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Flying from the Diamond

• July 2012
• Fly Travel

Hello Steph,

What a wonderful site you have, Im so glad wiki steered me to you!

It seems to me that you have the perfect skill set and experience for me to ask you a question that has been poking my brain for the last month: Do you think it is possible to wingsuit off the diamond on longs peak?

As a guy who grew up just miles away in Estes, I have loved the mountain since I could see it from the playground in Kindergarden. The first time my father took me up is still etched in my mind at 45, I lost count of how many times I have gone up after that, many with him at first, and then with friends and others later, I always loved all the other mountains in the area as well, but Longs well gosh, its just Longs.

I dont get back to Estes to visit the family very often anymore unfortunately, and when I am there I usally just sit with my folks and talk during the day, and go for walks at night. Dad is now 82, and the last time we went up Longs Peak we took the turn-off to chasm lake for the first time, and just sat and looked up at that beautiful face, it wasnt’ the top but it was a wonderful day, and the last time Dad and I ever hit Longs together.

I now live in Tucson, so not much hiking, but I have rediscovered trail running in Tucson Mountain Park duing the last two years and I love it.

About four weeks ago I saw a video of someone flying “the crack” in Switzerland on youtube, and my jaw dropped onto the desk. I had no idea what you wingsuit jumpers can do, the footage from the cameras is breathtaking, and so similar to the way I fly in my dreams, on the lucky night that I do.

So it was natural for me to finally come to the question of whether its was possible for someone to attain flight in a wingsuit off Longs Peak, of course it would be illeagal to do so, and I have no plans to become a wingsuit pilot anytime.

Thanks for reading my note, and thanks for the enjoyment your site has given me and will in the future.
Matt

Hi Matt,
I’m glad you like the site 🙂
It’s funny you ask about flying a wingsuit off Longs. Though I of course would never do any illegal base jumps in National Parks, due to my deep and abiding respect for discriminatory laws that are stupid, funny enough almost exactly 5 years ago, someone who apparently greatly resembles me did fly a wingsuit off Longs. This person, apparently crafty in the ways of mountains and the NPS and intimately acquainted with that peak, was not seen, harassed or tasered by anyone. As far as I know, it has not been done before or since, but who can really know.

It’s not really an ideal wingsuit jump, being kind of on the low side (about 900 feet to Broadway Ledge, and then it slabs out considerably below that for the North Chimney without adding much more height) and with the addition of high altitude (which affects both the wingsuit and canopy performance)–and then the whole NPS nonsense of hiking up in the dark and jumping in pre-dawn light, scurrying away and hiding one’s gear from the rangers and all that ridiculousness which I personally do not find an enjoyable part of being an outdoor athlete–but obviously survivable.

Though I can’t speak for that mysterious person who chose to take the terrifying and irresistible leap off that pink and gold face, to wait crazy seconds for the thin air to fill thin nylon wings, I imagine it would be a really special wingsuit jump, like something you might feel compelled and perhaps even destined to do once in your life if the Diamond is an deeply meaningful place to you, a place that at certain times has seemed to matter more than anything. And if, of course, you’d spent lots of time up there alone, days and nights of walking, sleeping, climbing and breathing, and you also happened to love wingsuit flying.

Like you, I love Longs and the Diamond so much. I feel like it’s a member of my family, in a way. Thanks for sharing the sweet memory of being up there with your dad.
🙂 Steph