B.A.S.E. jumping, also sometimes written as
BASE jumping, is an activity that employs an initially packed
parachuteA parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Parachutes are made out of cloth, most commonly nylon....
to jump from fixed objects (also see
paraglidingParagliding is a recreational and competitive flying sport. A paraglider is a free-flying, foot-launched aircraft. The pilot sits in a harness suspended below a fabric wing, whose shape is formed by its suspension lines and the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing.- History :In...
). "B.A.S.E." is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump:
buildingIn architecture, construction, engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s,
antennaAntenna may refer to:-Science and engineering:* Antenna , the component designed to send and receive electromagnetic Antenna (plural antennae (biology) or antennas (radio)) may refer to:-Science and engineering:* Antenna (radio), the component designed to send and receive electromagnetic Antenna...
s, spans (
bridgeA bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge and the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed.-History:The first...
), and earth (
cliffIn geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are...
).
History
The acronym "B.A.S.E." was made up by film-maker
Carl BoenishCarl Boenish considered the father of modern BASE jumping, was a freefall cinematographer, who in 1978 filmed the first jumps from El Capitan using ram-air parachutes and freefall tracking technique. This approach defined modern BASE jumping...
, his wife Jean Boenish, Phil Smith, and Phil Mayfield. Carl was the real catalyst behind modern BASE jumping, and in 1978 filmed the first BASE jumps to be made using ram-air parachutes and the freefall tracking technique (from
El CapitanEl Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers....
, in
Yosemite National ParkYosemite National Park is a national park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
). While BASE jumps had been made prior to that time, the El Capitan activity was the effective birth of what is now called BASE jumping. BASE jumping is significantly more dangerous than similar sports such as skydiving from aircraft, and is currently regarded by many as a fringe
extreme sportExtreme sports is a media term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger...
or
stuntA stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre, or cinema...
.
BASE numbers are awarded to those who have made at least one jump from each of the four categories. When Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield jumped together from a Houston skyscraper on 18 January 1981, they became the first to attain the exclusive BASE numbers (BASE #1 and #2, respectively), having already jumped from an antenna,
spansSpan is a section between two intermediate supports, e.g. of a beam or a bridge.A span can be made of a solid beam or of a rope. The first kind of span is used for bridges, the second one used for power lines, overhead telecommunication lines, some type of antennas or for aerial tramways.The span...
, and earthen objects. Jean and Carl Boenish qualified for BASE numbers 3 and 4 soon after. A separate "award" was soon enacted for Night BASE jumping when Mayfield completed each category at night, becoming Night BASE #1, with Smith qualifying a few weeks later.
During the early eighties, nearly all BASE jumps were made using standard skydiving equipment, including two parachutes (main and reserve), and deployment components. Later on, specialized equipment and techniques were developed that were designed specifically for the unique needs of BASE jumping.
- In 1912, Frederick Law jumped from the Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty , officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World , dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship...
- In 1912, Franz Reichelt
Franz Reichelt was an Austrian tailor best known for his accidental death.-Life, death and legacy:Reichelt, known as the flying tailor, designed an overcoat to fly or float its wearer gently to the ground like the modern parachute...
, tailor, jumped from the first deck of the Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in...
testing his invention, the coat parachute. He died. It was his first ever attempt with the parachute and he had told the authorities in advance he would test it first with a dummy.
- In 1913, Štefan Banič
Štefan Banič ethnic Croat of today Slovakia inventor of the military parachute and of the first actually used parachute....
jumped from a building in order to demonstrate his new parachuteA parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Parachutes are made out of cloth, most commonly nylon....
to the U. S. Patent Office and military
- In 1913, a Russian student Vladimir Ossovski (Владимир Оссовский), from the Saint-Petersburg Conservatory, jumped from the 53-meter high bridge over the river Seine in Rouen (France), using the parachute RK-1, invented a year before that by Gleb Kotelnikov
Gleb Yevgeniyevich Kotelnikov , was the Russian-Soviet inventor of the knapsack parachute.In 1894, Kotelnikov graduated from the Kiev Military School...
(1872-1944). Ossovski planned jumping from the Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in...
too, but the mayor of Paris didn’t allow that. (Information from the Russian edition of GEOGEO is a family of educational monthly magazines similar to the National Geographic Magazine. It is known for its profound reports, which are accompanied by opulent pictures.The first edition appeared in Germany in 1976...
magazine, issue 11, November 2006, GEO).
- In 1965, Erich Felbermayer jumped from Cima piccola di Lavaredo, in Italia.
- In 1966, Michael Pelkey
Michael Pelkey is one of the founders of BASE jumping.-El Capitan jump:On 24 July 1966 Pelkey and Brian Schubert, two 26-year-old skydivers from Barstow, California, made the first parachute jumps from the top of the El Capitan mountain in Yosemite National Park...
and Brian Schubert jumped from the cliff "El CapitanEl Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers....
" in Yosemite ValleyYosemite Valley is a world-famous scenic location in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It is the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park, attracting visitors from all parts of the globe....
- On 9 November 1975, the first person to parachute off the CN Tower
The CN Tower, located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and observation tower standing tall. It surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower while still under construction in 1975, becoming the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world...
in TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
, Canada, was Bill Eustace, a member of the tower's construction crew. He was fired.
- In 1975, Owen J. Quinn
Owen J. Quinn was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1941. He was the first person to successfully parachute off one of the World Trade Center towers.-The beginning:...
, a jobless man, parachuted from the south tower of the World Trade CenterThe World Trade Center was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks...
to publicize the plight of the unemployed.
- In 1976 Rick Sylvester
Rick Sylvester is a Hollywood stuntman, most famous for his BASE jump using skis and parachute from Canada's Mount Asgard for the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me in July 1976. In 1973, he skied off the top of El Capitan and descended 3000' by parachute. This was conceived as "the world's...
skied off Canada's Mount AsgardMount Asgard is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped cylindrical rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The peak is named after Asgard, the realm of the gods in Norse mythology...
for the opening sequence of the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved MeThe Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
, giving the wider world its first look at BASE jumping.
- In 1990 Russell Powell (British) BASE 230 illegally jumped from the Whispering Gallery inside St Pauls Cathedral London. It was the lowest indoor BASE Jump in the world.
- In 2008, two men, dressed as engineers, illegally jumped off the Burj Dubai
Burj Dubai , a supertall skyscraper under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at...
, the tallest man-made structure in the world.Video documentary about the jump from the Burj Dubai tower
- In 2009, three women, a Venezuelan Ana Isabel Dao 28 years old, a New Zealander Livia Dickie 29 years old and a Norwegian Anniken Binz 32 years old base jumped from the highest waterfall in the world with a height of and a clear drop of Angel Falls
Angel Falls is the world's highest waterfall, with a height of 979 m and a clear drop of 807 m...
located in the Gran Sabana region of Bolivar State in VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
. Ana Isabel Dao was the first Venezuelan woman to jump off Angels Falls.
However, these and other sporadic incidents were one-time experiments, not the systematic pursuit of a new form of parachuting. After 1978, the filmed jumps from El Capitan were repeated, not as a publicity exercise or as a movie stunt, but as a true recreational activity. It was this that popularised BASE jumping more widely among parachutists. Carl Boenish continued to publish films and informational magazines on BASE jumping until his 1984 death after a BASE-jump off of the
Troll WallThe Troll Wall is part of the mountain massif Trolltindene in the Romsdal valley, near Åndalsnes and Molde, on the Norwegian west coast. Troll Wall is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, 1100 meters from the base to the summit at its tallest...
. By this time, the concept had spread among skydivers worldwide, with hundreds of participants making fixed-object jumps.
Comparison with skydiving
BASE jumping grew out of skydiving. BASE jumps are generally made from much lower altitudes than skydives, and a BASE jump takes place in close proximity to the object serving as the jump platform. Because BASE jumps generally entail slower airspeeds than typical skydives (due to the limited altitude), a BASE jumper rarely achieves
terminal velocityIn fluid dynamics an object is moving at its terminal velocity if its speed is constant due to the restraining force exerted by the air, water or other fluid through which it is moving....
. Because higher airspeeds enable jumpers more aerodynamic control of their bodies, as well as more positive and quick parachute openings, the longer the delay, the better.
Skydivers use the air flow to stabilize their position, allowing the parachute to deploy cleanly. BASE jumpers, falling at lower speeds, have less aerodynamic control, and may tumble. The attitude of the body at the moment of jumping determines the stability of flight in the first few seconds, before sufficient airspeed has built up to enable aerodynamic stability. On low BASE jumps, parachute deployment takes place during this early phase of flight, so if a poor "launch" leads into a tumble, the jumper may not be able to correct this before the opening. If the parachute is deployed while the jumper is tumbling, there is a high risk of entanglement or malfunction. The jumper may also not be facing the right direction. Such an off-heading opening is not as problematic in skydiving, but an off-heading opening that results in object strike has caused many serious injuries and deaths in BASE jumping.
At an altitude of 600m (2,000 feet), having been in free-fall for at least 300m (1,000 feet), the jumper is falling at approximately 55 m/s (190kph, 120 mph), and is approximately 5.7 seconds from the ground. Most BASE jumps are made from less than 600m (2,000 feet). For example, a BASE jump from a 150m (500 foot) object is about 5.6 seconds from the ground if the jumper remains in free fall. On a BASE jump, the parachute must open at about half the airspeed of a similar skydive, and more quickly (in a shorter distance fallen). Standard skydiving parachute systems are not designed for this situation, so BASE jumpers often use specially designed harnesses and parachute containers, with extra large pilot chutes, and many jump with only one parachute, since there would be little time to utilize a reserve parachute. If modified, by removing the bag and slider, stowing the lines in a tail pocket, and fitting a large pilot chute, standard skydiving gear can be used for lower BASE jumps, but is then prone to kinds of malfunction that are rare in normal skydiving (such as "line-overs" and broken lines).
Another risk is that most BASE jumping venues have very small areas in which to land. A beginner skydiver, after parachute deployment, may have a three minute or more parachute ride to the ground. A BASE jump from 150m (500 foot) will have a parachute ride of only 10 to 15 seconds.
One way to make a parachute open very quickly is to use a
static lineA static line is a fixed cord attached to a large, stable object. It is used for safety in construction and for low jumps and training in parachuting.-Use in parachuting:...
or direct bag. These devices form an attachment between the parachute and the jump platform, which stretches out the parachute and suspension lines as the jumper falls, before separating and allowing the parachute to inflate. This method enables the very lowest jumps (below 60m / 200 ft) to be made, although most BASE jumpers are more motivated to make higher jumps involving free fall. This method is similar to the
paratrooperParatroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
's deployment system.Also called a PCA Pilot Chute Assist.
Legal issues
The legal issues that a BASE jumper must consider concern permissions to use the object from which the jump is initiated and the area used for landing.
Covert BASE jumps are often made from tall buildings and antenna towers. The general reluctance of the owners of these objects to allow their object to be used as a platform means many such BASE jumps are attempted covertly. While BASE jumping itself is not illegal, the covert nature of accessing objects usually necessitates trespassing on an object. Jumpers who are caught can expect to be charged with trespassing, as well as having charges like breaking and entering, reckless endangerment, vandalism, or other such charges pressed against them. Other people accompanying the jumper, such as ground crew, may also face charges.
In some jurisdictions it may be permissible to use land until specifically told not to.
Perrine BridgeThe I. B. Perrine Bridge at Twin Falls, Idaho, United States is an truss arch four-lane bridge carrying U.S. Highway 93 over the Snake River Canyon. Perrine Bridge is approximately long and above the Snake River...
in
Twin Falls, IdahoTwin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The population was 34,469 at the 2000 census; a 2006 estimate found 40,380 people....
, is an example of a man-made structure in the United States where BASE jumping is allowed year-round without a permit.
Once a year, on the third Saturday in October ("
Bridge DayBridge Day is an annual one-day festival in Fayetteville, West Virginia and sponsored by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce, that commemorates the 1977 completion of the New River Gorge Bridge. It is always held on the third Saturday in October. On this day, all four lanes of the bridge are...
"), permission to BASE jump has explicitly been granted at the
New River Gorge BridgeThe New River Gorge Bridge is a steel-arch bridge, in Fayetteville, West Virginia, United States. With a length of , it was for many years the longest in the world of that type. Its arch extends . Part of U.S. Highway 19, it is crossed by an average of 16,200 motor vehicles per day. Its...
in
Fayetteville, West VirginiaFayetteville is a town in and the county seat of Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,754 at the 2000 census.Fayetteville was listed as one of the 2006 "Top 10 Coolest Small Towns in America" by Budget Travel Magazine....
. The New River Gorge Bridge deck is 876 feet (267 m) above the river. This annual event attracts about 450 BASE jumpers, and nearly 200,000 spectators. If the conditions are good, in the six hours that it is legal, there may be over 800 jumps. For many skydivers who would like to try BASE jumping, this will be the only fixed object from which they ever jump. On 21 October 2006, veteran BASE jumper Brian Lee Schubert of
Alta Loma, CaliforniaAlta Loma is one of three formerly unincorporated areas that became part of the city of Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States in 1977. The community is located in the foothills of the south face of the San Gabriel Mountain range, near Cucamonga Peak and Mount Baldy. It is located in the...
was killed jumping from the New River Gorge Bridge during Bridge Day activities. His parachute opened late and he plummeted to his death in the waters below. Jumps continued following the recovery of his body. He and his friend
Michael PelkeyMichael Pelkey is one of the founders of BASE jumping.-El Capitan jump:On 24 July 1966 Pelkey and Brian Schubert, two 26-year-old skydivers from Barstow, California, made the first parachute jumps from the top of the El Capitan mountain in Yosemite National Park...
were the first to make a BASE jump from
El CapitanEl Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers....
in
Yosemite National ParkYosemite National Park is a national park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
in 1966.
However the National Park Service has the authority to ban specific activities in US National Parks, and has done so for BASE jumping. The authority comes from 36 CFR 2.17(3), which prohibits, "Delivering or retrieving a person or object by parachute, helicopter, or other airborne means, except in emergencies involving public safety or serious property loss, or pursuant to the terms and conditions of a permit." Under that Regulation, BASE is not banned, but is allowable if a permit is issued by the Superintendent, which means that a mechanism to allow BASE in National Parks was always in place. However, National Park Service Management Policies have stated that BASE "is not an appropriate public use activity within national park areas ..." (2001 Management Policy 8.2.2.7.) This meant that there could be no permitted air delivery. It is noted, however, that this policy has a proposed change that strikes the language banning it outright and replacing it with a different test. Whether this will be approved, and whether this will make the granting of permits easier, is open to speculation.
In the early days of BASE jumping, the Service issued permits under which jumpers could get authorization to jump from El Capitan. This program ran for three months in 1980 and then collapsed amid allegations of abuse by unauthorised jumpers. Since then, the Service has vigorously enforced the ban, charging jumpers with "aerial delivery into a National Park". One jumper drowned in the
Merced RiverThe Merced River is a river in the U.S. state of California. The river drains of mostly rugged terrain, and is fed primarily by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada. Its headwaters are in the southeastern half of Yosemite National Park. The river flows into Yosemite Valley and west through the Merced...
while being chased by Park Rangers intent on arresting him. Despite this, illegal jumps continue in Yosemite at a rate estimated at a few hundred per year, often at night or dawn. El Capitan,
Half DomeHalf Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar sight. The granite crest rises more than above the valley floor.-Geology:...
and
Glacier PointGlacier Point is a viewpoint above Yosemite Valley, in California, USA. It is located on the south wall of Yosemite Valley at an elevation of , above Curry Village...
have been used as jump sites.
Other US public land, including land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, does not ban air delivery, and there are numerous jumpable objects on BLM land.
The legal position is better at other sites and in other countries. For example, in Norway's
LysefjordLysefjord is a fjord located in Forsand in south-western Norway...
(from the mountain
KjeragKjerag or Kiragg is a Norwegian mountain, located in Lysefjorden, in Forsand municipality, Rogaland. Its highest point is 1110 m above sea level, but its northern drop to Lysefjorden attracts most visitors. The drop is and is just by the famous Kjeragbolten, a 5 m³ big stone which is...
) , BASE jumpers are made welcome. Many sites in the European Alps, near Chamonix and on the Eiger, are also open to jumpers. Some other Norwegian places, like the
Troll WallThe Troll Wall is part of the mountain massif Trolltindene in the Romsdal valley, near Åndalsnes and Molde, on the Norwegian west coast. Troll Wall is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, 1100 meters from the base to the summit at its tallest...
, are banned because of dangerous rescue missions in the past.
BASE jumping today
Upon completing a jump from all of the four object categories, a jumper may choose to apply for a "BASE number", which are awarded sequentially. Base-1 was awarded to Phil Smith of Houston, Texas in 1981. The 1000th application for a BASE number was filed in March 2005 by Matt Moilanen of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
BASE jumping is often featured in action movies. The 2002
Vin DieselVin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
film
xXx includes a scene where Diesel's character catapults himself off the
Foresthill BridgeThe Foresthill Bridge over the American River is the tallest bridge in the U.S. state of California. It is sometimes referred to as the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge or the Auburn Bridge....
in an open-topped car, landing safely as the car crashes on the ground. In the movie
Lara CroftLara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider video game series. Created by Toby Gard, the character has also appeared in comic books, novels and a series of animated short films, and has been played by Angelina Jolie in two feature films...
- Tomb raider II - The Cradle of Life, includes the scene in which the main characters jump with wing suits from the IFC Tower in
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
and fly over the Bank of China, finally opening their parachutes to land on a moving freighter. The stunt was done in reality with no special effects by the stunt base jumpers Martin Rosén and Per Eriksson, members of the Swedish "Team Bautasten". The scene was filmed by air to air camera man Mikael Nordqvist from the same team. Since the 1976
Mount AsgardMount Asgard is a twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped cylindrical rock towers, separated by a saddle. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park, on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The peak is named after Asgard, the realm of the gods in Norse mythology...
jump featured in the pre-credits sequence to
The Spy Who Loved MeThe Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
, James Bond movies have featured several BASE jumps, including one from the
Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in...
in 1985's
A View to a KillA View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the third Bond film after The Spy Who Loved Me...
, the
Rock of GibraltarThe Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is 426 metres high. The Rock is Crown property of the United Kingdom, and borders Spain...
in 1987's
The Living DaylightsThe Living Daylights is the fifteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
, and in
Die Another DayDie Another Day is the twentieth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. In the pre-title sequence, Bond leads a mission to North Korea, during which he is found out and, after killing a rogue North Korean colonel, he...
, 2002,
Pierce BrosnanPierce Brendan Brosnan is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist, who holds both Irish and American citizenship. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
as
James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
jumps from a melting iceberg. Of the James Bond jumps only the Mt Asgard and Eiffel Tower jumps were filmed in reality; the rest were special effects.
The 1990s surge of interest in extreme sports saw increasing interest in BASE jumping, though unlike other "extreme" sports which have become more or less mainstream, BASE jumping retains a reputation as a stunt or daredevil activity rather than a sport. The lack of an objective standard for judging between jumps from a single object is certainly a problem here--in one sense, any jump in which the jumper survives is successful, and as jumpers rarely attain sufficient speed to engage in the kind of acrobatics that conventional skydivers do, the opportunity for distinguishing one's self beyond the mere fact of the jump is somewhat minimal.
The high fatality rate is another likely reason that the activity has largely failed to gain widespread acceptance, and though the availability of specialized equipment and wider knowledge of techniques has made BASE jumping safer than it was in the 1970s and 1980s, deaths still occur on a regular basis, even among experienced jumpers. Some deaths through ground impact in free fall or object strike do occur, but most incidents are due to hazardous landing sites or other problems which develop after the parachute has opened. Recent studies have been made regarding the fatalities and the high risk incident level in BASE jumping. Dr Anton Westman, a medical doctor and likewise a BASE jumper, recently published the article
Parachuting from fixed objects: descriptive study of 106 fatal events in BASE jumping 1981–2006. Westman studies 106 fatal incidents from the international
BASE Fatality List and investigates the leading factors and mechanisms that caused the incident. The article is a piece from his recently released Ph.D. thesis
Dangers in sport parachuting.
Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
first listed a BASE jumping record with Carl Boenish's 1984 leap from Trollveggen (
Troll WallThe Troll Wall is part of the mountain massif Trolltindene in the Romsdal valley, near Åndalsnes and Molde, on the Norwegian west coast. Troll Wall is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, 1100 meters from the base to the summit at its tallest...
) in Norway. It was described as the highest BASE jump. (The jump was made two days before Boenish's death at the same site.) This record category is still in the
Guinness book and is currently held by Australians Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan with a jump from Meru Peak in northern India at a starting elevation of .
The sheer variety of the nature of the challenge at different jump sites means that direct comparisons of different jumps are often meaningless. There is a Guinness entry for "oldest BASE jumper" (James Guyer, aged 74 years 47 days). Even more contentious are claims sometimes made (although not recognized by Guinness) for the lowest jump. Given that a static-lined parachute can be made to open in little more than the length of its suspension lines, jumps can actually be performed at practically any altitude down to the point at which a parachute is not necessary for survival.
BASE competitions have been held since the early 1980s, with accurate landings or free fall aerobatics used as the judging criteria. Recent years have seen a formal competition held at the high Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, judged on landing accuracy.
Fatalities
Between 1981 and 2009 there have been at least 133 (8.4.2009) fatalities related to the sport. BASE jumping is one of the world's more dangerous recreational activities, with overall annual fatalities in 2002 estimated at about one fatality per sixty participants.
External links