What is BASE jumping?
Never heard of it before? You’re not the only one.
While it may be familiar among the more adventurous of us, base BASE jumping is a phenomenon more commonly known to parachutists, skydivers and action movie addicts. However, it’s considerably more dangerous. In 2002, its death toll was estimated to be one in 60. Definitely a good one to sort the men from the boys, it’s considered by many in the extreme sport world as being on the fringe of a sport and more like a stunt.
The acronym ’BASE’ lists the objects that a jumper has to jump at least once from in each category to attain a revered BASE number. These categories consist of buildings, antennae (or uninhabited tower such as an aerial mast), span (an arch or more commonly a bridge), and earth (usually a cliff or other natural structure).
BASE numbers are assigned consecutively to each jumper who applies for and is awarded one. Each BASE jumper has their own individual number. Base-1 was awarded to Phil Smith of Houston, Texas in 1981. There are well over 1000 registered BASE jumpers worldwide. Not all of them are still alive!
The catalyst for modern day BASE jumping originates in the free loving days of the ‘70s. In 1978, filmmaker Carl Boenish filmed the first BASE jump as a stunt for his movie El Capital in Yosemite National Park. From this start, the majority of BASE jumps were done using standard skydiving equipment. By the time the ‘90s rolled around more specialised equipment and techniques had been developed specifically for BASE jumping as a stand alone sport – fringe or not.
If you’re thinking of giving it a try you’re going to need the right equipment. You’ll also need the know-how in getting permission to jump off your BASE as well as the area you’re going to need for landing. Unfortunately, most owners of appropriately massive buildings are generally reluctant to have people jumping to their possible death off of them. These small details can generally pose a regular hassle for most daredevil jumpers. As you can imagine, a lot of jumps are covert. Getting caught jumping off a BASE that you haven’t received permission to do so off can lead to charges such as vandalism, breaking and entering, reckless endangerment, and trespassing to name a few. These charges are also likely to be given to those who accompany the jumper such as the ground crew.
If you’ve just had a read all this and you’re still keen to give BASE jumping a try, just don’t say you haven’t been warned…
Image credit: www.wikipedia.org
