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NickDG

Accident - Last Night?

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I'm getting press inquirers about a serious (their words) BASE accident in Alberta, Canada last night, March 31. Has anyone heard anything about it?

NickD
BASE 194

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Confirmed. I got a call from the locals this morning. The person involved is busted up, but according to the latest information he will recover.

I'm assuming that the locals will chime in here with more details once they become available.

Best wishes and love to my friend in Alberta. Hope for a speedy recovery!

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Hey Nick!

At this point I can only really confirm what Jaap said. There was a building strike here last night. The guy involved is in the hospital with a broken pelvis, but otherwise seems to be doing fine.

Michael

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Jump stunt lands Calgary man in hospital
Last Updated Fri, 01 Apr 2005 15:45:34 EST
CBC News

CALGARY - A man who tried to parachute off a Calgary office building is in hospital after smashing through a window on the 24th floor, sending broken glass flying through seven windows in the atrium below.

Police say they were called to the Canada Trust building in downtown Calgary about 11:10 p.m. Thursday night.

They found the 41-year-old parachutist on top of a pedestrian walkway.

He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening pelvic, abdominal and back injuries.

Charges are pending, according to police.

Emergency officials say it appears the man got caught in a wind current, carrying him into the building instead of away from it as he tried to parachute off in what is known as a BASE jumping stunt.

BASE stands for buildings, antennae, spans and earth. This type of jumping is an extreme sport that involves leaping from a fixed object such as a building, bridge or cliff with a parachute.

Police say the Calgary stunt caused about $5,000 damage to the building.

Copyright ©2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
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The one thing you learn is you never learn . . .

You'd think I'd be smart enough not to get hosed by these guys, but I guess as I get older I get more trusting.

Here's the same story after he plugged my comments into it. He cherry picked everything I said to match the story he'd already wrote . . .

http://calgary.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ca-base-jumper20050401

>>Extreme sport sends man through building window

Last Updated Apr 1 2005 01:56 PM MST

CBC News

CALGARY – A man trying to jump off the Canada Trust building with a parachute Thursday night went through a window on the 24th floor, and the broken glass in turn smashed through seven windows in the atrium below. Police say they were called to the downtown building about 11:10 p.m. and found the 41 year old on top of a pedestrian walkway.

Emergency officials say it appears the man got caught in a wind current, carrying him into the building. BASE (building, antennae, span, earth) jumping is an extreme sport that involves leaping from a fixed object, such as a building, cliff or bridge, with a parachute.

Nick Di Giovanni, a BASE jumper in California, says leaping off buildings is the riskiest kind of jump. He says a friend of his jumped from an office tower in Los Angeles, and went through a window.

"He was lying on the floor in this guy's office, looking up at this guy's wife's pictures on his desk, and he says, 'oh my God,' and just then some wind caught the canopy, which was outside the window, and it pulled him right through the window again," Di Giovanni said.

BASE jumpers sometimes break the law to attempt a jump, including trespassing to gain access to buildings or other sites. Di Giovanni says most people turn to BASE jumping after trying traditional skydiving and wanting something more challenging.

"We're not little kids, we're not juvenile delinquents," he said. "We're sportsmen and this is our sport, and people don't fully understand it yet."

Di Giovanni acknowledges that it's a dangerous sport, and on his website details 86 people who have been killed attempting jumps.

Related link: Nick Di Giovanni's website

The Calgary man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening pelvic, abdominal and back injuries.

Police say there was about $5,000 damage to the building. <<

Yikes . . .

NickD B|
BASE 194

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Nick,
was this John Hoover, BASE 95? RIP.
Looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Deadman Morrell, BASE 174

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The Calgary man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening pelvic, abdominal and back injuries.


Leroy


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

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That story of John Hoover reflecting how his life would have looked had he made different choices as he lay on his back on that office floor looking at that picture on the desk of that guy's wife, and after being pulled back out the window by his reinflating canopy, how that thought stayed with him as he repeatedly bounced off the building on the way down, is one of the most poignant, lovely and insightful stories I've ever heard in BASE.

Thank so much Nick for that

Thanks John RIP

PS - Media are scumbags.

g.
"Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it"

.

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Nick, old buddy, hearing you on Canadian radio brought back some fond memories of when we both lived in the Perris Ghetto.

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Nothing new except short video and no pirated quotes.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1112393614225_107802814/?hub=Canada[url]

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That story of John Hoover reflecting how his life would have looked had he made different choices as he lay on his back on that office floor looking at that picture on the desk of that guy's wife, and after being pulled back out the window by his reinflating canopy, how that thought stayed with him as he repeatedly bounced off the building on the way down, is one of the most poignant, lovely and insightful stories I've ever heard in BASE.



John used to jump at my old DZ and to hear him tell that story was absolutely priceless, including the bit about them driving to getaway and find a hospital to drop him off at in the process. Turns out the hospital was across the street from the building he went through.:ph34r:

RIP, John!
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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So whats up with this? No one knows who this guy is? Where are the locals with the real story? Do any of the Canadian locals know who this guy is? Was he an out of towner?

Surely someone is friends with this guy who can tell us how he came to such "world wide" fame so quickly. Perhaps his mentor could shed some light on this. This is the "Greatest Base Jumper" accident in recent memory, and nobody has a clue? Its as if he just strolled in in and started jumping yesterday.....

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Only his girlfriend was there at the time of the accident, and she certainly has other things on her mind right now.

To find out what really happened, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until we hear the story from the guy himself, which could take a while.

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The locals have been getting a lot of unwelcome phone calls from the media on this one. If it's important to you that you know the details (such as they are known), you should PM me or crwper.

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So whats up with this? No one knows who this guy is? Where are the locals with the real story? Do any of the Canadian locals know who this guy is? Was he an out of towner?

Surely someone is friends with this guy who can tell us how he came to such "world wide" fame so quickly. Perhaps his mentor could shed some light on this. This is the "Greatest Base Jumper" accident in recent memory, and nobody has a clue? Its as if he just strolled in in and started jumping yesterday.....



I live in Calgary where this happened. I arrived shortly after it happened. I made the decision earlier in the day not to jump that night. NOt because of comditions or anything just because I wanted to go for a burger and beers with a lady friend.
The guy in question who I don't feel like naming at this point because he is still in hospital and broken had an off-heading and hit said building. He stayed proactive and fought it all the way to the ground or roof in this case. He tried to get up to get away but couldn't due to a broken pelvis. That is his main injury but does have some cuts and bruises also but nothing too serious.
Police have gear but will be returning it as they do here in Canada. No charges yet but they are coming.
I am not his mentor, just a friend. I beleieve the person who taught him lives south of 49.
He came to worldwide fame because the media nazis are in a feeding frenzy!! For a city of almost a million people not mych happens around here. So when something like this happens they go nuts! Also they go by what emergency vehicles get called to judge the news worthiness of the story. Because he landed on a roof they had to call high angle rescue and ladder trucks. Why you ask?? Because they were not efficient enought to take the elevator up 5 floors and walk out a door onto the roof like the EMT's did. And the bloody police copter couldn't find him with it's FLIR or 10 billion candle power spotlight for several minutes.

HE is healing but it will take some time. I am just really happy he is going to be ok!!!! I have not lost a friend to BASE and I don't care to start anytime soon!!
That's all for now.............

EDIT: Just saw J's post. And yes, again, the media has been nuts!! I was at the hospital until 4am or so that night, Got about 2 hours sleep and then both my landline and cell started ringing and didn't stop until late last night. The media SUCKS!
SabreDave

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The media SUCKS!



Yup, it's amazing what ignorant trolls see when they look through the eyes of someone worth a shit.

Edit: Hope for a speedy recovery

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I would like to offer our suffering buddy a free copy of my book, BASE 66 - A story of fear, Fun and Frefall. He can read about how we almost died a couple of times back in the 80ies and it might cheer him up. If I send it to you could you deliver it to him?

Jevto

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I would like to offer our suffering buddy a free copy of my book, BASE 66 - A story of fear, Fun and Frefall. He can read about how we almost died a couple of times back in the 80ies and it might cheer him up. If I send it to you could you deliver it to him?

Jevto



Hey Jevto

That is a generous offer! I am sure he will appreciate it during his recovery period.
I will make sure he gets it straight away when it arrives!:)Thanks
SabreDave

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>>was this John Hoover, BASE 95? RIP<<

I miss John, he was the first guy I ever saw wear a full length black trench coat and get away with it . . .

NickD :)BASE 194

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wish I didn't read CSPA chat- hard to realize there are skydivers in my country that are so "wuffo" to BASE.

I have found the media have a temperment of some mentality when it comes to BASE in B.C. Re: they have a understanding that sensationalizing BASE jumps is not acceptable. I remember a jumper I did fjc training with that annouced she wanted to BASE a building in the centre of Van. city for her 200th. jump. The next year she did this- only she went to the top news reporters to report the time, place she was making her jump, expecting publicity to be awesome....then attempted to make her jump. The media didn't go for it....except back pages of local rags reported BASE jumper was in hospital suffering with broken leg as result of jump off building.

I am so, so fortunate I have known a BASE jumper and grown over years to respect the hell out of him, over and over and over again. When you skydive with a BASE jumper and watch their progress in accuracy year after year giving back to the sport they love -doing tandems. You watch their canopy flight increase with precision- you watch their proffesional demo jumps with pride--you watch their skydiving skills bombard the skydiving community--you watch their birdman flight become supreme--you watch and respect grows, you watch and feel the enthusiam they have with "wuffos" and see young jumpers new in the sport year after year because they have been totally inspired by him. Your favorite video of cave BASE and pics of bridge day are of course, of him.


Then you can feel nothing but "sorry"
[:/][:/][:/][:/]
for those that do not know at least 1 BASE jumper!
:P:P:P


SMiles;)

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I understand this jumper was the student and protégé of........ World Famous Jumper, Miles D.
.
.

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Apparently a "nice guy" but sounds like he was pushing it too hard and too fast.

Regardless of skydiving or paragliding background: Accurate self assessment of your skill set = longevity in BASE.

Hopefully the cops will just put it down to a one-off stunt.

Spence (former Calgarian who's slightly >:( off)


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Paraphrasing from one of the many news reports, there was a cop being interviewed: "I've been on the force for 17 years, and I know someone else who's been on the force 20+ years, and we've never heard of anything like this. If they have been doing it before now, they've been doing a really good job of keeping it from us." Looks like, in spite of all the times a jump came back to us the long way, we were keeping the right people out of the loop.

:P Michael

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