First TF News Article on BASE this year

[manship 0]

The Twin Falls newspaper just had a story today on BASE.

This is the first one this year and fairly positive.

Look soon, as they don't keep things available for long.

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/localstate/index.asp?StoryID=5599



=================================================
I am not invisable nor bulletproof.
However, I am quite difficult to see,
and have not been wounded yet.
=================================================

[hookitt 0]

Clickable

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

[TomAiello 25]

Hey Tom,

I heard you're closing in on a thousand jumps. Retirement must be treating you well?

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[narcimund 0]

Quote

This is the first one this year

Actually, there was a very positive story in July. I posted it here. Unfortunately the paper's archive no longer has it, but I pasted the text.

Previous thread

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[rfarris 1]

Yeah Tom, and I think I see you standing amongst the croud in the photo. The troll must of come out from under the bridge for some sunshine.

Now, come home and let's climb something, you wuss!!
Rod

[floormonkey 0]

BASE jumpers provide windfall for TF, businessman says
By Rebecca Meany
Times-News writer

TWIN FALLS -- Legislators touring southern Idaho were treated to the gorgeous vista of the Snake River Canyon Tuesday, but high winds kept them from seeing the main attraction: people hurling themselves off the Perrine Bridge.

BASE jumpers were on hand to showcase an activity that attracts the eyes of locals and tourists alike.

BASE, an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span and Earth, is a relatively new sport. Participants jump with parachutes from tall structures or geological features.

Don Mays, owner of Snake River Canyon Tours, offered an enthusiastic presentation to the visiting Idaho lawmakers to make up for the canceled show.

In addition to the unique spectacle jumpers offer, local businesses benefit from feeding and housing them, he said.

BASE jumpers' monetary contributions to the community are not insignificant. Hotels, restaurants and peripheral services benefit from the nearly 2,000 jumps the bridge gets per year. Over Memorial Day weekend, jumpers injected more than $35,000 into the local economy, Mays said.

Kent Just, executive of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, estimated their activity is worth at least $250,000 to local merchants every year.

LEGISLATOR TOUR
Troy Droegemeyer, a BASE jumper from Maryland, foreground, listens as Don Mays, a local tour operator, talks to a group of legislators about BASE jumping. The Perrine Bridge is the only bridge in the country where jumping is legal year-round.

Photo by BRUCE SHIELDS/The Times-News



But BASE jumpers' economic contributions should not be the only consideration, some detractors say.

During discussions last summer, a lawyer from the attorney general's office told the Idaho Transportation Board there could be some liability issues, even though there don't seem to be any lawsuits resulting from the activity in other parts of the country.

Attorney Stephen Bywater advised board members they could face liability on three fronts: from the participants themselves, from people under the bridge in boats who might be inadvertently hit by BASE jumpers landing on them, and from drivers losing control of their vehicles as they turn to watch the BASE jumpers.

Bywater could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

"We try to keep this as safe as possible," Mays said. "If there are boats in the river, we don't let anyone jump. And we're all in constant radio contact."

"This is the safest place in the world to jump," he continued. "There have been over 30,000 jumps from this bridge and only a few accidents and one death."

"Five accidents in 30,000 jumps is phenomenal," he said.

Boise-based jumper Steve Van Cleave, 58, swears he jumps for the same reason people golf: camaraderie.

"Jumping is like going to a golf course," he said. "We're not trying to scare ourselves. We're just enjoying a sport with friends."

Legality enhances safety, enthusiasts say.

Van Cleave, who has jumped from the Perrine Bridge at least 150 times, said it becomes safer every time.

"It gets easier, and you control the situation more each time," he said.

"Here in Idaho we let them jump," Mays said. "When people jump and then are running from cops, that's when accidents happen."

Legislators had mixed reactions to the concept. A few egged on one another to make the jump.

"If you do, I'll buy you a steak dinner afterwards," Mays joked.

"I think it's wonderful," said Susan Kiebert, executive secretary for the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce. "They're going to do it anyway. At least this way it's safer."

Mays noted that the participants take care of their own search and rescue. Jumpers pay him to fish them out of the water if they fail to land in their designated spots on the ground at the canyon bottom.

"We police ourselves," he said.

"If they outlawed this," Mays said, "they'd still jump. They'd just do it at different hours."

Times-News writer Rebecca Meany can be reached at 735-3259 or by e-mail at [email protected].

[manship 0]

> I heard you're closing in on a thousand jumps.

Well, I am getting closer each day! They won't be
quite like yours as most of mine will be from "that famous legal span in the West". It just takes more training for us older guys.

[manship 0]

> The troll must of come out from under the bridge for some sunshine.

>Now, come home and let's climb something, you wuss!!

HEY, Trolls need love too! AND, Ill have you know I climb out of this canyon 4 or 5 times a day, just like vitamins!

But, I will be back soon and ready for some climbing there.

later

==========================================

I didn't invent skydiving, but I jumped with the guys who did.