Blog

BASE jumping (and sport climbing)

• October 2007
• Training Uncategorized

Sport climbing and BASE jumping have a lot in common…..they both involve lots of falling and nylon equipment. So Dean and I made a quick trip to Rifle to get warmed up for my BASE course at the Perrine Bridge in Idaho.

Jimmy Pouchert and Marta Empinotti have become two of our best friends in Moab, as well as my BASE jumping heroes :).

They run a company called Apex BASE which manufactures BASE gear, and they also teach first BASE courses at the Perrine Bridge–which is good to know about in case you ever think your job is stressful.

Unlike skydiving, which has become fairly institutionalized, BASE jumping is still pretty radical and fringe. Traditionally, people find a mentor or teach each other. Jimmy and Marta are two of the best in the world (Marta has made more BASE jumps than almost anyone, and has NEVER BEEN HURT. Believe me, this is a real claim to fame.)

They always told me if I wanted to learn, I could join one of their courses, but I would have to do at least 100 skydives first, and I should also learn to pack a BASE rig in advance, all of which kept me pretty busy this summer.

Last Friday afternoon, we all gathered beside the Perrine Bridge. Jimmy, Marta and Jeremy were there to instruct, along with six students, all of whom had an impressive amount of skydiving experience–a few with over a thousand skydives.

Dean was also there to lend a hand where needed, and keep an extra eye on me, since my skydiving experience is definitely on the low end, with only 150 jumps.

On Saturday, the cold rain and strong winds kept us all grounded, but Jimmy and Marta used the opportunity to drill the packing methods into everyone, and to give us a very thorough ground school. There are very specific procedures, many of which have been developed by Marta, for a few common problems that happen in BASE. One of the main problems is called an offheading opening, or a 180. You run off the cliff, pull out your pilot chute, get a canopy over your head, and realize you are heading straight INTO the wall, instead of straight AWAY from the wall. This is very bad (which is why Jimmy and Marta teach this course at a bridge where you can’t run into the object). If you are too close, you can’t just turn your canopy around, because the side of it will still hit the wall. Turning also causes you to lose altitude faster, which is not good if you are only 300 feet above the ground to start with. But if you don’t do something quick, you will fly right into the wall, and you’re done.

So there are lots of procedures, which it would be good to know intimately in order to be able to pull them off in split seconds, when things like this happen. Obviously you could teach about this for weeks and years, and illustrate every potential problem with fifteen specific examples of people who had this happen and did/did not survive. So I kind of appreciated the bad weather day, to get some extra knowledge about all this stuff.

Sunday morning was beautiful, so we headed out to the bridge first thing in the morning. We all made our first jump as a PCA (pilot chute assist), which means that our pilot chute was already out of our rig, with someone actually holding it until it pulled the canopy out of the rig while we fell. This is extremely safe (I know, I know, but I mean relatively safe, I mean we are talking about BASE jumping here), because there’s no chance of spacing out and not throwing the pilot, and it also makes sure the canopy opens on heading. It takes a lot of pressure off the first jump, because climbing over the railing and standing there looking down is pretty nervy.

You are also worried about jumping correctly, with a stable body position, and getting ready to fly the canopy and land in the right place. Since this bridge is over the Snake River, Marta drilled it into us over and over that if we had any canopy malfunctions, whatsoever, we should land in the water close to shore. Better to get wet than to get hurt. (Another reason they teach this course at the Perrine!) I felt totally confident, knowing that Marta had my pilot chute PCAed, and the first jump was great.

For me, the second jump, holding my pilot chute in my hand, was a lot more scary. It was extra awkward climbing over the railing, and kind of hard to hold on with only my left hand, while holding my right hand up in the air as I got ready to jump, so I was worried about exiting in a stable body position from this awkward setup. In skydiving I am used to reaching back to deploy my pilot chute, so it also felt unfamiliar. But handheld is the next step after PCA, and a good way to be sure you won’t hesitate too long or somehow miss your pilot chute behind you when you reach back to grab it. After all, the bridge is about 500 feet tall, so you only have about 3 seconds, and you don’t want to screw up.

For my fifth jump, I decided it was time to go stowed, which felt a lot more comfortable–so much easier to climb over the railing with both hands free, and a lot more like what I know from skydiving, reaching back to pull out my pilot chute. Except instead of flying like a bird for two minutes first, I was reaching back to pull almost as soon as I was in the air!

Everyone left the bridge totally thrilled and confident, knowing that Jimmy, Marta and Jeremy had given us the best training you could ask for to start a conservative, safe BASE jumping journey….