can anyone tell me the accepted rule of thumb as to what height should you go slider up, as opposed to slider down? i see people at perrine(just at 500') going slider up, and people doing solo's at the new river going slider down. i guess i'm asking what is the height cut off before you should keep it down. thank for the input
There is not a rule of Thumb!
You need to know many things about an object before you can tell what gear to use.
There are some 1,000' objects, that I would NOT use a slider on, but there are some 485' objects that I would.
The one rule of thumb I can offer:
If you are not sure, don't even jump. By not knowing, you risk injury or death, even if your perceived risk is low.
Perception does not always equal Reality.
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Thank You
Mick Knutson :D
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I determine when I am going to use a slider based on delay, rather than altitude.
Generally, I switch to a slider at 4 seconds (3 seconds and less=no slider, 4 seconds or more=slider).
Some people put their slider on earlier on forgiving objects (as you have noted). This is generally to save wear and tear on body and gear, but GREATLY degrades heading performance. Thus it should only be done with objects where heading is a non-issue.
If you're thinking about putting the slider up on lower objects, also think about making your landing area (for example: at that bridge in Idaho you might be able to take four with a slider, but if your heading is more than 90 off, you're probably going to have to splash down, rather than make the dry landing area).
I can also think of objects where people prefer to take four seconds with no slider, generally due to the unforgiving nature of the object, and the need to be open to make the landing area.
So, in answer to your question, I don't think there is a height cut off--but there is undoubtedly a delay cut off (I'm pretty sure that going past four is going to hurt, and may also blow out your gear).
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu
I especially want to stress your point Tom, about object that off headings are *NOT* an issue.
For example, there are some cliff I have jumped that where high enough to do a 4 to soft 5 second delay. A 5 was really in the basement though!
So a 3-4 was optimal. Now heading was a huge issue! So opting for slider down, and just taking a 3-4 was OK, but taking a slider, was really bad; If you had more than a 90 off heading.
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Thank You
Mick Knutson :D
[link:www.blincmagazine.com|BLiNC Magazine]
"Everything you ever wanted to know about BASE Jumping, but didn't know who to ask."
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* Have you registered with BLiNC? Click [link:www.blincmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forum/dcboard.cgi?az=user_register|Login]
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