I spent three summer months jumping at Mile Hi and I was not impressed. They have tons of airpower to get you up there, but they still always seemed to have a long wait at manifest on the weekends. Forget getting on a load quickly if you are there the on the same weekend as the air force cadets, they manifest in advance for the whole day. The otter is nice, and it runs all day but they often did not bring the king air out even when the otter was backed up for 2+ hours. I saw the king air run three times out of the 12 or more weekends that I was there. The trailer ride to the boarding area is bumpy and dusty, but I understand that is mostly out of the managements control for now. One good point is that the landing area is huge and the pilots consistently gave good spots for the entire load.
The tandem instructors seemed unhappy to be doing their job. It was a hot summer, so I can understand being tired. I can't count how many times I saw a TI get a students name then hardly even talk to them until it was time to hook up on jump run. 80- 100 tandems per day is the norm for weekends and they don't have the staff numbers to give them the attention they deserve for a truly memorable experience. I would consider it a tandem mill.
The fun jumpers, in general, are clicky and unwilling to jump with unfamiliar people. There seems to be no "help each other out" spirit. There is no good, upbeat vibes like I have gotten at other dropzones. If you show up looking to do RW, especially smaller jumps, prepare to be disapointed. This DZ is almost entirely free fliers.
I wish I could say more good things about this DZ, because with the right atmosphere it could have been one of the country's best. One thing that could be done to improve the vibes is to get a load organizer for all disciplines and skill levels. There were always several new license holders and low timers sitting around for a big part of the day because there was no one to show them what was next or provide any sort of mentoring.
Mile-Hi Skydiving Center
in Colorado
The tandem instructors seemed unhappy to be doing their job. It was a hot summer, so I can understand being tired. I can't count how many times I saw a TI get a students name then hardly even talk to them until it was time to hook up on jump run. 80- 100 tandems per day is the norm for weekends and they don't have the staff numbers to give them the attention they deserve for a truly memorable experience. I would consider it a tandem mill.
The fun jumpers, in general, are clicky and unwilling to jump with unfamiliar people. There seems to be no "help each other out" spirit. There is no good, upbeat vibes like I have gotten at other dropzones. If you show up looking to do RW, especially smaller jumps, prepare to be disapointed. This DZ is almost entirely free fliers.
I wish I could say more good things about this DZ, because with the right atmosphere it could have been one of the country's best. One thing that could be done to improve the vibes is to get a load organizer for all disciplines and skill levels. There were always several new license holders and low timers sitting around for a big part of the day because there was no one to show them what was next or provide any sort of mentoring.