What was more intense?

[antieverything 0]

For those of you who's done both Sky and BASE jumps, which one was more intense, scary, fulfilling experience when you did it for the very first time?

Thanks

[billvon 2,717]

First BASE jump was scarier. Overall skydiving has been more fulfilling.

[yoink 321]

billvon

First BASE jump was scarier. Overall skydiving has been more fulfilling.

Yup.

[virgin-burner 1]

BASE is scarier and more fullfilling; who doesnt like to spend a day or a couple in the mountains hiking, no crowded planes and you dont have to deal with the idiots if you dont want to.

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[akarunway 1]

billvon

First BASE jump was scarier. Overall skydiving has been more fulfilling.

Agree. Ist AFF reseve side told me beforehand "Don't sweat it. Piece of cake" Ist Base I wasn't really afraid but seemed al little more risky. No reserve and all. Thanks Marta and Jimmy.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[riggerrob 598]

yoink

***First BASE jump was scarier. Overall skydiving has been more fulfilling.

Yup.

Yup!
Far more vivid memories of the golden sunrise, deep green trees and the mist in the valley.

[Gort 0]

billvon

First BASE jump was scarier.

These answers are interesting...

On your first skydive, you're facing freefall and potential death for the very first time, and doing it with unfamiliar equipment. That's understandably scary as hell.

On your first BASE jump, presumably, you're already an experienced skydiver who is used to falling through the sky, accepts the risk of death, and is familiar and comfortable with the gear. So it would seem that these factors would mitigate the fear on a 1st BASE jump. The only new aspect is the reduced altitude, proximity to objects, and zero launch speed.

So for BASE to still be scarier, despite all those advantages of exposure to previous skydiving experience, that really seems to say something about how comfortable we get with wide open skies and plenty of altitude!

[Joellercoaster 6]

Gort

On your first BASE jump, presumably, you're already an experienced skydiver who is used to falling through the sky, accepts the risk of death, and is familiar and comfortable with the gear.

I think you are giving too much credit to the majority of skydivers: I think they don't so much accept the risk of death, as assume it doesn't apply to them

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[antieverything 0]

That ~5x increase in fatality rate probably also contributes to a little bit more sober perspective ;)

[MrOneNut 0]

They are very different disciplines to me that share the common denominator of a parachute. Each has its highlights. I know that I will always skydive. BASE I entered with an objective and am just starting out. Folks have entered BASE without skydiving but this is generally not recommended. It seems that these sorts of discussions focus on risk, but I will say that in terms of intense satisfaction 1 BASE jump is equivalent to some of the best skydives I have had. My first BASE jump ignited a passion that has never left. The preparation, both mental and physical, required to make a BASE jump I feel are part of what makes it more rewarding on a per jump basis to me. If you want to BASE I subscribe to the you can never have enough skydives school of thought, so hopefully you will fall in love with skydiving first and then fall in love with BASE when the time and circumstances are right for you.

[Bluhdow 31]

Hiking > Plane Rides

Apex BASE
#1816

[angryelf 0]

pm sent.

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[PixieUK 0]

antieverything

For those of you who's done both Sky and BASE jumps, which one was more intense, scary, fulfilling experience when you did it for the very first time?

Thanks

I met a guy last year who had learned parachuting via BASE jumping (off a bridge to start with, not proximity or buildings) as the friends who got him into the sport were all BASE jumpers. The first time he went up in a plane to jump, he was horrified at the thought of jumping from a moving vehicle and pretty freaked by the height!!

I'm assuming most BASE jumpers start out as skydivers first, but it's not always the case, and that definitely altered my friend's perspective

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

[Baksteen 84]

Gort

On your first skydive, you're facing freefall and potential death for the very first time, and doing it with unfamiliar equipment. That's understandably scary as hell.

Then again, you're placing yourself into a situation for which you have no frame of reference at all. The first jump 'happens' to many people, it takes a second (third, fourth...) jump to actually experience the jump. Some people actually get more scared for the second (third, fourth...) jump, as they now know what they're getting themselves into.

Gort

On your first BASE jump, presumably, you're already an experienced skydiver who is used to falling through the sky, accepts the risk of death, and is familiar and comfortable with the gear. So it would seem that these factors would mitigate the fear on a 1st BASE jump. The only new aspect is the reduced altitude, proximity to objects, and zero launch speed.

So for BASE to still be scarier, despite all those advantages of exposure to previous skydiving experience, that really seems to say something about how comfortable we get with wide open skies and plenty of altitude!

So now you have developed your skydiving skillset. You learned to reckon altitude and have trained your EPs and hard deck until they are almost second nature. And there you are. Preparing to jump with unfamiliar equipment from an altitude which according to all your training is way too low for a fully opening parachute. Sounds pretty scary to me

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom