Darwin Candidate, Part II, aka BASE Nazi Rant

[freakydiver 0]

I realize that. I realize every time I'm hammering down a 40 degree slide prone slope that even on low to moderate days I could still be buried deep. I've been in my share of near death experiences and have come to terms with death and have talked with those that I love about my life and what it means to me and what I'd like to do with it in the future (i.e. perhaps jump off of a fixed object). They realize what it takes for me to be happy.

-- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

[kleggo 145]

WIRE RIDER: Yeah, whatever, man. We're sponsored.

__________________________________________________
at least one of them, and probably both, sounds like a moron.
it seems like TA dsiplayed admirable retraint.
i doubt i could have

be safe

kleggo

[klr 0]

Hi,

oh thats just priceless !

The stupid teaching the even more stupid ...

I reckon we'll probably be hearing more of these warm organ donors soon enough, with their attitude its only a matter of time.

nice of you to try and impart some knowledge on them - you just can't help some people.

'I came into this world kicking and screaming and covered in somebody elses blood, I plan to leave it the same way.'

[NickDG 23]

I had words with "Burton" years ago concerning this same kind of thing when I was at BR. They don't care. All they are after is getting their name and logo out there. Some reading this thread have never heard of Burton, but they have now, see how that works?

They'd like nothing better than a high profile BASE rescue live on CNN that shows their logo flapping around in the wind.

That's the rub, the more obnoxious and unqualified the sponsored jumper is the more chance there is he/she will make the news.

In fact the more we write to them complaining about it the more they see their strategy is working.

BTW, John's being shown over and over on CNN headline news (Friday morning) right now.

NickD BASE 194

[PeteS 0]

John needs to go jump a span next so he can get BASE bounce. I would nominate him for #1 posthumosly if he can pull it off. Seriously , he needs to take up "extreem shuffleboarding".

[sub_terminal 0]

how about the next person who has this kind of contact with the "SPONSORED TWINS", politely jam their PCs down their mouths and beat the shit out them for being so freakin stupid. or just sit back and let natural selection take care of it. that would be so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ignorancy runs rampant no matter where you are at.
ps. skin, go jump something.
love, mark

[RhondaLea 4]

I don't know if anyone has noticed yet, but this is a two-year old thread. Edited to add: two and one-half years old.

The "sponsored twins" are either dead or famous by now.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[NickDG 23]

Kleggo, I, and many others who have been around for a while sometimes just sit in disbelief at what's happened in this sport. We all knew this would occur when BASE went mainstream and I remember 20 years ago Moe Viletto saying the day is coming and it's not going to be pretty. Well, here we are . . .

The only weapon we have against this sort of thing is the only tactic we've ever had, peer pressure. While not an advocate for violence a good punch in the nose, or a bucket of tar, is how site burners and glory hounds used to be handled in this sport. Are we going soft?

I know it's a delicate balancing act between freedom and responsibility and I remember smart BASE jumpers in the old days saying about guys like these, "Yeah, but how do we know "we" are doing it right?" And they had a point at that time as we all are just winging it too.

But now, all these years later, we do know what works and what doesn't and to ignore that knowledge is almost criminal. I'd like to see a worldwide BASE gear shit list for these people. Play the game right or no gear for you. These folks needed to be "outed" and ostracized from the BASE community. You can even look at it as we aren’t hurting them – we are saving them from themselves.

I think we all need to remember how it was when we (me and you) started BASE jumping and how ignorant we were. It is so very easy to see the fun and the glory without understanding the consequences. We actually do a poor job with that in general. Some can read the fatality list, sit in a good and thorough first BASE course, and even know someone who was hurt, but still it doesn't register.

It's an old saw by now, but we know no matter how many are injured or killed, no matter how many sites are burned, and no matter how many times we just shrug our shoulders and say, "what a jerk," BASE jumping is going to continue forevermore. So our real responsibility is to the youngest and dumbest among us. We didn’t ask for that job, but from writing about BASE, making videos about BASE, and allowing ourselves to become "names" in BASE, we have foisted that job upon ourselves. Like teaching a child too young to realize the danger of running onto a busy street sometimes a measured amount of spanking is a good thing.

I'd love to hear of an experienced BASE jumper telling a story about someone messing up and after asking them what they did about it finding out they "confiscated" the gear. We could even keep score and award a plaque at the end of the year to the "Biggest Confiscator." If Tom (not laying this all on you, brother) told me he took someone's gear away I'd back him to the hilt with no questions asked. We don’t have to make it impossible for bozos to BASE jump, we do, however, have to find a way to make it "just a little bit" harder.

If we don’t do these things, we are exactly what our critics say we are, a bunch of self serving assholes . . .

NickD BASE 194

[TomAiello 26]

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I'd love to hear of an experienced BASE jumper telling a story about someone messing up and after asking them what they did about it finding out they "confiscated" the gear.

I know an experienced jumper who (relatively recently--within the last 2 years) actually destroyed another jumpers gear after a "failure to find locals" type incident.

Those things are still happening. You just don't generally read all about them on the internet (or, really, anywhere else).

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[sub_terminal 0]

it's kind of like road rage. i want to do evil things to people who do incredibly stupid things that make no sense and make my own situation dangerous or more noticed. it's pretty cool to see on someones athlete bio page that they are a BASE jumper isn't it. wow, that makes them more worthy of sponsoring them to do stupid shit. that sucks that a company would support someone to practicing "less than good ethics" in any sport. take out your own wallet, purchase some gear and go do it alone. does anyone know a rigger who would stitch a picture of my pay stub on my canopy? a whole lot of people would be in the shit it that whored out individual actually had a object strike on that particular jump don't you think?

[AreUcrazy 0]

NickDG -

Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custudios?

Et tu?

[Freefly69 0]

Hey, I have a burton snowboard.

Maybe they will sponsor me! I even prefer to jump the downwind side of towers.

SPeaking of Towers, Could anyone take me to one of those 2000footers with elevator?!?

Expect Nothing. Be Ready For Anything!

[RhondaLea 4]

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NickDG -

Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custudios?

Et tu?

BASE is a culture of rational anarchists. If someone fucks up in the meting out of "justice," you can be sure that they too will face consequences for their failure to make a good decision.

Everyone is a guardian, so everyone will guard themselves and each other, and wrong decisions will be met with appropriate disapprobation.

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[Treejumps 0]

*** Are we going soft?


I would say so. It seems that unless every last jumper agrees that a given incident is bad juju, or a flagrant ethics or standards violation, you just can't say anything about it. If you you do say something, the offending jumper and his crew will flame you and then you are the dick. After all, they are base jumpers and can do anything they want to. They are cool, cooler than you or me, so who are we to judge them?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[TVPB 0]

Tom

I feel for you on this one.

IMHO - the only bad thing about people like that going in is that they leave loved ones behind and further tarnish the public perception of the sport.

I have found that the more you try to care about people and protect them from their own stupidity, the more you get ostracised. In the end, I have decided that if people don't care about themselves, then I will follow their lead and not care for them either. There are too many good people who deserve your efforts.

Natural selection will often be the winner!!!!

BTW - I'll have to get one of those sponsorship things. Seems like it stops you from dying. Imagine what fun I could have then!!!!

Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck

The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

[JTHolmesJR 0]

[

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This past week, we were jumping a large TV tower (2000'), with an elevator.

Anyway, we had four jumpers on the elevator, and were all set to get to altitude, and put the elevator to bed before the sun rose, then wait for the light and make a dawn load.

As the elevator reached 1000' or so, two canopies opened pretty much right in front of it--at around 800'.

They were pretty logo canopies, apparently sponsored by a major snowboarding company (I don't snowboard, but I think that's what "Burton" makes).

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BALONEY... JR´s parachutes are faded and old and the logos never popped even when they were new. THe logos are on faded white that is more like brown grey after the 300 jumps have been rallied on that gear

The first jumper fought the wind a bit, and pretty much floated straight down, landing just in front of the guy wires.

The second jumper had a 90 degree off-heading, and as he struggled to turn his canopy, he was blown between the guy wires of the tower.

what do you mean? dont we always jump between the wires on antennas? did the guy go through the wires and into the other side or not?

if so, did he land over there or did he come back through again and land in the same side as he had jumped from?

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It was pure, dumb luck that he survived. I was amazed that he hadn't struck the wires, and gotten to ride them 700' to the ground, thereby injuring (truthfully, probably killing) himself, and likely putting our lovely little elevator off limits for quite some time.

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SO, you were 700 feet away and it was dark.

"para historians beware two jumpers can witness the same thing, yet disagree on what they saw."

From my vantage point (on the ground, bedding down the elevator), I saw the openings, and the resultant wind-driven canopy flights.

A bit of our dialogue:

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ME: Um, well, you really ought to jump into the downwind sector of the tower. That way the wind pushes you away from it.

WHat the hell is a"sector"? if you speak in code tom, many perfect strangers will not understand you.
***
ME: And most people try to pull a bit lower--that way the wind is weaker, and doesn't effect your opening that much.

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WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL A PERFECT STRANGER TO OPEN HIS PARACHUTE LOWER ON A BASE JUMP?

you are not familiar with his gear or his skill

ME: Hey, do you guys want to go and grab some breakfast with us? Maybe talk about this a bit?

So, I get home, make a few phone calls and figure out who the jumpers were. I am informed, quite curtly, that they were perfectly safe, and I ought to mind my own business.

Oh, well. I guess I'll go quietly mind my business, then.

tattle tailing to all your computer oriented friends is not minding your own business.

my 2 cents:
as a jumper in the area at the time, I know that the winds were cold, gusty and shifty. THere was even another jumper the same week that actually had a wire strike that may have been as a result of these unusual wind conditions.
a mistake may have been made in which side to jump, but as a forgiving object will tend to, it forgave.

it could have been an honest mistake, the winds may have been different at exit alt. than opening alt. misleading the beginner jumpers

Here are the facts:

two beginner jumpers were jumping a beginner object at night.

the winds may have been an issue, but both managed to land safely.


no harm no foul.

[TomAiello 26]

Um, you saw that this post is more than 2 years old, right?

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[outrager 6]

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no harm no foul.

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"?

You really are retarded, aren't you? By a couple of years to be exact

bsbd!

Yuri.

[blair700 0]

***
Here are the facts:

two beginner jumpers were jumping a beginner object at night.

the winds may have been an issue, but both managed to land safely.


no harm no foul.

[JTHolmesJR 0]

packing posts...whats wrong with them?

why am I an ex ski baser?

[JTHolmesJR 0]

didnt see that..looked like a last week thing to me and that you were venting because that tower thingy ended up on the news.

oh well, stil worth stating some facts to show JR´s side of things, as I have been on the opposite side of internet lashings and it isnt the best feeling in the world and usually the facts are all way offf.

but i guess 2 years ago his canopies might have been cleaner