gaining experiance...

[vandev 0]

I am fielding this question twards Tom as he has been giving me very solid information but would like to hear from everyone as well. I have to fully agree with Toms approch of learning base. I think it has to be the most logical and safest way of approaching it I think. Even from a jumpers point of view and i would guess a non jumpers point of view. i.e....they think water will save them.....not....

Anyway, what and how would a jumper in say Norway learn how to base jump? do they have bridges, antenna's..... I agree that even the most experianced skydiver has not seen the kind of ground rush that he will in base. And on 20, 30 secound delays on big walls....i know you cant be counting 1 1000 2 10000.......i just cant see it. so how does one learn this skill if he has no access to anything over 1,200 ft... And it has to be a sensery overload going from 800 ft jumps and then going to a big wall.... I would have to say the first time you see rock passing you by at 10 ft away has to be a little overwhelming.... Even from a idiot like me that straps a propeller to his feet... Well thats what people tell me .... Sometimes i find it quite overwhelming...

In the end...the universe has a way of working itself out.... "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"

[monkey1031 0]

"Straps a propeller to his feet"....

PPG???

-SMD7

[vandev 0]

i skysurf...some people think its wacked.....

but sometimes i feel like propeller.....

In the end...the universe has a way of working itself out.... "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"

[Han-Solo 0]

Quote

And on 20, 30 secound delays on big walls

those are our medium walls....

what is your question?

Quote

Anyway, what and how would a jumper in say Norway learn how to base jump? do they have bridges, antenna's.....

yes we do. my first was a typical 140m A.

[crwper 7]

I had something like 150 jumps when I did my first "big" wall. The highest thing I'd jumped up to that point was maybe 600 feet (we're obviously not including skydives here).

One of the biggest issues for me, on that jump, was that as I looked down at the rocks below the exit point it looked very much like about 300 feet, and not so much like 1200-plus. We had triangulated the height a number of times, had looked on topo maps, had some idea of the length of the climbing route up the face. In my mind, I was as certain as one can be that it was more than 1200 feet.

We had done a rock drop and heard what we thought must be the impact at 11 seconds. Take off a couple of seconds for the sound to get back to the exit point, and we thought conservatively that impact might be at 9 seconds. I decided to take a 6-second delay. My body still told me I was about to take a 6-second delay off a 300-foot cliff.

I rapped over the edge to take a look. I've climbed a lot of one-or-two-pitch stuff before, but just rapping over the edge of a 1200-foot cliff was something else.

We had arrived at the exit point about 8 am, in what can only be described as absolutely perfect wind conditions. There was a bit of mist rising slowly up the face. No wind to speak of. A beautiful sky. I had secretly hoped for even a 5 mph wind so I'd have something to be unsure about. Some of the wierdest jumps I've done have been when I show up at the exit point, and there is absolutely no reason not to do the jump. Except maybe one reason, and that one's part of the reason I do this. When there are no other reasons but this one, everything seems thrown into stark contrast.

By the time I was ready to jump, it was noon. When I radioed down to my ground crew that I was going to "put on my gear and see how it feels," those who have been with me before knew what was going on.

The jump went well, but to be honest sensory overload was definitely a factor. I took about a five second delay, but except for a few moments I don't remember very much of the jump. I landed in a high meadow with my ground crew running across the scree slopes to meet me.

Last summer I went to Norway and Switzerland with a few friends. When we returned home, we went back to our 1200-foot cliff and did some beautiful 8-10 second delays. On this second round of jumps, I felt completely aware. On most of the jumps I've done, there isn't a lot of time to enjoy freefall, except in that basic reptile-brain way which leaves me remembering later that I had a really good time, but unclear about some of the details. Our trip to Europe has changed even my experience of the lower stuff. The uprushing ground looks a little different now, because it's actually giving me quantitative information about my movement.

I think the biggest misconception that we have is that the ground will be one moment just floating there in front of us, and then very suddenly it will rise up and take us out. I think the best way to correct this is to make a few jumps at the terminal walls. At first, I counted, "One thousand one..." up to fifteen seconds. I think this is was a good way to calibrate my visuals. Then, after a couple of jumps, I'd count to fifteen and then just watch the ground a couple of seconds more. The thing is, it never really jumps up to get you. It's a fairly gradual kind of acceleration of groundrush.

Yeah, the ground is coming up mighty fast in the last couple of seconds. But it's not impossibly fast. In fact, it's quite finite. I've heard some people say it almost looks survivable.

Michael

[NickDG 23]

>> how would a jumper in say Norway learn how to base jump?<<

From what I've seen over the years BASE jumpers are a very resourceful lot and they adapt to whatever particular objects are available to them.

However, if you look back in history (you knew this was going to be about history) making your first BASE jump from big walls didn’t seem strange at all. In fact most of the fixed object jumps made between 1978 and 1982 in Yosemite are skydivers making a first fixed object jump. When the first Yosemite fatality did occur it happened in 1982 to Jimmy Tyler, BASE 13, an experienced BASE jumper . . .

But, one thing did change since that time. People making the Yosemite jumps back then tended to be very experienced skydivers. Few, if any, would have been in the 150 skydive range that seems normal today.

They also weren't anywhere near as device dependant as skydivers are today and their internal clocks worked better. By the time I jumped El Cap I'd put out enough skydiving students to be able to tell if they blew a fifteen second delay by a second either way. You can test yourself by trying to determine fifteen or twenty seconds while engaged in doing something besides counting.

I've heard some back then say about El Cap, "Well, I won’t say it was better than sex, but it sure lasted about as long." Another thing about big walls is some have prominent features that can help determine the delay like the tops of El Cap Towers. Of course, that means having an awareness level some won't have at 150 skydives.

In those days BASE jumpers started out on higher objects and then graduated to the lower ones. It's noteworthy how that idea is getting turned around . . .

NickD BASE 194

[vandev 0]

Hey.... Thanks Michael ... THAT REALLY ANSWERS AND CONFIRMS ALOT OF INFORMATION I HAVE BEEN PROCESSING IN MY HEAD....IT IS A VERY VISUAL ACCOUNT OF WHAT I EXPECTED IT TO BE SO FAR..... BUT THAT WILL ALL CHANGE ONCE MY FEET ARE STANDING ON THE EDGE AND NOT YOURS....

Thanks so much....Chris

In the end...the universe has a way of working itself out.... "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"

[vandev 0]

Hey Nickster, Hope all is well with you and you are feeling better.... "so you did jump EL CAP..... Very cool... I grew up in california and have been there many times....the site is awsome... I had a roommate not to long ago who jumped EL CAP.... Do you know a guy named HOOT Gipson from the Deland area? I can remember him telling me about jumping that.....small world.....let me know ....And your anoligy is kind of like mine. From a jumpers point of view i would like to see a little more altitude than a couple hundred feet to get use to it. I do remember 700ft in the military one time and i know it had to be less cause i counted to 4 1000 and 2 secounds later as i watched this guy on the dropzone...i could almost read his name tag....while i was falling.... i plf'ed " well pounded in "and wanted to kill that stupid butter bar LT. for putting us out at the wrong alt. He got in big shi#$t for that one.

Thanks again Nickster,.....Chris

In the end...the universe has a way of working itself out.... "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"

[NickDG 23]

Just to make sure you understand me, I'm not saying a big wall on someone's first BASE jump is the way to go. Just the way it was . . .

I had probably 70 lower BASE jumps before I did El Cap.

NickD BASE 194

[vandev 0]

completly understood.... I was just saying the higher the better.... I think a big wall first jump would be to much information to process and you would not be doing what you where suppose to doing....like tracking like a banchee....... ...being overwhelmed by rock racing by you and ground rushing up at you.. it must be quite hypnotic i would have to say....the crappy thing is that i assume you would not remember so much of that jump....

In the end...the universe has a way of working itself out.... "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"