Ridge soaring -- BASE video with stereo audio

[base736 0]

For almost a year, now, I've been shooting BASE video with a stereo pair of hi-fi external mic's mounted on my helmet above the ears. The results, I think, have been pretty awesome. Anyway, last weekend we headed out to the local E. There was a ~10 mph wind coming into (and therefore up) the face, but I've been getting more comfortable with these sorts of things so we went for it. What followed was some sweet lift -- we could have stayed up there indefinitely, or until the winds came down anyway. The visuals were amazing.

I've uploaded the video to http://www.skydivingmovies.com under "lift.mov". My apologies for the size, which seems a bit much (despite the use of a good codec) for a few minutes of experimental video, but it is what it is. The first-person stuff is best enjoyed with a pair of headphones.

[leroydb 0]

all i have to say is AWESOME, simply sweet.

Leroy


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

[The111 0]

Nice tree swoop on landing, I think?

Nice video too. :) Cool visuals.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[base736 0]

Yeah, that's my second tree encounter under canopy -- the first one didn't turn out so nicely. Because of the 10 mph into the face, things got shifty (as I expected them to) near the ground, and I wound up blade-running a couple of trees.

[base587 0]

Beautiful perspective from above the ridgeline.

That was a treat Jase.

[op5e 0]

How did you get it to go down in the end. I have a few thoughts on it but would like to know.

[pilotdave 0]

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2189

Dave

[The111 0]

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How did you get it to go down in the end. I have a few thoughts on it but would like to know.

My guess (no, you didn't ask ) is that he simply flew to a place where there wasn't an updraft! :)

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[crwper 7]

Bingo. A 10 mph wind into the face meant that as soon as we flew away from the face, we were just flying into a headwind. Made the usual landing areas a bit harder to get to.

Michael

[op5e 0]

Me slaps forehead.

[base736 0]

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That was a treat Jase.

Thanks for sharing the exit point with me.

[AirCanada 0]

Nice video. Looks like roughly the top of Kahl Wall.

You will want to watch the flying speed of your rig vs. the wind speed. If you got blown back and had to land behind, it would be very unpleasant and quite possibly be fatal.

Have fun.

Not knowing anything Paraglider.

[base736 0]

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You will want to watch the flying speed of your rig vs. the wind speed. If you got blown back and had to land behind, it would be very unpleasant and quite possibly be fatal.

I was planning to talk to some local PG pilots about this. The back slopes away quite quickly -- say, 30-40 degrees. The winds along the back, this particular day, were of course calm. On the one hand, a buddy of mine once lost a pair of sunglasses over the front edge on a windy day, only to watch them get lifted 100 feet up and back, and thrown hard into the rocks... So clearly there's some wierd winds going on there. On the other hand, maybe if one were a couple hundred feet up, one could avoid that entirely and land in the calm winds a few hundred feet back from the edge?

Not that I think I'd ever wrangle up the balls to try it when there's a sure thing the other way.

[JaapSuter 0]

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land in the calm winds a few hundred feet back from the edge?

And then pack and jump again.

[crwper 7]

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And then pack and jump again.

Screw personal safety. Won't someone think of the video?

Michael

[jmidgley 0]

Hi

I've tried to watch the video, but for some reason I only get to see a selection of random 'stills' as the progress bar moves along. Frustrating.

From what I can make out of the site, it looks like a pretty vertical cliff (wouldn't make a very good base exit point otherwise, I suppose!). From your description, it slopes away on the other side of the ridge. This would make it a poor choice for going 'over the back' on ridge lift alone. The rotor would have you slapped into the ground behind the edge. A paraglider pilot would consider going over the back if they have gained a significant amount of height in a thermal, in addition to the height gained purely from ridge lift.

A rule of thumb I use (but I don't claim any great science behind it) is to fly only as far back as allows you to still get 'line-of-sight' on the slope of the thing you're soaring. So if it's a gentle-ish slope, you can afford to drift back from the edge a bit, so long as you can still see the slope. But if you're flying a cliff and the cliff face disappears from view...get forward!

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, the ease with which you can observe the rule above, and still maintain any manoevreability along the ridge gives you a good indication of your wind-speed safety margin. If you can boat up and down the ridge, only pointing pointing slightly outwards, all is well. When it gets to the point where you're hanging stationary pointing into wind, you only need the wind to pick up a fraction more and you're toast. Ideally, be aware of the potential for a gradual change from scenario A to scenario B!

Cheers
John

[base736 0]

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I've tried to watch the video, but for some reason I only get to see a selection of random 'stills' as the progress bar moves along. Frustrating.

Could it be a codec problem? The video requires 3ivx, which you can get from www.3ivx.com, if your player of choice doesn't have it by default.

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From what I can make out of the site, it looks like a pretty vertical cliff (wouldn't make a very good base exit point otherwise, I suppose!). From your description, it slopes away on the other side of the ridge. This would make it a poor choice for going 'over the back' on ridge lift alone.

Brilliant. That makes complete sense, of course, since the same ridge lift that carries you up will eventually carry you back and then rapidly down. Even simpler with a BASE canopy, since I wouldn't anticipate getting much or any lift from thermals in that case. Thanks!

[Calvin19 0]

just did this same thing on thursday in Utah at a local PG launch, when the winds got to strong to fly Paragliders.

-SPACE-