Questions of Base
hello steph,
I am living in belgium and found your email on internet. I write you because I’m intresting in base and other related sports like bungee, hanggliding, skydiving. (I practised these last three sports and I’m currently HGLIDING;
Personally I find myself to old to go basejumping. I’m 55 years old now and my bones wouldn’t support another accident (lol).
But I am fascinated by the psycological side of base.
Personally I think a cliff jumper (high dive platform) is more of an athlete than a base jumper.
I would like to hear your opinion:
– Has base a lot to do with vertigo. I know there is a big technical aspect from the gear side (mesh sliders, slider up and down, size of pilot chute etc.) beside we have the body position 45°degree angle.
– Is it difficult to go from handheld to stowed. I always wonder how you have to deal with it because as long as you have the Pc in your hands you have a certain control, after that you have stowed and you cannot miss the Pc.
– Are there a lot of base jumpers in the states??
– Do you need natural born skill?
A few answers would please me and to have another friend on this planet is also fine,
Regards to you, bernie from belgium
Dear Bernie,
Thanks for writing! I see you are very interested in base! I can’t tell you how to compare the athleticism of cliff diving with base jumping. Base jumping can be relatively non-athletic, or it can be very technical, depending on what you want to do and to what degree. This is what I have seen with almost every sport.
Yes, there are a lot of technical things to learn and know about the gear. Gear is very specific, and needs to be adjusted and varied for all the different types of base jumping. The biggest differences come based on the height of the object being jumped, because the timing is so different. Off a low object, you only free fall for 1-3 seconds, and you never reach terminal speed. So you need a bigger pilot chute to pull out your canopy. You also need the canopy to come out faster, before the ground comes up. On a tall object, you will reach terminal speed, so your pilot chute can be smaller, and the parachute needs to come out more slowly so it doesn’t slam you with too much force. There are also variations for mid-height jumps and wingsuit use, in what gear you will use and how you will pack. These things have all been discovered through trail and error by jumpers who are of a pioneering mindset.
Personally, I dislike going handheld, because I find it unaesthetic. Currently, I prefer to exit even from low cliffs with my arms back at my sides, rather than waving above my head (though arms-up for sub-terminal jumps is how I was originally trained to jump from low cliffs, and what I always used to do in the past). I find this feels more aesthetic and more practical, because then my arms are already back where the pilot chute is. Also, this does not require me to change the body position I use for low cliffs to medium cliffs to high cliffs. I feel most comfortable in a wingsuit body position, with arms back, so I like to have this body position even without a suit on. I don’t like going handheld, because I find it kind of clutzy (this is just my personal feeling) to have a big wad of pilot chute in my hand, with the bridle hanging out, and having my arm up. I prefer to have everything tidy and stowed away when I jump off the edge, and to have my arms back for a more aesthetic body position in the air. But that’s just me.
I know many highly skilled base jumpers who sometimes prefer to go handheld, because they like the feeling of pure timing control and also relaxation of only having to release the pilot chute from their hand. So it’s very personal, as to what one prefers.
You’re right, missing the pilot chute would be very bad, and for that reason people are taught to jump handheld at first when they start jumping low cliffs, so they don’t have to trust themselves to not miss the pilot chute. Obviously you would never go handheld from a terminal cliff.
There are a lot more base jumpers in the States than there used to be, that’s for sure. Obviously, Europe is a real mecca for terminal base jumping since it does not have the illegality issues we are burdened with here, having our best tall cliffs in National Parks.
For your question of whether you need natural skill to base jump: I think the ability to practice any sport comes from discipline and desire, and base jumping is no different.
Take care!
🙂 Steph
