How cold is too cold for you

[cmnorris 0]

I did a night jump when it was -10 C at altitude. However, during the day, then 55-60 F (depending on the wind situation) is my cut off. It may be bright and sunny out, but if it's that cold then it is a depressing day in Florida for me.

[Tee 0]

Being Canadian, I will put on the full face and the woolies and jump in pretty much anything so that I can get some jumps in the winter! 5 months is a long time without jumps, even if it is from a cessna!

Tee

[aero04 0]

50 F. And even at that I don't really enjoy the skydive and being around the dz. I hate the cold. I'd rather have my fingernails torn off than stand around in the cold. Any colder than that I'd rather just stay home.

[mccordia 73]

I've jumped with -25 degrees celcius at altitude, pretty damn cold. But there is no cold that can stop me from jumping...:)

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[skr 1]

These days for a high one it's at least 40F on the ground
in dry Colorado air. I would probably go a little lower than
that if I jumped a full face helmet.

My minimum temperature gets a little higher each year.

My first water landing (inadvertant) happened in the middle
of January in North Carolina. It was well below freezing on
the ground and the wind was howling.

I couldn't find the drop zone but went anyway because the
pilot / jumpmaster said go. I blew over some woods and
landed about 100 ft off shore in a lake.

It was a really hard landing because there was about an
inch and a half of ice.


This morning when I got up it was 2 degrees outside.

I think I'm officially moving my limit up closer to 45 degrees
from here on out.

Skr

[pchapman 262]

The coldest I've jumped in was -20 C (-4 F), 2 weekends ago, where the air temp was actually fairly constant at all altitudes up to the 10500' exit. Ground temps were around -15C to -20C (5F to -4F).

On that jump, with a partner and I doing sit or head down, we both got frostbitten skin on our noses. The skin went quite white so it was easy to see after landing. The skin warmed quickly in the heated packing trailer; during the following week some minor skin peeling occurred. Technically it can be called frost nip because only the skin apparently froze, not the underlying tissue.

Fingers were quite cold but acceptable on that jump.

So a constant -20C is just beyond my desired limit without a full face helmet or a neoprene face mask. I've had other jumps where the temperature at exit was -15 to -20C, but never had a frostbite problem presumably because exposure time was too low -- the air at lower heights was warming up, with ground temps more like -5C or -10C (23 to 14 F).

[BlindBrick 0]

A few years back on 20degreeF day we had a guy celebrate his 800th jump by making a naked static line jump from 10 grand.

-Blind

"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[rickfri59 0]

Quote

landed about 100 ft off shore in a lake

Quote

It was a really hard landing because there was about an
inch and a half of ice.

Did you break through the ice? If so, how did you manage to get back on top with rig, lines & nylon all over the place? Please tell more of the experience so that others, who might get in a similar situation, might learn something (besides not jumping when the DZ is not in sight).

[pojo 0]

it was 5*C ground temperature at altitude i think -10 to -15

pojo
In heaven all the interesting people are missing.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Jumped this weekend - think it was 25F on the ground. If it was colder, I still would have gone up - I know that John Kallend was on the coldest jump I have ever done a couple years ago. John - do you remember what it was, somewhere around -20F at 13k? Please correct me if I am wrong.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....