You Know You're A BASE Jumper When... [crossposted from Blinc]

[Zennie 0]

Based on a conversation between me & riggersam...

1. You sell your skydiving rig in order to fund trips to Moab & Arco.

I know ya'll have more to add....

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

[DaveO 0]

2. Sell your skydive rig in order to pay for your third BASE rig.

"When it comes to BASE, I'll never give advice, only my opinion"

[flymysky 0]

3. You go to sleep at dawn, crawl out of bed a few hours later and you don't have a hangover .

[sum1sneaky 0]

when you find yourself all alone,
in camouflage,
sleepless, nervous,
all snuggled up in some butt-ass-cold gravel
or all wadded up in your car
while
waiting for an inkling of light so that
you can go climb up some
damn frozen piece of metal
so you can get some
really shaky sewing machine legs
because you aren't really convinced
you'll be making it past this morning

and then still go
and then climb faster to stay warm
and then get so quiet that you can only hear
your heart

and then slow it down - slowing time
breathing easy, relaxing.

watch the dawn's colors and FEEL the beauty
the silence and soft cold breeze
peace in the moment you let go and push
freedom in the moment the wind blows on your face
pure joy when your rigging works
and peace again when you're walking across that same frozen gravel, this time looking up knowing where you've been,
how it felt,
and the sun is coming up on the drive to work despite no sleep.

packing that night, after too much work and coffee
everything all over again.

[Zennie 0]

Right ON sneaky!

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

[Faber 0]

Quote

2. Sell your skydive rig in order to pay for your third BASE rig.

Doohh laying injuryed in my bed last year i sold my cypress as i knew i wouldnt use it for a while. the mony did i use to pay off my 2. rig... now i found out that i wont fly my skydive gear(if so i want bigger canopies),so im stuck whith a rig whit no cypress in... now who want to buy it so i can get my 3. BASE rig(ie in DK you can only skydive whith gear whith an ADD in it).

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[flyinryan 0]

you know you are a BASE jumper when

1) skydivers are calling you crazy (or saying that you could be a really good skydiver someday if you don't kill yourself BASE jumping first)
2) the term un-jumpable is a challange
3) you are proud of the object that you jumped by yourself that no one else has ever scene
4) people who see you jumping legal clifs in Utah ask you if..
a) you are hang gliding
b) you are para-sailing
c) free basing (I have heard all of these)
and finally my favorite...
5) the street is a perfectly acceptable landing area as it is flat, consistant, fairly big, and has less obstacales than some other landing areas you have hit

grrr, is my FOX back yet, I am posting and not jumping

BASE 853

[BASE813 0]

YOur girlfriend says "its me or BASE" and you say "CYA"

[Faber 0]

or if she say´s "OK,go out and play, i cant stand to see you like that"

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[Zennie 0]

Quote

1) skydivers are calling you crazy

My corellary to that was...

7. You start referring to skydivers as "whuffos".

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

[SkyDaemon 0]

You know you're a BASE jumper when:
1.)You find yourself standing on the steel understructure of a 155ft bridge, next to a police station, in the rain and hear a cop on his radio on the sidewalk a few feet above your head.

2.) You find yourself running from the authorities after two of your fellow jumpers were caught, and on the way up one of your friends who was caught calls and says the cops confiscated their rigs, and you wonder "is he just saying this so I have to continue hiking up this hill? Was he really caught or is he just saying he was so I have to hike up this bloody hill?"

3.) You've made two jumps and someone you've never met from Northern California invites you down to jump "real" objects. And you have one of the best and most memorable experiences ever.

4.) You stand on the arm of a power tower looking like a giraffe doing a balancing act, while being constantly shocked by static electricity, and ask yourself "How did I get here?"

5.) You believe the world is completely jumpable and your lover buys you a laser for christmas so you can prove it!

6.) You go to NRGB and hear a tourist say "It's so high", you hear a skydiver say "It's so low", then you, as a BASE jumper, reiterate "It's so high." and prove it ;-)

7.) You meet and make a terrific friend in the sport, and you lose that friend to the sport.

8.) You're the last one off and you enjoy that moment of pure serenity and connection to nature and meditate, even if just for a second, about why you jump.

9.) You go to the drop zone to pack a BASE rig and have the DZO walk up to you and tell you that it'll be $15 for the BASE manifest, and consider that his way of saying "You're alright."

10.) You drag your friends out to a tower on the one year anniversary of your first jump, to find the tower is being blown to one side by the howling winds, and you and your friends climb to exit, can't hear a thing each other is saying, understand you're not worried about object strike, and upon opening with a 180 realize you can land facing the object because the winds are pushing you backwards, have a beautiful stand up landing and smile. And finally have your friends tell you that you're not in charge of manifest anymore. ;-)

11.) You get addicted to online chat, and become skilled at web based conversations, passive-aggressive arguments, childish diatribes and forget what friendship and the sport are really about.

12.) You get offline, get out into the world, and BASE jump.

13.) You jump a 180 building with a required 90 degree turn to landing, stall the canopy, crash into a tree, run down the street in full gear, jump into a car with excellent ground crew, earn your BASE number and consider the evening a success.

find / -name jumpers -print; cat jumpers $USER > manifest; cd /dev/airplane; more altitude; make jump; cd /pub; more beer;

[BASE813 0]

As you walk to the edge, internal and focused, you climb onto the exit, sit and take in the views. Your brain is screaming, “What the hell are you doing here”. Suddenly, you are enveloped by a gentle calm, you feel relaxed and accepting of your environment, it’s a peaceful place. All your stresses and worries are a million miles away – you are internal and all you can hear is your heartbeat. When was the last time you felt your heartbeat?
3-2-1-CYA and you can feel the edge push against the soles of your feet. You are now totally committed no turning back now. For 2 seconds, you are floating. There is no noise; time has slowed. The air starts to rush into your face. The ground starts to rise up towards you. Smears appear at the sides of your vision. Now for the finale. Its time to get off the ride, deploy and save your life! From deployment to “the crack” of your canopy you are helpless. You continue to fall, trailing a pilot chute wondering, “Is this going to open?” The ground continues its surge into your face. The 1 second it takes to feel and hear the “crack” seems like an eternity BANG! No time to think! On risers, control, toggles, turn, slow, pick the spot, flare, land, pack away, walk away fast, leave without trace. Overwhelming feelings of well-being and achievement cover you. A warmth runs through you.

[webracer 0]

You can't comfortably walk out on a rooftop or bridge without a rig on.

It's no longer difficult to get up at 4am.

You can consistently ignore the fact that packing sucks.

You keep having cypres fires without groundrush.

You take your base rig everywhere, and leave the skydiving rig at home.

The DZO is tired of you trying to talk him into a 600' pass in the cessna.

When the DZ has the flour bomb comp. on the overcast day, you "fall" out.
.

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[rfarris 1]

Quote

From deployment to “the crack” of your canopy you are helpless. You continue to fall, trailing a pilot chute wondering, “Is this going to open?” The ground continues its surge into your face. The 1 second it takes to feel and hear the “crack” seems like an eternity

Very cool description. Probably the single most thing that feeds my desire to BASE.

That 1 second of being at the mercy of your gear.

[JohnnyUtah 0]

Every time you look at an object with some sort of altitude, you contemplate if it's jumpable...and if it is, then you wonder if it's land able. Even if it's a jump you would never do.

Johnny Utah

[nicrussell 0]

Utah- Is the rig worn by the blonde in your 2waypca1 pic open on the right side? It looks as if the velcro has pealed off.

nic

[skycat 0]

Quote

YOur girlfriend says "its me or BASE" and you say "CYA"

Your girlfriend buys you a GPS for X-mas so you can exchange exit point coordinates with your friends.

Fly it like you stole it!

[webracer 0]

Quote

It looks as if the velcro has pealed off.

I think you are correct.

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[JohnnyUtah 0]

The jumper on the left is Johny 9lives. We did a 2-way, holding hands through opening with both of us being PCAed. The cliff was a rock quarry in Rode Island. The town locals said it was 78 feet. Our landing was into deep clear water (thank goodness). 9lives chose to prime his Velcro and that is what you're seeing. I figure since we were getting a PCA, whatÕs the point of priming my Velcro, so I didnÕt. But hey, if a man wants to prime his Velcro, then thatÕs his business.

Have Fun, Don't Die!
Johnny Utah
My Website
email:[email protected]