries and giving them all the same thing to believe in, that people are capable of accomplishing anything as a team.
For more information on Everest Skydive, you can contact Tom Noonan via e-mail.