Life, Death, BASE

[TomAiello 25]

In the September 11th thread, Leroy commented:

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Actually I believe BASE is about LIFE and DEATH at the same time.

I have many thoughts on that, and thinking about it has prompted me to dig out a piece I wrote several years ago, but have only showed to a few people.

I've posted this (rather lengthy and self-indulgent) discussion of some of my thoughts about BASE at BLiNC. These thoughts are a few years old now, but I haven't bothered to "update" them, partly out of laziness and partly because they do tell the story as I was experiencing it then.

Please discuss or comment there, so that I can keep the thoughts in one thread.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Faber 0]

I took the time to read all of what you vrote,I usaly dont read or coment thouse long treads due my poor english,how ever heres my coment:

I think you entered BASE for the wrong reasson,i think however that you mannegede to turn it arround ot be the good way.
I think you hitted the nail pretty much,but as we all know we are different..
example im not intelligent(thanks for thouse stupid coments that will follow after this),i work by mashines(which is what i like),i dont feel like making suiside,im not economic rich(but doing ok anyway)

I love my life,i love my kids my gf,family and freinds,i dont want to hurt any of them even as i know i will if i die or get injuryed.I just simply desided that if im happy so are they(thinking of me).
I dont want to get hurt or killed,but i have acsepted the risks to gain the feel of life that i get while jumping fixed objects.

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In Reply To from sep11
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When i jump(also whith freinds)i think of life not the end of it.

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You are a very lucky man.

Each time i jump, i feel alive,yes im scared but i feel life more than i think of death or injury.

Even the jump were i got hurt on a solo i felt i did the right things(well not the landing itself).Even as i layed on the ground i felt i did the right things,and even as i tells the video that it were a bad jump,i didnt really meant it(perhaps at that point becours of the pain).

To me BASE is life,It tells my body and mind that im alive and reminds me on how much i love life.

Death...Its always sad,I never jumped whith any of thouse i talked to,who died(most were freindly and helping chat online).BUT as you(Tom)said they atleast died a place were they liked to be,i hope(really ego sorry)that if i have to die in a young age that i die while BASE jumping.I love this sport more than most(dont take that as i would like to die which i dont really want to).

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[QuickDraw 0]

Only from what I've read, I would say BASE will fit whatever hat you put on it, everyone has their own reasons or personal demons,
some are just after the shear thrill, & some after the shear attention and of course everything in between.

I would like to hope I'm going for the 'shits & giggles' option.. any practising psychologists out there ?

Faber.. any man who can juggle another guys bollocks on his head is intelligent in my books.

-- Hope you don't die. --

I'm fucking winning

[neiljarvis 0]

Wow, if most people carry their baggage in a back pack, it seems as if you needed a small freight train! Just kidding :-) Glad to hear life is treating you well, and yes I have some fond memories of a road trip a few years back...

play safe
Neil

[Faber 0]

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Faber.. any man who can juggle another guys bollocks on his head is intelligent in my books.

I know it were so hard to balance thouse small bollocs(can they get smaller??) that i afterward had to make a stabel puike at 621´s toilet,which ofcourse also were recorded..

As you say mate different people has different reassons to jump.I just hope that not too many start out as Tom,as he says,he is a lucky guy walking arround today(keep up that good work Tom )

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[Skydawg 0]

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"I sometimes found that moment of perfect calm that he was describing while standing, just before the launch, as he did. But more often, I found it in freefall, just at the end of the jump, with my hand on my pilot chute, as I sank into the final moments of the jump. I absorbed the ground rush, and somehow found myself totally centered. I don't think. I don't even consciously act. I just AM. It all happens, and I just seem to be along for the ride."

Ditto, I didn't know anyone else felt it; It's so hard to describe accurately. That time of total calm, that total micro focus in the now, when all your actions feel pre-ordained, and nothing else exists.

I don't like to jump until it happens and I find it easier on 'E's and solos, just sitting at the edge, looking out from the exit, feeling the emptiness and it just happens, and I jump. It's almost like there's no choice.

[badenhop 0]

Hello,
I believe that regular humans generally fear meeting a violent death.
Is it the same for BASE jumping humans? Death-by-BASE-jump is more often than not quick and extremely violent. The alternative is extremely violent and slow, which is even more dismal. I'm sure I can't imagine the fear that would come with the knowledge that my last few seconds had arrived. Would I even have time to be furious that my mortality would be achieved as a result of my desire? I absolutely do not want to meet my end at the end of my last BASE jump. For the nay-sayers to have an opportunity for an "I-told-you-so", for the press to give us another bad rap, for my family to suffer from my high threshold of risk, to be a statistic on "The List". I don't want to die doing this thing I love so much, and smear my blood all over its fun.
See you in Colorado in a couple weeks?

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

I've got all I need, Jesus and gravity. Dolly Parton

http://www.AveryBadenhop.com

[Faber 0]

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I believe that regular humans generally fear meeting a violent death.

Im scared to death by thinking of dying,i dont want to die...
However as its a part of beeing scared at a exitpoint,i dont think of death as a outcome as the jump im about to do,The death is the part that i feel scared,but i tend to focus more on the beauty in the jump,the freedom i feel,jumping off an object.The times were i get too scared(inkluding death in the background whith out thinking of death it self)i simply climb down...

About dying in the sport.. as said i dont want to die,but if i have to and it happens i will die doing what i like,instead of dying in a caracsident(example)...
My vision is to beat the world record of beeing the oldest BASEjumper(whith respect to thouse who will/are doing the same),that is my dream... but what do i know..

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[NickDG 23]

I feel less afraid of dying now at fifty years old than I did at twenty. However, I find myself taking less chances now than I did then. I'm not sure why that is. I do hope to wind up on the bottom section of my own LIST in a quiet and dignified manner. My fear now is that dying by parachute, at this stage in my life, would be like stamping "Big Dope" on my forehead before closing the box.

I think by virtue of what we do, and how much we are exposed to it, we feel a bit smug towards death. Early BASE jumpers were warned to make death your friend, or else it would became an all consuming enemy. The average wuffo attends the occasional funeral, a grandfather, an aunt, or an uncle, but in addition to those we jumpers attend services for the many who have passed before their natural time. In a sense this extra exposure, I always thought, makes us tougher, but that's not true either. At the service for (Tommy's) Jan Davis, I cried like a freaking baby through the whole thing . . .

In the end I think BASE jumping has as much to do with death as anything else does. And I think the harshest form of demise is when it comes young. When I recall those who died jumping twenty or thirty years ago, in terms of today, I can't help but feel bad due to what those years would have meant to them in terms of lost loves, lost laughs and lost good times.

No, don't be afraid of death, it's a big semi truck heading your way sooner or later anyway. Just do everything you can to avoid stepping directly out in front of that truck too early. Let the wuffos see BASE jumping as a crap shoot when we know it's a skill. Let them wonder how we risk it all for what they see as nothing. Sometime in the next hundred years, or so, good historians will start to "get it" and ascribe to us a grand title, a declaration that we are the first ones to act on that age old dream of human flight. And we came damn near to getting it right.

So, please, when I'm gone, on my headstone I'd like this written, "It's cool, I knew this would happen."

Nick BASE 194

[Skinflicka 0]

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So, please, when I'm gone, on my headstone I'd like this written, "It's cool, I knew this would happen."

Nick BASE 194

Nugget of the century. Right there...I called it.

Dammit man...that's the schnizzle...As usual.

I'd hate to see what people will write on mine.

Pissed up, over worked and, as ever, over hung

$kin.

Prizes to anyone who gets to read my posts before Mr Aiello's son, Tom deletes them.

[leroydb 0]

if/when we meet I think we might get along.

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[Zennie 0]

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In the end I think BASE jumping has as much to do with death as anything else does.

I'll say this to my grave... mark it. But BASE has less to do with death and more to do with life than anything I've encountered thus far.

Peace my bro.

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

[Zennie 0]

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See you in Colorado in a couple weeks?

Yup. I'd really like to finally meet you Avery.

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

[Faber 0]

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BASE has less to do with death and more to do with life than anything I've encountered thus far.

Looking forward to flik whith you one day bro,you couldnt say it better

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[Zoter 0]

A fascinating account Tom.....even for BASE or skydiving 'virgins'....

[blitzkrieg 0]

i would like to take this opportunity to say, Nick, you are the man. i very much enjoy reading your posts when i get the chance because you always seem to have something meaningful, insightful, or just plain moving to say. thanks.
i'd love to pick your brain sometime if the opportunity ever arises.
anyway, godspeed and we'll see ya' at Bridge Day!?
~E

[Sinkster 0]

i want to comment, but it will have to wait. thanks for the post