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BobxMarley

Skydiving in Minneapolis?

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I'm currently jumping out of Lake Elsinore, CA. It appears as life might take me to Minneapolis in the near future. Not being able to Skydive year around is probably the toughest pill to swallow. However, it may be necessary to progress other areas of my life. So, I figured I need to start warming up to the idea.

Can any MN skydivers give me the lay of the land?

1. How many months out of the year are actually jump-able?
2. How is the vibe and feel of Skydive Twin Cities.
3. What does everyone do in the winter?
Klaasic

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1. mid april to end of october is the season for STC but Chip Falls jumps all year out of 182s.
2. This last couple years the fun jumper numbers have been going up with a strong freefly and angle scene growing and as always a strong belly rw group. they have one of Spacelands super fast caravans and you won't get bumped for tandems. STC also has a huge trailer park that is full fun jumpers every weekend rain or shine.
3. as i said above ChipFalls in wisconsin jumps all year when their runway is good to fly on, grass strip. folks also go up to Soup but weather up there can be iffy with the big lake but awesome views.

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I jumped at STC for about a month and a half back in 2011 when I was in the cities for work. Nice DZ with a great atmosphere and some awesome people. Glad to hear from DQ that the freefly scene has picked up. Definitely a good DZ to call home.

I'm actually back in the area this month for some work, but there's no way I'll be jumping while I'm here.

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Not from Minneapolis but for fun in the cold north where I'm at in SW Minnesota and can answer #3. Here are my top 4 thngs :)

1. Ice Fish
2. Shoot deer
3. Drive around on snowmobiles
4. Snow ski
.....keep in mind if you buy the right place you can do 1-3 in your backyard but you can always get crazy and combine 3 and 4 and then imagine its summer while you are tearing across the frozen lake! Hmm now that I think about it you could combine 2 3 and 4, just don't get caught!!

Or there is the alternate version of that:

-tell stories on how the biggest fish you'd seen in your life had gotten away because the damn thing couldn't fit through the hole

-tell stories on how the 30 pt buck got away because your buddy next to you farted right as you were about to squeeze one off and the monster heard or smelt it from 500 yds away but he'd have been dead for sure

-fix and repair the snowmobile, run it till it breaks or you wreck it, fix it again, or junk it and buy a different and usually fix that one, run that one till it too breaks or you wreck it, fix and repeat until winter is over

-sit in the lodge drink beer and do shots of Jagermeister and go all out on your last run of the day making sure you face plant every mogul and you better straight line that jump and hit massive air time to wow the ski bunnies

Lol nah seriously Minneapolis is a great place, I don't live there but I love to visit a few times a year. Lots to do in the cities and you are never far away from nature. I don't know the jump scene because our dropzone is pretty much shutdown for the year unless it miraculously heats up somehow (high of 8 today low of -6 and 100% chance of snow with 5" expected today and another 2" tonight. I do plan on visiting every dropzone there very soon though.

Ok I'm going to go work on my snowmobile now and get ready for a banzai run to the bar after all of the beautiful snow piles up!! Woot!!

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I live in Minneapolis and it is possible to skydive year round. There are two large drop zones in the area that usually operate April or May through October. One is Westside Skydivers in Winsted MN. I started and got my license there, great people! It is about an hour drive West from Uptown Minneapolis where I live. The other is Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin Wisconsin. About a 45 minute drive to the East. Great load organizing and lots of belly flyers here. Lots of free flyers and wing suiting etc. etc. at both places as well.

For year round skydiving we love Skydive Wissota in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Just did 5 jumps there this past Friday! They are open weekends year round, weather permitting. It is about an hour and 45 minute drive from my house.

Skydive Superior in Superior Wisconsin is fun too. I made some jumps there this past Summer. That is perhaps a two and a half hour drive from Minneapolis.

So yes! You can skydive year round here if you are OK with Winter cold jumping and a little farther drive. If not, there is a thriving scene during the warmer months.

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BobxMarley

I'm currently jumping out of Lake Elsinore, CA. It appears as life might take me to Minneapolis in the near future. Not being able to Skydive year around is probably the toughest pill to swallow. However, it may be necessary to progress other areas of my life. So, I figured I need to start warming up to the idea.

Can any MN skydivers give me the lay of the land?

1. How many months out of the year are actually jump-able?
2. How is the vibe and feel of Skydive Twin Cities.
3. What does everyone do in the winter?



Literally in the same boat as you man but I jump out of Perris......so happy you asked this all year and the year round in wisconsin is something I didnt know.

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The Mlps/St.Paul skydiving community is a great group. Weather is always an issue here. Many do jump year round but you need to be a hearty soul. It's an active group of individuals that, when skydiving is not an option, will get together to snowmobile, fish, hunt, shoot, climb, kayak, ski, water ski, bike, ride cycles, party, or whatever else one can imagine. They have a Facebook group where they organize activities or communicate plans. Hope to see you here soon....
Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

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BobxMarley

Awesome. Thanks for the info @skyjumpenfool. What DZ do you and your buddies usually jump out of? What aircraft are they using? What type of flying is predominate?



Skydive Twin Cities has a very strong belly group with load organizers Thur, Sat, Sun. We have several 4 way National champions that call this place home. 8 and 9 way sequential skydives have become common place.

On Weds, there are tracking and angle organizers. There's a lot of participation and training going on in this discipline.

The Wingsuiter's are a large growing group and I believe Jake "Feather" still calls this home.

Free fliers are all over the place and there are some very talented fliers including Freestyle National champs Carl & Merriah Eikins.

Or, if your looking for some real excitement, Proz, Plozay or myself will take you up for some F-111 CRW.

All that being said, the best thing about the place is the vibe. Good people, great DZO's, supportive community. Bon fires every Fri, Sat. Kid friendly, Free camping and one of the nicest grass landing areas you'll find.

Give it a try!!! B|
Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

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BobxMarley

fourtwo42, when are you heading to MN? What is bringing you out that way? What type of flying are you doing at the moment? We'll have to keep in touch. I'd like to see how your transition from CA to MN goes.



Needed a change if pace and this was where my GF grew up so was our first choice. Been here about 2 weeks now. Been overcast a lot but thats May here i hear. Got a jump in so far. But was at Skydive The Lakes, formerly Westside Skydive, in Winsted.

Called Skydive TC in forest lake but was told they are open Friday till Monday, then in a few weeks i think they said Thursday thru monday, and by mid June will be open Wednesday thru Monday till the season is over.

Need some fun jumpers to jump with. Would love to get into that Angle flying. Freefly mostly, love to track also. Always willing to work on my belly also.

When you moving out here?

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dqpacker

Skydive Twin Cities Forest Lake is the smaller tandem cessena dz.
Skydive Twin Cities Baldwin is the more fun jumper dz that fly's a Caravan from Spaceland and is open 7 days a week.



Thanks for the info! But damn thats twuce as long away for me. But fuck it I drove 2 hrs every week for Perris.

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dqpacker

Skydive Twin Cities Forest Lake is the smaller tandem cessena dz.
Skydive Twin Cities Baldwin is the more fun jumper dz that fly's a Caravan from Spaceland and is open 7 days a week.



Finally went to STC in Baldwin. Really enjoyed the atmosphere there. Everyone was really nice, even when I landed the one place I wasn't suppose to land lol. They all we trying to get me to come back today for the Angle Tracking LO'ing but regardless being busy, it looks too overcast today. This very well could be my new home DZ.

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