Mexico

[Stein Edvardsen]

Mexico cave jumps are the best jumps I can get. After 5 trips I can hardly wait till next time I get to go back. I would like to say thank you to all of you who have been with us on these trips.

I really like to meet all the new people from around the world when I`m on my jumping trips. This time in Mexico we had Gary Cunningham with us, he did 24 jumps! That is a record for our Norwegian Cave Expedition. We had also 6 jumpers who never have done acrobatics before, but on this trip all of them did some acrobatics like front loops, back loops, barrel rolls, linked exits etc. It a pleasure to see people grow as jumpers on these trips. I believe since you can do many jumps in a very short time, you progress very quickly as a jumper. In this trip we did total 154 jumps in 5 days of jumping, with no injuries. Gary did 7 in one day and he said it was just for you, Seven.

We will go again late Feb. (Feb. 22. – March 2.). If you would like to join us on this trip, you can contact Vibeke Knutson (vibknuts@online.no) for more details.

Once again thank you all for your support in Norway, Mexico, China, US, Switzerland and all around the world.
Stay safe,
Best regards,
Stein Edvardsen
:)

[346]

I had a great time on this trip. Thanks for the great organization. I highly recommend it.

Stein, I just tried your email again. It keeps bouncing. If you have a new address, can you PM it to me?

Mark

[imported_badenhop]

Hello Stein, cool man! Mexico is a blast!

Yes, your email is bouncing.

Can you send updated email info, please?

email@averybadenhop.com

[Stein Edvardsen]

Sorry, I just got a new E-mail: stein.edvardsen@lyse.net

Stein:-)

[Stefan]

Thank you Norway Team for this nice and well managed time in Mexico. Two thumbs up for your organization! We had a nice mix of personalites which allowed us to laugh a lot, learn a lot, and only party moderate since we all used this time more for technical discussions and exchange of experiences. For sure this trip will have positive ramifications for my future jumping.

c-ya
Stefan

[imported_badenhop]

For those of you who don't know him, Stein is the president of the Norwegian BASE Association. He is also the discoverer of what is probably the world's most popular legal BASE site, a 3000' cliff in Southern Norway.

The story of it's "unveiling" to the BASE world is classic Stein. He went to Bridge Day, a relatively young and unknown jumper, sometime in the early 90's. He simply started talking to the leading American jumpers, and asked:

"So how big is the stuff you are jumping?"

When they told him that most of their jumps were in the 1000-2000 foot range, he said something like,

"Well, I've got this cliff by my house that I've been jumping. It's around 1000 meters."

The rest is history.

If there is someone on Earth who the worldwide BASE community owes a debt of gratitude, it is Stein.


--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

GOODNESS YES!!
THANK YOU STEIN!!
Avery:)

[hey u]

The rest is history??? I'll give you some history. Kjerag was first jumped the summer of 1979 by a Finnish jumper named Jorma Oster. He is the same guy that first jumped the Troll Wall the year after together with another Finnish jumper. Jorma Oster jumped alone the first time he jumped from Kjerag. He had been there the year before to check out the place. At that time there was no road down to Lysebotn, so he had to walk over the mountain from Hunnedalen to get to the exit. A couple who where teachers at the then school in Lysebotn witnessed him jumping. At the bottom of Geitaneset he paddled back to Lysebotn in a canoe that he had borrowed from people in that place. (At that time there was a little community in Lysebotn with school, shop, industry etc). The following year he discovered the Troll Wall and for those that are familiar with that wall it outclasses Kjerag by far, being 2000m instead of 1000m and with a much better logistic situation. Jorma Oster and his friend also jumped from a place in the Geirangerfjord. However, Kjerag was not completely forgotten. A group of 9 jumpers of different nationalities came to visit in the early eighties, but by the mid eighties Kjerag was left alone as far as I know. (This information is actually also to be found in an official newsletter in Norway). In the mid eighties the Troll Wall was forbidden and BASE jumping in Norway more or less died out for some years. Then new jumpers emerged on the scene and the whole thing rekindled with new gear etc. In 1994 I have been told a guy from Eastern Norway rejumped Kjerag. I'm not sure of his name, but I know he doesn't jump today. (Would be nice to know his name).I'm sure Stein Edvardsen is a fine jumper but he is not a pioneer as some people say. After all he started to jump in the nineties. There are several Norwegian BASE jumpers today who started in the late eighties. Also, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on being the president of the Norwegian BASE association. He founded the club himself and announced himself as the president. There is more to the Norwegian BASE environment than hits this board...

Hey u

[Tree]

Hey U,

Sounds like sour grapes, or an axe to grind with Stein. No matter what you say, Stein is credited with making Kjerag one of the most accessible big walls in the world. One off jumps are cool, and being first may account for something, but were talking about making things happen for others, and that is what Stein did. He hooked up hundreds of jumpers with a really nice set of cliffrs, and made it pretty darn easy to jump them. If sombody jumps a big wall, but no one knows about it, and no one remembers except some sissy who won't post his name, does anyone really care? I think not. Stein's place in the BASE history books seems pretty secure to me, so bugger off piss boy!

Tree :P

[ad]

This is very new information for us norwegians. Karl Amund Arneberg, John Mjøen, Nancy Sardella, Jorma oster, and some other finish jumpers searched the western part of Norway, in the beginning of 80's. They stayed in Lysebotn for a week, but left without jumping. Troll wall was jumped before this in 1980 and are still the first known base jump in Norway. Geiranger was first time jumped by Karl Amund Arneberg, and Per Arne Jeramiasen in juli 81. There are always a possiblity that someone have been there before and made a jump, But as far we know Stein was the first. John Mjøen, and Karl Amund is sentral figures in the beginning of 80's base jumping, and they should have known if there was a different story.

Paul Fortun

[Nick_D]

I met an experienced BASE jumper who is born the year Carl Boenish died, and he’s nineteen years old, and smooth in his jumping, like we all used to be. Of course, he’s heard the name, but Carl Boenish to him, is like Christopher Columbus to us, only an interesting figure in history. BASE, or more correctly fixed object jumping, is now currently in it’s fourth generation, and about to embark on a fifth.

Debates concerning who did what, and when, like upboard, have surfaced only in the last few (5) years and mark another milestone is BASE history. That time when almost every BASE jumper knew every other BASE jumper, and what they’re doing, is gone forever. And that’s progress . . .

Caveat on the following: I learned after years of working at BR we sold gear to experienced jumpers we never really knew, or even heard anyone else mention. Yet, they bought every new rig over the years . . . and I know there is a part of BASE that has never come above ground. And that’s what makes it wonderfully hard to get a grip on the current state of it, let alone the past, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s you, your gear, and the object. That’s freedom.

Gen. I: “There’s No Wright Brothers in Parachuting.”
Who it was, that actually made the first parachute jump, and for what reason, is lost now and it’s done during a time when no recordings exist except word of mouth. It’s certaintly made from a fixed object, probably a stone tower, in southern Europe, as early as the 14th century. Escaping fire is the motivation.

Gen II “Make a Jump, Get a Check.”
This generation of (to be called) BASE jumpers found parachute jumps could bring fame and money and lasted into the late 1930s. Fredrick Rodman Law tagged the torch of the Statue of Liberty, in N.Y. Harbor, in 1912. In 1935, an aircraft mechanic, jumped from the inside of (190-feet) a blimp hangar. I’d bargain more jumps are made during this period but are lost in the glare of early aviation.

Gen III: “The Whole World is Jumpable.”
There are a lot of fixed object jumps made leading up to the 1978 jumps at El Capitain where Carl Boenish showed tracking and square canopies made fixed object jumping all of a sudden repeatable, and more importantly, a sport. Prior to this all fixed object jumps are one-off affairs. In 1958, a Dentist, jumped from a cliff in the Italian Dolomites using standard issue paratrooper gear. In 1973 Rick Sylvester skied off El Cap, twice, and Mt. Asgard once for a J.B.M. This period in BASE, as we know it today, is the very beginning and spans up to about 1990 when something really important happened. Up until this point, and all though the eighties, the sport drove the gear. Then, all of a sudden, the gear started driving the sport. One early BASE gear advert stated, “Choose you’re object, and you’re weapon.” This time is hard to pin down, because the Jolly Roger is up, we are the Pirates of the Sky, and pretty much leapt and kept too ourselves.

Gen IV: This is a time when the foundations of human flight, as laid down, are starting to be managed into magnificent achievements. Aerials and wingsuit flight begin to write a brand new chapter, culminating with Dwain, and the beginnings of the fifth generation. Take heart. BASE jumping can never be bottled, or sold, and it’s only a birthright, to those capable of seeing speed in the darkness, those with the curiosity, and the courage, to hang it all on string, rag, and savvy.

Nick :)
BASE 194

[hey u]

Well said Nick. And to Tree, no, I don't have an axe to grind with anyone. Good for you that you defend those you hold in high esteem. Credit should be given where credit is due. The story about Kjerag has not been well known. There also was a group of people staying in Lysebotn without jumping, I guess that's the same incident as mentioned above. There's a tendency to think BASE in Norway started in the nineties. Well, it didn't. And allthough BASE in the 70-ies and 80-ies now seem like not a big deal (few jumps,few people, bad gear)it was a major accomplishment that is hard to compare with what's going on today.

[Joy]

Tom is right. Stein is a great guy and doesn't make hardly any money off of running his trips. He gets his own way paid, but it's the best deal going. I've been on a lot of BASE adventures in my life and the Mexico Cave trip is right up there with the best and worth every dime. Good Luck Stein and thanks Tom for putting you support on the board.
Rick Harrison
Director
US BASE Assoc.
Cliffleaper@aol.com

[Joy]

Paul is right. The Fins were always some hairy legged jumpers and the first to do Troll. Per of Norway was the first Norwegian, but all those guys go back to 1980 and 1981. I was with Per at Thor Alexs' funeral in Morian Norway back in 99 when Randy and I went over there to jump Kjerag and Troll with Thor. After he died the second jump, the Norwegians were great at taking care of us Americans since we were some of John Mjoen's (Norway BASE 1) friends before he bounced on a tandem in 94. Carl Boenish always had a lot of respect for the Norge's and the Fins mainly due to their honesty and integrity, not to mention they are tough people.
Rick Harrison
Director USBA
Cliffleaper@aol.com