Blog

Release the Pressure

• February 2009
• Simple Living Fly Travel

[audio:https://stephdavis.co/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/01-release-the-pressure.mp3]
Leftfield “Leftism”
Release the Pressure

In Arizona there is a lot of open space, like Utah, like Wyoming, like Montana. The Grand Canyon is a massive gash into the earth, shooting sub-canyons off into every direction. For a BASE jumper, it’s the promised land.


I went to Arizona last week with a group of very good friends. A couple of years ago, I moved to Boulder for the summer, and free soloed on the Diamond, and learned to skydive. One of the best things that happened that summer was meeting my friend Jacob. He was just starting to BASE jump at that time, and helped me so much by climbing with me on the Diamond, skydiving with me, and taking care of Fletch when I took off to free solo in the mountains. Since that time, he has become a hardcore BASE jumper and photographer. Being in the desert of Arizona for a few days with Jacob, and my friends Mario, Kevin and Chris, was a small escape to another land…..

The last time I’d jumped with Chris was in July, when we jumped at the Roan Plateau outside of Rifle, and I crashed and broke my sacrum. Chris sat with me for hours on the sun-baked dirt while we waited for a helicopter to come, shading my face from the sun by holding a pilot chute up in the air above me. When I was flown to the ER in Grand Junction, he drove from Rifle to the hospital, and carried Fletch into the Emergency Room to sit beside me while I waited for CAT scans. How can you ever deserve friends like this?

This trip to a remote outskirt of the Grand Canyon was truly magical, being with some of the people I love most, camping in the remote desert, and jumping into a deserted place, completely on our own.

I learned a few things by being injured last summer. I learned that having insurance doesn’t mean you have insurance, so I got a SPOT device which sends out GPS coordinates if you are hurt and gives you $100,000 worth of helicopter rescue insurance. I also switched from Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance to Altius, since BCBS cleverly excludes certain causes of injury from their general coverage….. I also learned to carry a minimal injury kit when I jump, with cloth tape and all the major pain meds I saved from my accident last summer. But mostly I learned that BASE jumping in a remote area is super committing, and you have to know that and be realistic about it.

Here, in this canyon, we would need to hike out for two or three hours after the jump. Getting hurt would be a really hard situation, for everyone.

I’ve learned to take that very seriously. Coming here with a group of trusted friends, equipped with all the tools that might help us in the event of a problem, was something I entered in a thoughtful, calculated manner.

BASE jumping is so much about the group, and about choosing to be with people you can count in. Being here with Mario, Chris, Jacob and Kevin felt right. These were the people I would be counting on, and who would be counting on me, while we experienced this wild place.

It’s an 1800 foot cliff. In the States, we don’t have access to legal cliffs of this size. All of our most spectacular, wonderful rock formations are illegal for BASE jumping, due to being in national parks. Americans have to travel to Europe (and spend money in other countries) in order to make wingsuit flights from cliffs, or do any terminal BASE jumping. Especially given the state of our economy, this seems rather foolish. As a proud American, I wish our amazing cliffs in Yosemite, Longs Peak, and Zion would become included as world BASE destinations, just like the walls in Lauterbrunnen, Brento, Tsierag and the Dolomites.

As fast as the world is changing, who knows?, that dream could yet become a reality. But for now, this sub-canyon in Arizona is unique and precious….a place where BASE jumpers can quietly experience the magic of flight, unharassed and unregulated. If you are willing to accept the commitment of the site, and hike for 2 or 3 hours to escape the canyon after your jump, you can fly in a dreamland of terminal bliss.

It’s funny too, how life changes when your dog becomes elderly. Fletch can only walk a few hundred feet, and she most enjoys meandering about on her own program. The flatlands of the canyon rim are a perfect environment for a slow-moving little creature like her. She can be safely stashed in the car for a nap for the three hours of a jump, and then poke about the desert to her heart’s delight while everyone packs up the parachutes, or makes dinner around the campfire. Being in a place that is good for Fletch gives me more satisfaction than just about anything else.

And flying in the air, 1800 feet above the earth, in your own country, with no fear of rangers, is about as good as it gets for a American BASE jumper.

Those first seconds of time, when you step off the edge and feel your wings start to inflate, are like nothing else. The quiet space, the red sand down below, the lovely hours ahead of you as you walk up the high-walled canyon….how could this life be more magical?