WFFC 1
QuoteThanks WFFC.. Proximity to my route is key.. I plan on taking 25 north to 80 and then west til I hit water..
Mile-Hi is right on the way, so I'll stop there for a few.. if all my best laid plans don't fall apart on me..
Not a problem. Check their website for directions. Follow the map and not the directions though. The road kinda changed and they haven't given me the new text to post yet.

WFFC 1
QuoteI think the big ego "I'm better than you" thing is the biggest problem with this sport.
Agree - Even though I wasn't a participant in the 140 ways at ZHills, I did get that very impression about way too many egos and bigway politics going on.
QuoteQuit your whining and go somewhere else until you can not find a place to jump.
To the unfamiliar this seems so simple. It's about the money right? WRONG!!! The money is only the the tip of the iceberg. It's about being at a DZ where people want to jump. It's about being at a DZ which fosters the attitude that is a good place to be. It's about being at a DZ where people can better themselves. It's about being at a DZ where you as the customer are appreciated for who you are, a regular paying customer. It's about knowing that you can go to a DZ and know that they will try their best to accommodate your needs as a regular paying customer (like getting on loads in a reasonable timely manner and not worrying about being bumped). It's about fulfilling unrealized promises before the next batch of new promises are made.
Mile-Hi Skydiving is a medium sized DZ. We are lucky that the family did not shut the doors after Jeff's death. I realize that I can not directly compare it's operations with that of a world class DZ (it's an apples and oranges thing). But what's wrong with trying to make the DZ operate more like how a world class DZ is operated? Most of us realize that we exist in a region of the country with a very high cost of living and accept why certain commodities are more expensive than other regions of the country. We are spoiled in that we exist in an urban environment but at the same time, the DZ is extremely lucky to have it's tandem customer base come from this large urban environment. But the DZ will never grow out of being the medium sized DZ if it doesn't do a better job attracting jumpers from different regions of the country or different parts of the world. Heck there is a CASA boogie coming up in June and they haven't even taken the time to mention it here on DROPZONE. How will it ever attract jumpers? How will it ever attract decent coaching? So many of you have no idea as to what a great place it is to jump at, what with our good 12 months of jumpable weather and breathtaking scenery. But does the DZ market this to fun jumpers? Who outside of metro Denver has made plans to specifically come visit us? Very few that's who.
So is this just about money? I think not ... this is about trying to preserve and make better something which is important to us fun jumpers. A good DZ to call home. But if the input of one of the DZs most active fun jumpers means nothing? Well then I guess we know where fun jumpers really stand in the grand scheme of things. That's right, I earned the lovely distinction of spending more money on jumps than anyone else at the DZ last year (a year in which I cherish and will never forget). The DZ may not get as profitable of a return on me compared to their precious tandems, but the fact does remain that I spent more money at that DZ than anyone else last year. Is my input not worth anything, or am I just whining?

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over
QuoteI wouldn't have know to ask for a receipt for a tax write off.
It'll be interesting to see if the receipt itemizes this deduction? Then again, because the DZ does not use a ticketing system to manifest for jumps like some other DZs use, there is no receipt given to fun jumpers concerning the actual jumps which are made. A special report must be requested and only two people (unless they've changed this) will issue you a report of your jumping activities at the DZ. So I doubt fun jumpers will be able to deduct their mandatory charitable contributions.
Try not to worry about the things you have no control over
But I had to dig this up concerning something which you said here in DZ.COM not all that long ago.
QuoteSkydive Sebastian has always given a jump ticket to any jumper who BRINGS a Tandem or AFFL1 student. Is just simply good business.
So if this is good business for your DZ, then why can't it be applied elsewhere? And why is it so wrong for a fun jumper to try and stand up for something they believe in? Are our opinions worthless? Or do I need to whine to you more?
To see Vics original post in this other thread, click here.
Try not to worry about the things you have no control over
QuoteQuoteTo give some more perspective, we pay about CDN$35 here to 13K. Less 10% if we buy a $1000 block. CDN35 = US25.7
Apples and Oranges my friend. Your jump prices are a reflection of the lower Canadian dollar value and higher taxation. My poll is defective in that I was thinking American DZs not world wide DZs.
When I mentioned $32 jump prices in the UK I should also have said that I am jealous about US prices no matter what reason they are cheaper than here. As you say you guys have a different tax system and when it comes to skydiving you have a whole industry which supports a well developed infrastructure as far as skydivers are concerned.
mccordia 74
Come to europe and pay the full 25 euro's (+-30 dollars) for 12.500 ft

I wish we would come even close to your 18 to 20 dollar prices...

FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?
The appropriate way to ask for a charitable contribution is to encourage people to donate voluntarily. Not enforce it.
I would be very agitated if someone forced me to do something like this.
Kris.
Do you pay tax on any level? Is taxation a distribution of wealth? If yes to one or both, you are contributing forcibly to something or someone! It’s called socialism, and we here in the good ol USofA are moving more and more toward it every day!
AC DZ
Brains 2
QuoteQuit your whining and go somewhere else until you can not find a place to jump.
QuoteTo the unfamiliar this seems so simple. It's about the money right? WRONG!!!
Steve, read and follow your sig line.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.
dsbbreck 0
QuoteIs my input not worth anything, or am I just whining?
Your input is worth something at Mile Hi. It's INPUT when you go to the DZO and discuss something you don't like constructively. Then you might get the facts straight.
It' WHINING when you get on Dropzone.com and say something like this....
QuoteI got an email from my so called home-DZ that they were proud to announce (yes they used the words proud) that they were going to increase the cost of a jump for all fun jumpers by yet another $1
And this...
Quote(God only knows if we would have been jumping that unsafe and unairworthy lemon right now had the DZO not been killed).
And this....
Quote(the money taken for an Otter which was promised but never delivered)
QuoteInstead of following the lead of a world class DZ like SDA (where jump tickets can be purchased from $16.50 to $18.00), Mile-Hi has chosen to model themselves after a DZ like Skydive Las Vegas. Surely they're NOT trying to attract out of town fun jumpers to come visit the DZ and are likely trying to drive the existing fun jumpers away (let's not forget that it is common practice to bump fun jumpers off of loads at Mile-Hi to accommodate walk-ins and students).
And this....
QuoteIs this charity money need to bride the city of Longmont to allow the Tandem Factory to continue to pump out it's 75-100 tandems it'll do on a given summer weekend day? Or is it setup to drive away the fun jumpers, because after all fun jumpers are not where the money is and why waste a slot on a fun jumper when it could be filled by a tandem and/or student. I can see it, loads this summer (using a leased Otter) will have nothing but Tandems on them.
I Love you brother, but your not helping make a Mile Hi a place to go to by openly bashing it's so called practices on an open forum instead of really getting to know what is really happening at your So called home DZ on a Daily basis.
I'm sorry, but it really pisses me off when people show up one day a week and think they know everything about everything that goes on at a place that is open every day of the week whether we are jumping or not.
If you think you have running a dropzone figured out, let's see you open one of your own. You have no idea what Frank has to go through just to keep this place open. I tried to help him last summer, but it was just too much for me to deal with. You couldn't pay me enough to deal with all the whining skydivers. I thought being a Landlord was bad having to deal with tenants. I'd gladly deal with them over you.
"Socrates wasn't killed because he had the answer.......he was killed because he asked the question."
schwede 0
Then there are clubs here (sweden) where you can pay as little as 5,90 USD a jump if you buy your self a discount system...
Sweden! One of the cheapest countries in the world of skydiving?
"Das Leben ist schön, nicht immer aber immer öfter"
Speer 0
$15...
Russ
Generally, it is your choice; will your life serve as an example... or a warning?
BINGO!
Courtney
I'm glad they told us, or else I wouldn't have know to ask for a receipt for a tax write off.