The "Call the Locals" Rule

[TomAiello 25]

A while back, I mentioned that it was standard BASE etiquette to contact the locals when you are travelling, and looking to jump. I've received several PM's asking why this is the rule for BASE jumpers.

I'm working on writing up a Tom-style encapsulation of the rule, and why it's the best way to go, but in the mean time, I wanted to re-print this BLiNC post made several years ago by Earl Redfern. Thanks to BASE 311 for finding the old post.

Earl was probably the first person to complete 1000 BASE jumps, and sadly, was killed in an aircraft accident (along with another jumper) while scouting for new BASE sites.

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The 'Call the Local' Rule

by Earl Redfern

To my fellow BASE Jumpers - I would like to remind you all once again of a long standing tradition which is the single most important method of keeping us out of jail and preventing us from burning objects unnecessarily. This is the "CALL THE LOCAL" rule.

This is how it is supposed to work. As long in advance as possible before going to a new city to jump any object, you should make absolutely sure that you contact the most prominent local jumper in the area. That jumper is then honor-bound to help you by either personally taking you or having someone else take you to as many local sites as possible, training you in the accepted method for access on the particular object and partying with you afterwards. This is "THE WAY". There is no other way.

I will give you examples here of incidents where this rule has not been followed and several where it was followed. Remember, nothing's perfect. This is as good as it gets.

CALL THE LOCAL RULE FOLLOWED
I have traveled a great deal and visited many cities in the US and abroad. I always called the local BASE jumper who was acknowledged as being the contact person. I had great experiences. I made life long friends. I jumped some buildings that no one would have imagined possible, even in their wildest dreams. And I partied with some of the greatest people in the World. When I lived in Atlanta, many people called and unless they had inadequate experience they were taken personally to every building and/or crane that was being jumped and given complete lessons on entry, security, landing, winds and traditions. We partied Georgia style and no jumper paid for a motel; they stayed with one of us. In 10 years, no person jumping with me in Atlanta got busted. None of the people that I trained got busted except for one stupid jump in the middle of a parade. The newspapers and TV stations never ran a BASE jumping story about anyone who was jumping with me or any of the people I helped initially who called for updates the next time they came to town. It was the golden days of BASE in the Atlanta area. Many buildings were free for the taking with the benefit of years of careful effort by the locals. This "rule" and the assistance that went with it extended to all the local towers and stacks within a hundred miles as well. Ask Dennis, Brenda, the brothers Rick and Randy,"the ice cream man", John from Oklahoma, several Australians, several Germans, Rob" Broke Leg" from Canada, Kurt, Brian "the video man" and many, many others about the scene and the hospitality.

CALL THE LOCAL RULE NOT FOLLOWED
Once we had a horizontal crane that by providing a case of Bud each night we arraigned for the operator to leave it extended over a huge(100 yd. Square) empty lot. It was at about 700ft. We were putting a dozen people off it every night that the weather was good. Many people did their first BASE jump from this crane. Many people were preparing to do their first BASE jump from it. The police were busy elsewhere and basically uninterested at the time. It was the coolest scene and the crane was there for five more months.

Then along came John with his giant ego. He didn't call anyone. He got someone to take him up in the middle of the day so he could do his usual self-aggrandizing video jump. Two people, including the crane operator were fired from their jobs. Vincent got away and sent videos of himself jumping the World Trade Center (hop&pop) and others to the Atlanta news media for TV broadcast. Then he made some smart-ass comment like, what are they going to do, arrest me for stealing altitude? The cops were mad and told to bust us next time. Beers Construction put locks on all their cranes. The first BASE jump students were screwed. The locals were so pissed that they rented a van and drove all the way to New Orleans to"really f**k him up". John is extremely lucky that I was on the load and came up with the idea to TAR and FEATHER him. Otherwise, he would be without tongue and balls, the original plan.

CALL THE LOCAL RULE FOLLOWED
We had been jumping a South Georgia tower for ten years without incident. We had a key to the elevator and the special sequence to run it. Many people came after calling and were taken to the tower. Some that I really trusted, like Bob "Bromo", were given keys so they only needed to call to get the "hot or not" report and they were on their own with our blessing. We sometimes did ten jumps in one night from that tower.

CALL THE LOCAL RULE NOT FOLLOWED
Two very well known BASE jumpers from Florida drove their van inside the tower compound and got busted trying to get the elevator to work. If they had called, we would have boogied all night long.

I could go on and on with these examples and I am sure that many of you could as well. Many sites have been ruined for this reason. When will we ever learn?

Rest in peace, Earl.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Dd0g 0]

Plus, almost without exception, locals are fun to jump with and even more fun to party with. Right, Tom. . .?

Peace,

D-d0g

+~+~+~+~
But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

[andy2 0]

thanks for posting tom, I'll look foward to reading your complimenting peice. How well are these boards archived? This is the kind of stuff that will be important again in 10 years.

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[hookitt 0]

This could use a top slot again. There are some locals I need to contact.
-

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Zennie 0]

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I always called the local BASE jumper who was acknowledged as being the contact person.

This is sort of the phrase that I still have questions about. Sometimes it's easy, but sometimes it's unclear or very difficult to determine who the "acknowledged" contact person is.

I do my best to contact the up jumpers who seem in the know about who is where... and post on the BASE Board, but not all jumpers are net-savvy.

I had a situation like that a few months ago. Me and my mentor both tried our best to contact a local for a fairly famous object but couldn't get hold of anyone. I scouted the crap out of it and wound up jumping it as discreetly as a could (without incident), but I still didn't like the fact that I was in someone else's "territory".

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on how they'd handle a similar situation... i.e. you're travelling, you can't contact the locals and there is a nice object available to you.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[rfarris 1]

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I'd like to hear people's thoughts on how they'd handle a similar situation... i.e. you're travelling, you can't contact the locals and there is a nice object available to you.

Zennie here's my thinking on this....

And again, I'm a newbie here, but nonetheless, have several objects I jump, and share.

I believe you and I are close (within a few hours of each other).

I know for a fact there are numerous objects between us, not being jumped, but were at one time. If I've done my duty by trying to contact the local(s), without success, then I'm pretty much convinced that it is now my object to jump. However, I will still treat it as if it is being jumped by locals, i.e., not prancing out in the middle of the day with my neon yellow freefly suit with floral patterns, video camera, cheering section....

I've had visitors to my sites saying "Dude that's a day jump", and I'm like, "Dude, no it's not". A jumper just passing through who elects to day jump an object and get's seen, just may have screwed up someone elses only object that was being jumped at night.


All's I'm saying is, if I was traveling and ran across a tower I thought was very jumpable, I would approach it as if it is being jumped. Just because I see no proof that there are locals, doesn't mean there aren't any. Some of us are in locations that other jumpers would have a hard time believing there could be a BASE jumper there.

I'm pretty sure you feel the same way.

cya
Rod

[Slight 0]

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...
All's I'm saying is, if I was traveling and ran across a tower I thought was very jumpable, I would approach it as if it is being jumped. Just because I see no proof that there are locals, doesn't mean there aren't any. Some of us are in locations that other jumpers would have a hard time believing there could be a BASE jumper there.
...

This post gave me an idea. Warchalking is a method of marking a wireless internet access point as being open (free), closed (private) or other. It employs a set of chalk symbols to indicate the presence and nature of a wireless network. It was adopted by geeks from hobos. Hobos would place the mark somewhere to alert other hobos of valuable lessons already learned about that place.

I see that if could be useful for base jumper to adopt a system of signs as a way to mark a site. As an example you could have marks for these different situations:
* This tower has an elevator but it is alarmed
* Only jump this object at night
* Contact a local first
* Don't jump this object, certain doom
* Owner is cool if you talk to him first
* Beware of talus
* Seldom jumped
* Jump anytime
* Security cameras
* etc...

There problem are two problems with my idea. The first is if a law enforcement figure caught wind of this system, they would know what was up and use the marks to catch jumpers.

The second issue would be the honor code. Properly marking objects and following the rules. I could see a local trying to hog an object, an outsider mismarking an object to get others in trouble or worst, a visitor not following the marks when they saw and understood them.

[base570 1]

"Warchalking"

Interesting system. But I don't think it will work for the average traveling BASE jumper because there are no two sites that are alike. It would be hard to say" OK for all antennas go look for the coded symblols near the back left corner of the attached building or fence"... some towers don't have buildings or fences.
But it might be a usable system for an area that has a lot of jumpers and few sites or on fairly well known sites. Each time a successfull jump has been made the person leaving posts any changes or new cautions to be aware of.
But then again, you never want to leave ANY trace of activity at most sites, so marking anything is still a pretty bad idea
Jason 570