pope

yah. same price I've been getting--I usually get a bunch of vidiots together in the beginning of the season to buy 20+ each--usually ends up adding a max. of $0.10 extra per tape. Four pounds per tape? OUCH! pope

They are all on mini DV tape. I get about six on a one 1 hour tape. Cost to me to archive is about $1.30 per customer. where are you getting your tapes from? You're getting ripped off if you're paying more than $3 unless you're using ultra special super high premium tapes. You should try buying in bulk (>20). Also, just out of curiosity, how long is your finished product if you're filming ~10 min of raw footy (assuming Tandem vids)? pope

How do you "slate" or keep track of which customer is which? Do you number the tapes - or write the period of time on the tape??? "ending dd/mm/yy." has worked perfectly for me since '99. As far as "slating" goes, if you standardize each video to a certain degree (I try to have the student introduce themselves first thing, so I can remember later on), all they have to know is the date of the jump. If you want to get al organimized n' shit, you could go as far as a dry-erase board, but IMHO, that's WAAAAY too much trouble to go to to keep your Tandem jumps organized. The "Shoebox" system works pretty well for me (mine's a "modified" shoebox--see attached). I could still get 95% re-edited with even an approximate date, but it might cost them the same price as their original video depending on what they needed. The DZ I've been working at DZ buys all of our mini DV tapes for us and collects them back as we go through them. This way when there is a turnover in videographers, or one of them is not able to be reached for some reason, the customer can still get their re-dub in a timely fashion. pope

Depends on the quality you're looking for. If you're talking GOOD quality, I suggest the Aaton super 16 A-minima--you can get you one with a basic lens package for around 15k. Maybe cheaper now. Good luck finding them used.

More jumpers would go to nearby Moab instead. Some people would make their first jumps off Frozen Pizza. Yeah, and THEN what?

Not really, folks-- But WHAT IF it was closed tomorrow? We're flirting with it right now... Every Memorial day and Labor day I stay far away from TF, and close my eyes and cringe when my phone rings or when I fire up the computer the next time to see [who] if any of my friends went in or won't walk again. What are your thoughts on what impacts that S has on our sport, both positive and negative? Would the (actual) interest in beginning BASE jumpers decline? Would the new jumpers getting into the sport have less cavalier attitudes (generally speaking) about BASE? your opinions, please... pope

Respeck JJ...points understood and taken, BUT Let's consider the state of this sport as it is today, if the S in TF is "closed" to legal jumping tomorrow. Considering the types of jumpers getting into the sport today, would you still feel the same way as in your post now that most of the present and future "passage of injury" jumpers (in the US anyhow) will now be doing all of the learning on that curve from antennas, cliffs, buildings, and other spans? Maybe a question for another thread, so I'll stop now and post the question there so as not to hijack. cheers, pope PS: Does this mean we may share another exit point soon??

You're right... those women's panties you brought back from the bar ARE cuter than my regular ol' boxer briefs! congrats...hope they fit alright.

Tom, where can I get my hands on one of these "Rig B's?" Based on your report, it sounds like a Rig B is the way to go. Do you know how they handle H, I, or J? What is a Rig B going for these days? Thanks!

Dead is Dead. A BASE jump is a BASE jump. if it's from a bridge over water or an underhung razor-sharp cliff with no landing area, it's still a BASE jump and we still might die. We're ALL the issue/problem. You. Me. Him. Her. Don't be that guy.

many threads seem to start out as a decent technical or otherwise valid discussion, but degrades to one liners at some point or vice versa. How do you handle those? Leave it as is. pope

Maybe this is a better question for the Harrisons, but has anyone broken down the amount of BASE #'s assigned over the years? In other words, since the first BASE # was issued until the most recent, are there any stats that say how many were issued each year? The purpose being to graph a rough amount of new jumpers getting into the sport. If anyone has done this already, where can I find the info?? cheers! pope

Frankly, most of what I'm reading in this thread is shit that you should know when you're GETTING INTO BASE, not when you've been in it for awhile. That's not to say that one should be expected to know all there is to know about the sport when you leave your first fixed object, or that discussions of differing opinions and new techniques, etc. are not valuable, but we are in a sport where we generally have a SINGLE CHANCE in terms of gear. Knowing your gear, how to maintain it, how it works, how it wears, and particularly how to inspect it is IMHO as important as basic body position, packing, and object strike avoidance, for example. The goal here is for us to stay alive, unbroken, un-arrested, and having fun with our mates! This is a good example of what BASE is becoming--too many people wanting the reward without the work/commitment. Kudos to those that have the patience, smarts, and intellegence to are honest with themselves about their abilities and knowledge, and who approach BASE with the respect it deserves! My beanie's off to you all! Now go out and kill them fuckers! pope PS: this post is not aimed at anyone in particular--if it applies to you, then it's aimed at you.

you could always call the ranger's office, I think his brother is one of them... cp

Very nice looking helmet. What do you do if you want horizontally framed stills AND video? Is there an adjustment/way to put on multiple types/sizes of cameras (film/HD/HDV/DV)? Is that flash REALLY just attached via a hotshoe attachment? enjoy it! pope

There are no perfect cards/brands of cards. Having a single card fail or go bad is not nearly a ig enough sample to make a determinationof whether or not that brand id good or not--they all suck sometimes. I have Lexar media and two generations of Sandisk, and so far they've all worked more or less alright.

Drop your rig down the stairs. Pack at the top. It works great as long as the landing at the top is big enough to throw down. This is my preferred method to pack in crowded motel hallways, too. pope

use the magic wand tool in photoshop with the tolerance set around 20. pope

another two or three feet and it would be overhead, eh? Umm...it sucks, fuck you very much. pope

at ~$20/skydive, every 50 jumps is a BASE trip in my wallet. Skydiving can be good practice if you do it right. pope

Oh, I dunno...move back??

Moab is /can be cold, but beautiful as always, but in terms of Wx too! Bring light snow gear. pope

Look... I realize as well as anyone how traumatic losing a friend this way can be. I offer you my most sincere condolences and wish you and all the Iowa friends and family well in [your] recovery. Consider this a word to the wise; BASE jumping has seen a lot of people join its ranks over the last 5-10 years. WE ALL NEED TO REALIZE THAT DYING AS A DIRECT RESULT OF BASE JUMPING IS INEVITABLE IF YOU CONTINUE TO BASE JUMP![see attachments] You will die. Your friends will die. It's often gruesome and horriffic. It's almost always much more than difficult for the families of the fallen. These deaths will leave PERMANENT scars on most of us. Yet most of us continue to jump. If you jump thinking it won't happen to you, then you're a fucking idiot. If you choose to not jump your mates will stand by your decision and respect you that much more. So yes, Stacie, I also hope that we all evaluate (or continue to evaluate) ourselves in that area. But as for desensitizing ourselves to death--why the hell not? BASE jumpers (generally) deal with death differently than most people--they HAVE to be able to think clearly. That's a fact of life that YOU (and anyone else that is bothered by the "timing") need to deal with--particularly when visiting a BASE forum. If you can't handle that, I suggest that you stay in the happy, flowery, "everything's gonna be alright" forum. Stacie, you said in a later post that there are two things we have control over-what we say and what we do. These guys should have controlled what they said and did, and it's important not to point out that it was Iowans (?) that did it, but that this shite can't happen in TF, because the site is more important than anyone's drunken expressions of grief. Timing has NOTHING to do with it. On a personal side note; I know I haven't been skydiving very long, but what is this "EFS" crap and why would one toast a BASE jumper with it anyway? To any friends I might have left--If/when I go in, please don't do this EFS thing for me! pope

Getting drunk isn't the issue. Most of us who have been through this kind of situation have been double-fisted drunk that very night respectively... but that's not the issue. The issue is causing a "scene" in a local business establishment. One's buddy going in does not give one the right to infringe on someone's place of business. It's not the bartender's job to cut you off. If we are to be "trusted" to be responsible enough to jump from that bridge, don't you think we should be trusted to no be a public nusiance? Again, not the point. Nobody else in TF is going to lose the legal privellege [note: not a RIGHT] to jump from this object if they pop off to someone at the Outback. What we're looking at here are the fucking tonsils of a gift horse. Let's pull back and look at the bigger picture, shall we? I must have missed the "blacklist" comment in the threads above, but I agree that that's not a solution. The solution is to show that BASE jumpers care enough about our sport and our community to show the proper respect where it's due--including to local businesses, law enforcement, each other, and of course, our dead. This takes participation from EACH of us! Self-regulation is harder than it sounds. The timing of the thread is only as bullshit as the incident at the Outback was. Speaking for myself and plenty of others who've responded to this thread, we DO HAVE EMPATHY. We have all lost more than one close friend to this sport and have had to deal with it, just as with this death. But please explain to me how these jumper's lack of respect for the entire BASE community gives them a get out of jail free card for being held accountable for their actions. TF is NOT A DROPZONE! We ALL need to understand the dynamics of a BASE accident and be sensitive to it! The ripple effect of shit like this goes far beyond the Outback Steakhouse. We're all sorry about losing a brother. Let's prove to the world that we can BE self-regulating. It's a lot different than "no rules," IMHO. pope

What ever happened to "leave no trace?" It sounds like a lot of people are missing the bigger picture here. This is not really a thread/issue about what may or may not have happened at the Outback--this is about the survival of legal BASE jumping in TF. How many people do you all think will have to go in at this object before the TF community collectively says "ENOUGH?" Every time there is an incident there, we're another step closer to losing the single best legal training site in the US--it puts us walking on eggshells. When ANY of us act inappropriately in the town, it's like putting on Hanwags to walk across those eggshells. It doesn't matter how much you're mourning, who just died when, how. Like it or not you're an ambassador to the [TF] public for BASE jumpers. Just because it's a legal bridge over water does not make it any less of a BASE jump. This is something we ALL need to remind ourselves before each jump there (or anywhere)! Don't take my word for it--go ask any one of the many BASE jumpers that has moved to or lives near TF their opinion on it. I think the fact that this thread was originated BY A TF LOCAL should have squelched most of the debate on this subject. When we're guests, behave appropriately--pretty simple concept if you ask me... BSBD to the jumper and condolences to his mates. pope