Finally we got BASE In Colombia

[medusa 0]

Ok guys, this is a long one but it narrates the beginning of the BASE jumping history in a country.

I’m thrill to announce that thanks to the one and only Cliff Ryder we have complete BASE here in Colombia.

It took us 6 months of trial and error in search for objects around Colombia.
Thanks to this quest I was able to visit amazing places and chicks I didn’t know existed.

Fact:

1) Buildings are supposed to be the most dangerous and hardest object to get.
Here in Colombia was the easiest.

2) Antennas are supposed to be one of the easiest and safeties objects to get.
Here in Colombia was the hardest.

B) Building:

All begun, with Cliff Ryder and Jimmy Halliday coming to Colombia to shoot a TV Commercial for a soft drink making the first BASE Jump in our territory.
All legal, they hand us the keys to the roof of this 480 Ft Glass building so that they could make as many jumps as they wish.
The police helped us stopping the traffic so that they could land on the middle of the street.

I don’t blame Cliff for falling in love with Colombia and deciding to stay for 3 months and then come back for vacations.


S) Spam:

It was a 450 Ft bridge, with no landing underneath and hard core rapids.
The only safely way to jump this Bridge was to do a Static Line and jump one of the sides that had a height of probably 130 Ft, With a sharp grass inclination underneath.

Because some of the Internal problems in Colombia, this bridge is a strategic target for the Guerrillas, so the Bridge is heavily guarded by military police, with machine guns. Cliff, Juan and I monish to get to the middle of the bridge by saying that we were tourist and we were going to take some pictures from the middle of the bridge.
When the police saw Cliff gearing up and climbing over the rail they start running and screaming us to stop. They got to Cliff and hold him wile he was on the other side of the rail. Juan pull out his Florida driver license and apologized to the guys for not identify him self earlier. He told them that he was from the U.S embassy and we had permission to jump that bridge. Meanwhile I took Cliff’s pilot chute and bridle and he made the jump.

E) Earth:

One:
We went to a 500 ft cliff, the exit point was hide behind thick bushes. We were able to see it from the other side but to get there we had to get some climbing gear, and so we did.
After 2 hours searching and some rappelling and machete action we got to the exit point. Down in the LZ there was no houses or roads, the local farmers told us they didn’t know any one that had been down there, so from the begging we knew he was jumping to unknown territory and we had no idea how the fuck he was going to get out of that thick jungle, no one could give us any pointers.

At 3 P.m Cliff bust up a really cool double gainer and then flew to the only LZ, a talus next to the wall full of huge boulders and dirt but he manage to safe his ass.
We lost sight of him, so we divided all the people in 3 groups, each group in one side of the canon. 3 hours later before sunset he appeared all cut, bite and burst up by the thorns and mosquitoes.



Two:
We wanted to get another cliff. So we went up to the mountains far away in Colombia. We jam 4 adults “Cliff, Juan, a guide and I” in a compact car, we had 15 bags full of climbing gear, tents, sleeping bags, cooking oven, cloth, food etc..

We drove for 12 hours then when the car couldn’t take it any more; we hire donkeys and walk up to the mountains for 5 hours. We set the base camp at 15.000 Fts and we slept. The Next day we start climbing up to one of the far away walls, finally we got there at 5 P.m we set all the ropes and cliff jumped this beautiful 600 Ft wall located at 15.600 Ft.
The LZ was a bunch of huge boulders. I was amazed by the fact that there was not a single spot with out any rocks, but we clean up a little LZ no bigger than a golf car. He completely nailed it.
Getting back to the base camp, we got lost at night. With no food water or jackets we struggle for 8 hours and we finally got to the base camp at 3 Am, after being out for 18 hours.

This wall didn’t have a name, So in Cliff’s honor the park authorities name it “La pared del Gringo” and we took the opportunity to pack the parachute in the middle of the park commander office wile he was watching the jump video.

Antenna:

With a height of 80 Mts or 240 Ft, located on top of a mountain at an altitude of 9.000 fts, heavily guarded by man and dogs.
We dive the ground crew so that one of us could take care of the dogs and get them away from the antenna.
Thanks to our sponsor “Pedigree” we distract the dogs by throwing them some can food meanwhile, Cliff Jumped the fence and start charging on. This Fucker refused to do a Static Line or hand held and took a solid 1.5 second delay.

He flew down the mountain full of thick forest to the only almost jungle free LZ with 4 boulders. He manages to land next to one of the rocks, it wasn’t the greatest landing but it was the only option. It was a rough landing and he kind of got fucked up, but this asshole walks out of there in one peace.

Ok that’s it, if you are reading this part it means that you read it all. Hopefully you enjoy it and found it interesting.

Cliff, thanks for all the good times I had a blast. Hopefully some day I will have in off experience so that I could jump these objects. Thanks for holding me back I know it was for my own good.

NOTE: CURRENTLY ALL THE OBJECTS WE HAVE FOUND ARE REALLY TECHNICAL AND DANGEROUSE BUT WE STILL LOOKING FOR EASY STUFF.

For more pictures and news go to www.childrenofthesky.com

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[wmw999 2,130]

I'm no BASE jumper, but that's an awesome retelling!

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[jalin 0]

Congratulations and Felicitaciones,

Have you explored Peru, by any chance?

Cheers,

Jorge

[SabreDave 0]

Nice work guys!!!! Congrats

Must have been rough landings around 15,000ft.ASL!

SabreDave

[Waldschrat 0]

Sounds like a real adventure....

[460 0]

You guys rock! I'm envious!

Looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Deadman Morrell, BASE 174

[ToyMaker 0]

AWESOME!!
Felicitaciones!!

_______________________________________
White cute poodle puppy found. Approximately six months of age. Blue collar but no tags. Very friendly.
Tasted like chicken

[Gabo 0]

Muchas Felicidades :

Siempre es padre abrir un nuevo exit point o un territorio.

Saludos desde México
Gabo

[Ian_Cognito 0]

hell of a story! buen suerte con la busqueda para nuevos saltos!

[bps 0]

Great stories -- thanks for sharing!

Cliff Ryder is hard as nails. I've shared a few adventures with him and have always been amazed at the things he does. The guy has an abundance of raw talent and an even bigger abundance of strength.

I especially liked the story of the jump at 15,600ft. Sticking a landing that small at altitude is an amazing feat. I've made 3 landings at 12,000ft and about a dozen at 10,000ft, and it is no easy task. I can't imagine sticking it at 15,000ft.

I spent some time in Columbia back in the mid-90s. I wasn't a BASE jumper back then, but it's an amazing place. Good luck in your BASE adventures there.

Long live Columbian BASE!
Bryan

[plowdirt 0]

Ahh young grass hoppa, I'm glad to here someone is holding you back. Nice pics, send my love.

Don't fucking die.

P.S. dunkie is donkey and thats how you spell it

DONKEY

Tell Cliff I said waaaaaas uuuuuup And not to mess with that moskito bite on his arm.
All the best
E

[Mr-B 0]

Great stories guys... Congrats!

[Waldschrat 0]

At 15000ft.....was cliff jumping a half-ZP or an F111 chute?

[medusa 0]

It was an ACE 260 F 111.

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[Zoter 0]

great effort and stories....
Cracking read..!

[elduderino 0]

respect...cool story of a awesome trip....nice