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November 9th, 1999, 07:18 PM
<center><font size="1" color="#ff0000">LAST EDITED ON Nov-09-99 AT 08:21 PM (EST)</font></center>
Husband, friends pay tribute to parachutist
Jan Davis and sport she loved
By CHRISTINE HANLEY
Associated Press Writer
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Leading a pilgrimage to the place parachutist Jan Davis fell to her death, Tom Sanders remembered his wife as a brave, spiritual woman who lived to the fullest and died for a cause she cared about deeply.
"She was epic," Sanders said Monday in a eulogy before 25 or so basejumpers gathered on a dirt trail leading to 3,200-foot El Capitan.
"She did it all."
Ms. Davis died Oct. 22, when her parachute did not open during a protest of Yosemite's ban on parachuting off cliffs and mountains.
The case against the four people who jumped with Ms. Davis and survived was scheduled to move forward Monday. Joe Weber, Mick Knutson, Henry
Boger and Avery Badenhop each are charged with illegal air delivery for dropping from El Capitan into Yosemite Valley.
The arraignment was continued until Dec. 13 so they can hire attorneys.
Alongside the sadness of the memorial service, there were signals from the National Park Service and from basejumpers that their relations would
improve.
Bob Andrew, Yosemite's chief ranger, said park officials are willing to meet formally with basejumpers. But he suggested they go straight to
decision makers in Washington.
"If there's anything we can do to reduce the adversarial role we find ourselves in, then yes, we're going to explore those issues," he said.
"The thing we want to stress is, this is a national issue. It's not a Yosemite issue."
Tom Sanders told a crowd that his meeting with Andrew encouraged him that the problem can be resolved by establishing a permitting process or by setting up a body to govern the sport.
"He understands why people climb Everest. He understands why people surf 40-foot waves. He understands why people climb El Capitan. And why we jump off. Now we have to find a way to make it all happen," Sanders said.
The day was also an opportunity for Tom Sanders and other basejumpers to continue their criticism of the park service's ban on basejumping.
"Basejumping is a beautiful sport," said Sanders, a photographer who owned a stunt company with his wife. "I'm not going to stop this adventure because she has moved on."
He advocated legalization of basejumping, yet urged fellow jumpers to stop treating the park service like an enemy.
"We're really not on opposite sides," he said. "Maybe we can take a different path."
Basejumping was briefly legal in Yosemite in 1980, but people routinely violated restrictions on when and how often they could jump. Park officials soon banned the jumps.
For the Oct. 22 protest, Yosemite agreed to let the protesters land in a designated area, be arrested and forfeit their equipment.
Ms. Davis did not want her chute confiscated, so borrowed someone else's and did not bring her backup chute. The chute she borrowed had a rip cord on the leg; her usual one had its rip cord at the shoulder.
After the court date, basejumpers went to El Capitan and placed two bouquets on a small boulder. Ribbons were marked "An Angel's Fall," in
remembrance of Ms. Davis leap from the top of angel Falls in South America.
"All I can say is I'm going to miss her," Sanders said, his voice breaking. "And I'm going to do everything I can to live my life like her, so I can catch up."
Husband, friends pay tribute to parachutist
Jan Davis and sport she loved
By CHRISTINE HANLEY
Associated Press Writer
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Leading a pilgrimage to the place parachutist Jan Davis fell to her death, Tom Sanders remembered his wife as a brave, spiritual woman who lived to the fullest and died for a cause she cared about deeply.
"She was epic," Sanders said Monday in a eulogy before 25 or so basejumpers gathered on a dirt trail leading to 3,200-foot El Capitan.
"She did it all."
Ms. Davis died Oct. 22, when her parachute did not open during a protest of Yosemite's ban on parachuting off cliffs and mountains.
The case against the four people who jumped with Ms. Davis and survived was scheduled to move forward Monday. Joe Weber, Mick Knutson, Henry
Boger and Avery Badenhop each are charged with illegal air delivery for dropping from El Capitan into Yosemite Valley.
The arraignment was continued until Dec. 13 so they can hire attorneys.
Alongside the sadness of the memorial service, there were signals from the National Park Service and from basejumpers that their relations would
improve.
Bob Andrew, Yosemite's chief ranger, said park officials are willing to meet formally with basejumpers. But he suggested they go straight to
decision makers in Washington.
"If there's anything we can do to reduce the adversarial role we find ourselves in, then yes, we're going to explore those issues," he said.
"The thing we want to stress is, this is a national issue. It's not a Yosemite issue."
Tom Sanders told a crowd that his meeting with Andrew encouraged him that the problem can be resolved by establishing a permitting process or by setting up a body to govern the sport.
"He understands why people climb Everest. He understands why people surf 40-foot waves. He understands why people climb El Capitan. And why we jump off. Now we have to find a way to make it all happen," Sanders said.
The day was also an opportunity for Tom Sanders and other basejumpers to continue their criticism of the park service's ban on basejumping.
"Basejumping is a beautiful sport," said Sanders, a photographer who owned a stunt company with his wife. "I'm not going to stop this adventure because she has moved on."
He advocated legalization of basejumping, yet urged fellow jumpers to stop treating the park service like an enemy.
"We're really not on opposite sides," he said. "Maybe we can take a different path."
Basejumping was briefly legal in Yosemite in 1980, but people routinely violated restrictions on when and how often they could jump. Park officials soon banned the jumps.
For the Oct. 22 protest, Yosemite agreed to let the protesters land in a designated area, be arrested and forfeit their equipment.
Ms. Davis did not want her chute confiscated, so borrowed someone else's and did not bring her backup chute. The chute she borrowed had a rip cord on the leg; her usual one had its rip cord at the shoulder.
After the court date, basejumpers went to El Capitan and placed two bouquets on a small boulder. Ribbons were marked "An Angel's Fall," in
remembrance of Ms. Davis leap from the top of angel Falls in South America.
"All I can say is I'm going to miss her," Sanders said, his voice breaking. "And I'm going to do everything I can to live my life like her, so I can catch up."