Base Jumping

By Lavinia

base jumping tpurism on the edge1

base jumping tpurism on the edge12
According to Wikipedia, B.A.S.E. jumping, also sometimes written as BASE jumping, is an activity that employs an initially packed parachute to jump from fixed objects (also see paragliding). “B.A.S.E.” is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridge), and earth (cliff).

Pictures via 1,2, 3

Before we go any further, here is a movie that is meant to grow your interest in the matter : )

Base Jumping has been around for years, even though it started to be known throughout the world in 1980. In the present, there are between 8,000 and 15,000 BASE jumpers in the world, each of them doing up to 50 jumps a year. 133 deaths has been registered so far (source)

Keep in mind that this sport is not just cool, but extremely dangerous.

In order to BASE jump, you will need :

- guts, nerve;
- equipment and information;
- advice from people with experience;
- at least 100 regular skydiving jumps before the actual BASE jump;
- good luck, because statistics are not very encouraging.

Where?

As you probably imagined, jumping of a building is not exactly legal. However, if you ask for permission from the city council and whatnot, that makes it ok. However, there are some places in the world where this sport is legal. One of them is Kjerag, on Lysefjord in Norway.

Bridge Day

Every year, there is a one day festival in Fayetteville, West Virginia dedicated to BASE jumping, when the sport is considered legal. Here is some further information from wikipedia: “It is always held on the third Saturday in October. On this day, all four lanes of the bridge are closed to automobiles and opened to pedestrians. Bridge Day is the only day of the year people are allowed to BASE jump off the bridge into the New River Gorge 876 feet (267 meters) below. It is one of the few exceptions to a general ban on BASE jumping within the National Park System of the United States. Around four hundred BASE jumpers participate each year. People may also rappel from the span on Bridge Day. Estimates have 80,000 people attending the overall event.”

We hope we have given you a general idea and also a heads up. If you care to look into this mad thingie sport, here are a few links:

BASE Jumping on HowStuffWorks
BASE jumping photos, FAQ and anecdotes
About Bridge Day