bigphatfro

Skydive Idaho was a very nice place to visit. It seemed like everyone there at the dz was there to relax and enjoy the day at a slower pace, which is both good and bad (i.e. sometimes the lengthier waits in between loads was nice and relaxing, other times frustrating if you want to just get in the air). the folks there really seemed interested in helping out new guys learn a new discipline. good people

YHAAARRRR!!! well, i suppose i've learned a lot from owning a Maverick 200 and Firelite 175 reserve. in order to keep the main from giving me a vasectomy, i basically have to roll the 3 outer cells into the center cell, then roll that entire front section of the canopy until i reach the center of the canopy. this allows for awkward transitions between opening stages, though. the openings were almost always off-heading, despite having several different people pack it (including riggers). flare not really anything to write home about, and it took me about 10 jumps to figure out exactly when and how to flare. i honestly thought i broke some bones in my feet on several landings. on the plus side, you can make it float pretty well to get back from long spots. overall, i just wouldn't recommend buying one of these canopies. unless, of course, you're interested in buying the ones i currently own so i can get something new ;-)

WOW. i can't believe how impressed i was after spending just a weekend there. everything from $10 lift tickets to full altitude if you manifest before 8 am, to the load organizers just blew my mind. i was there when the 36-way was working on turning multiple points, and you couldn't even tell that there were even that many people jumping there. there's always room to pack, a beautiful deck to watch jumpers land, great cooks, somebody smiling at you wanting to jump with you, and easy manifests that get you up quick. the planes usually take you up to 14,000 ft, too, so you can get about 70 seconds of freefall easy. and don't even get me started on the load organizers! that's basically free coaching! i honestly learned more in 8 jumps with Duck jumping with us than i had in 25 jumps before that. everyone there is SO friendly, like they've known you their whole life, and they WANT YOU THERE! go jump there, and you'll be as impressed as i was.

Skyranch is a pleasant place to spend the day, but just doesn't seem to be a good place to regularly go to. There just isn't anything to do in between jumps or if you just want to hang out, and there isn't much space to pack. Wolf is a good guy, as well as the rigger there, but most everyone else there seems uncomfortable being in a tight place together. Overall, a nice place to visit.

Tom is the man! So is Todd, Jason, DJan, and everybody else that works there! Those folks are ALWAYS there for the average skydiver, while still maintaining a very professionally run DZ. I don't know what that guy was talking about when he said this place only had "potential"...this DZ is everything you could want--a family atmosphere where people actually WANT to know you by name, excited about jumping, who want to share their knowledge to make skydiving safer and more fun, and the physical materials to do so. Especially coming from SDTR, as well as several dropzones in Arkansas, this place is leaps and bounds over any other dropzone I've ever been to/heard of!! Get in on this action!

Hey man, good luck on the speedy recovery. At least you don't have to march in formations for quite some time. Take advantage of being a Form-18r. Peace. FroMan Dirty Dozen