El Cap #assignments

[DSE 3]

Does anyone out there have an actual record of the numbers assigned to El Cap jumpers?
If so, please PM me?

[quade 3]

If anyone knows the history on this NickDG has to or at least knows who does.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[cwickliffe 0]

I think Jean Boenish kept records, at least in the earlier years.

[NickDG 23]

Yes, Jean kept the early El Cap numbers and then Andy Calistrate from Texas took them over.

If you're looking to get a new/current number I don't think anyone is actually keeping track anymore.

But ask Joy Harrison anyway (she keeps the BASE number book). She'd know for sure.

It too bad the El Cap numbers went by the wayside. It would be good ammo to say XX(X) thousand people have jumped El Cap. Especially since the NPS keeps throwing bogus safety issues at us . . .

NickD BASE 194

[rhyswynn 0]

How difficult is it to summit El Cap in prep for a BASE jump - technical, or straightforward?

[councilman24 36]

We could tell you but then we'd have to kill you.

We'd wait for you to kill yourself but then you'd just screw it up some more for the rest of us.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[rhyswynn 0]

Wise guy!

I'm not planning a trip for tomorrow, I've got at least a few more weeks of training before I'm ready...

[piper17 1]

As I recall (going back to 1979 or thereabouts), four of us hiked with all our gear from the Tamarack campground where we parked to the top of El Cap in four hours fifteen minutes.

The trip off was a lot faster and less physical as the park rangers were nice enough to come up in a turbine helicopter to give us all a ride back down...to Yosemite's jail.

Your tax dollars at work. Since we had been ratted out by a club member, the rangers were in the Tamarack campground when we arrived. Two others had hiked up in front of us (I followed their jungle boot tracks all the way up) and called in the helicopter shortly after we arrived. They even called each of us by our names, so good was the description given by the club member rat!

All the rangers in the campground would have needed to do was approach us, tell us they knew what we planned and not to do it. We would have left, having been "busted". They preferred to make a big production out of it.

Spent five days in jail before going to court in Yosemite with a ranger judge. We asked for a change in venue and left without our gear. We had to go back out (from CT) a month or so later to appear in federal court with our attorney. A couple of thousand dollars a piece later, we left with our gear, having promised to be good boys for six months.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[NickDG 23]

Hi Jim,

I hadn't heard about your troubles but we had an informer at the Perris DZ at about the same time, and then again a few years later. And I also heard a similar story from Florida.

Looking back we can see there was an interesting dynamic going on at the time. Cliff jumping, or fixed object jumping, as the "new thing" wasn't quite a year or two old at the time. But already there was friction in the skydiving community about it.

It wasn't yet as bad as it was going to get, that happened in the mid to late 1980s, but it was there. And I know there were skydivers who resented fixed object jumping just like anything new is resisted by a few on the DZ. But, the cause of all the heartburn was somewhat self induced. Some early El Cap jumpers of the day were starting to spout the attitude that regular skydiving, "was for pussies."

Sadly, you still hear that today from some young BASE jumpers. In fact it may be worse now in some cases as we have a new generation that just skydived long enough to get into BASE jumping and they never fully integrated into the skydiving community.

This divisiveness led to animosity and because jumpers (read all of us) tend to be braggarts when you had a trip to Yosemite planned you made sure to spread the news around the entire DZ, and this created a ripe atmosphere for the disgruntled informer.

In general there was no such thing as "security" in the BASE community at that time. In fact there was no real BASE community as the sport wouldn't even be called "BASE" for another couple of years. We were all basically just skydivers making some cliff (and a handful of bridge) jumps. There were also no "glory hounds" to worry about as nobody would burn that downtown building or rural antenna you were jumping as those kinds of sites weren't regularly being utilized.

So that leaves us with the odd DZ informer who first became the basis for adding "intelligence and security" to your BASE jumping kit bag. Essentially, it meant keeping your big mouth shut about your activities. Later in the 80s security became much more necessary and one big reason was the media began catch on to what we were doing as BASE started moving toward urban type jumps.

Some BASE jumper(s) would suffer a mishap (and there were a lot of mishaps in those days) by either getting busted or hurt and the media would automatically go to the nearest DZ for a comment. Then you'd get some DZO on the TV news badmouthing BASE jumpers with, "Those guys are knuckleheads with a death wish while we skydivers are a family orientated sport adhering to all USPA and FAA regulations, blah, blah, blah."

And the fight was on. BASE jumpers hated seeing someone with no real knowledge or understanding of BASE comment in that way, and skydivers hated that BASE jumpers were hurting the sport of skydiving with bad headlines.

Happily the "war" between skydivers and BASE jumpers is basically over. Sure, there are a few holdouts on both sides, like the Japanese solider still hiding in a cave in the Philippines, but BASE and skydiving can be considered "sister" sports practiced mainly by the same people. It's why it's a shame, and a big step backwards, that the BASE portion of this board was banished to the other side of the wall. I realize the move was made to add another advertising portal, but it would have made more sense, in terms of having to do with parachuting, that the Speaker's Corner got the boot.

And just a FYI for newer BASE jumpers: These days there may still be the odd informer on the DZ, but the bigger security problem in now inside Yosemite itself. There is one well known "resident" there who currently rats on BASE jumpers. Notice I didn’t say "climber" as most of them nowadays fully realize our freedom is their freedom too.

But in either case there's always a chance "Joe Student" on the DZ, or "Joe Tourist" on the campground will turn you in, so tell no one . . .

PS. I hate the automatic "linking" of words in my text. WTF, I'm not here selling BASE jumping!

NickD BASE 194

[JohnRich 4]

Excellent post! Thanks for that cultural history.

Quote

PS. I hate the automatic "linking" of words in my text. WTF, I'm not here selling BASE jumping!

I discovered that is you spell B.A.S.E. with periods between the words, that it defeats the creation of the automatic web-link.

[piper17 1]

I used my one telephone call (actually, I think it was two) when we were in jail to call Carl Boenish to get guidance re: the Yosemite court. He gave us the advice to request a change of venue. I may also have spoken with a skydiving lawyer - it's been almost 30 years so I'm a little foggy on this.

Coincidently, I was serving as the NE conference director on the board of USPA when USPA bascially said that since no airplanes were used, BASE was not a USPA activity...a decision that I agreed with then and still do today.

I never did get to make the El Cap jump....the "lift ticket" was just too pricey. One or two of my buddies did go back out when it was "legal" and had obtained a permit and made successful jumps.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[NickDG 23]

>>Coincidently, I was serving as the NE conference director on the board of USPA when USPA bascially said that since no airplanes were used, BASE was not a USPA activity...a decision that I agreed with then and still do today.
I agree too, but only on a technical level.

One reason we had so many accidents in the early years of B.A.S.E. is people thought they were skydiving. Each sport (we found out later) has different rules of survival and it took a long time to get that across to people.

On the other hand, and on a philosophical level, parachuting is parachuting. The technical differences are more akin to what "extra" skills a jumper must have in order to jump with a skyboard, do demos, or make tandems.

I'm always careful when debating this point as it is very subtle, and I don't want us returning to a time when jumpers underestimate the skill sets involved, but in essence, when I come home from the DZ I feel like I made a parachute jump. Likewise, when I come home from the Flat Iron Building I also feel like I made a parachute jump.

The USPA made their proclamation (that B.A.S.E. and skydiving are two different things) "after" the short lived legal season, not before. What made their decision less laudable is it was made after everyone at USPA headquarters had made their El Cap jump. I'm talking about Joe Svec, who spearheaded the legal season, Bill Ottley, and all the rest.

When the NPS shut down legal jumping at El Cap (due to the Flat Bed Ten and other transgressors) the USPA folded up like a tent and those of us still waiting to make the leap legally were left twisting in the wind. (Personally, I crossed off "legal" as a pre-requisite after awhile and jumped it anyway).

To add insult to injury the largest photo (a monster poster really) hanging in Bill Ottley's USPA office many years later was of him launching off El Cap. I had long talk with him about that and he agreed with me, but said, "Its there because that was the most exciting jump I'd ever made." And he went on to basically say they (USPA) caved to inside skydiving political pressure and they just wanted the "B.A.S.E." issue to go away.

The current USPA stance on B.A.S.E. jumping proves how wrong they were. They went from never using uttering the B.A.S.E. word to now accepting articles that describe it as well as adverts for B.A.S.E. events and gear.

One sad part of the legal season debacle is future B.A.S.E. jumpers were tarred with a skydiving brush. In 1981 there were only a handful of true B.A.S.E. jumpers. The majority of people signing up for the legal El Cap jump were skydivers making a first fixed object jump. And being skydivers they approached it like any extraordinary jump. It was all for fun and of course they took little notice of the rules.

B.A.S.E. jumpers themselves, then took to trying to get legal jumping back at El Cap. Jean Boenish carried that torch all by herself for years, then it was the World B.A.S.E. Association, then the Cliff Jumpers of America, then the Yosemite Skydiving Association, and nowadays it's the Backcountry Parachutist. Each organization has the same problems, lack of numbers, lack of clout, and lack of funds.

My thinking these days is USPA broke it and now they should fix it.

I'd like to see USPA take up the mantle of legal jumping at El Cap once again. Yes, I hear the groans. But I lived through, and participated in, all the previous attempts and I haven't that many years of jumpability left. And I'd like to make some legal jumps there without all the fuss.

I'll even make it easy on USPA. Just give me a small cubicle at Headquarters with B.A.S.E. Department written on the doorway and the funds to hire a Cracker-Jack federal lawyer. I know all the mistakes we jumpers made, the USPA made, and the NPS made. We'd have legal permit free jumping at El Cap within a year! (Or so.)

And hey, with USPA, "It's all about the member!" And I'm a member! And so are a few thousand others who'd like a chance at a hassle free El Cap jump . . .

NickD BASE 194

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Nick,

Quote

that was the most exciting jump I'd ever made."

Scotty Hamilton once said the same thing.

JerryBaumchen

[piper17 1]

I can't argue with you about your opinion regarding USPA's decision back then about BASE jumping. There was, however, a lot on their/our plate back then and limited resources - both money and time - to pursue it.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Jim,

Uhhhh, wrong reply????

I do not have any opinion about USPA & this issue.

Jerry Baumchen

[piper17 1]

You're right...should have been Nick DG. Guess I was in a hurry.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[NickDG 23]

Yes, I remember you being a Conference Director around that time. And yes, USPA was busy rolling out AFF, pushing for deregulation of sport parachuting (thank goodness that didn't happen), square reserves from several manufacturers began hitting the market, and there were a few bad jump plane crashes that year.

But USPA wasn't that broke in 1981. I know in the late 70s they were really in trouble when they barely had enough money for their next general membership meeting. But that started to turn around when Bill Ottley became Executive Director in 1978.

And how about now? (Not directed at you, Jim, just a general comment.)

How much money was spent on the move to Fredericksburg?

I turned down a job at Headquarters in 1984 partly because the wage was so low anyone not living in their parent's basement could afford to take it. Factoring in Alexandria's cost of living and I was doing better teaching first jump courses in the California desert.

We (and I mean us members) are now paying $100,000 annually to USPA's Executive Director. (I know that doesn't sound like much to younger USPA members, but it boggles the minds of us old timers). And this will probably go up when the next ED takes office. I say let's recoup some of that since USPA now has enough land in Fredericksburg.

Lower the USPA wages and move in a bunch of old single wide trailers to form a USPA Ghetto behind the new Headquarters. Make them available to USPA's appointed staff and maybe when they see how the true backbone of the sport lives - the instructors - we'll get back to some fiscal responsibility.

On the El Cap deal, what would it cost for USPA to come out again for legal jumps? I'm not saying mount a full blown legal campaign, (although I'd like to see that) just a few letters, on USPA letterheads directed at the right people would help. If USPA is willing to take the advert dollars the BASE industry provides they should get off the damn fence altogether . . .

This is not 1981 anymore. The world is chock full of legal places to B.A.S.E. jump. And a large amount of those B.A.S.E. jumps are being made by USPA members!

NickD BASE 194

[DSE 3]

Quote

I think Jean Boenish kept records, at least in the earlier years.

thanks. There is a celebration for a person here with a few fixed-object jumps (he would shudder to be considered a B.A.S.E. jumper), but he did do a few jumps from El Cap and apparently was assigned a #. I wanted to surprise him at his event by having his # on a cake or something similar.
Super interesting thread...
Wasn't there a woman a few years back that proclaimed how safe it was to jump from El Cap and jumped in front of the media, etc...and didn't pull?

[howardwhite 5]

Quote

Wasn't there a woman a few years back that proclaimed how safe it was to jump from El Cap and jumped in front of the media, etc...and didn't pull?

http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips1999/october/102399a.htm
Google Jan Davis and El Capitan for lots more.

HW

[jonstark 8]

Quote

Quote

I think Jean Boenish kept records, at least in the earlier years.

Wasn't there a woman a few years back that proclaimed how safe it was to jump from El Cap and jumped in front of the media, etc...and didn't pull?

It wasn't about proclaiming BASE as safe. It was an act of civil disobedience gone bad.

[DSE 3]

Quote

Quote

Wasn't there a woman a few years back that proclaimed how safe it was to jump from El Cap and jumped in front of the media, etc...and didn't pull?

http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips1999/october/102399a.htm
Google Jan Davis and El Capitan for lots more.

HW

I didn't realize she was Tom Sanders wife. I knew some of the story, but not all. Thanks for the info.