"Your" Biggest BASE Mistake!

[Faber]

Okay, Tom Digged this tread up again,so i think ill tell my storry.

It were on my jump #30the 31sept. 02
I were used to go solo,while im the only jumper in my region.I had got my 29jumps whith in 3 month,and had just experienced to go stowed and slider up(from 900ft)so now i would try to go stowed slider off from 600ft.When i got up there i redesided. i werent ready to go stowed from there anyway so i would go off hand held.I went off perfect and good onheadding deploy,but my rigth toogle were blown,i had learned to through the oter aswell(but also did it by inctinct)now i had only my risers, i were abit high,so i thourgth i would land head wind under the A,but i didnt think of that my 180 riser turn would put me lower,and that i then were facing trees..I made 90 more and should start to flare.I had never tryed it before so i pulled the risers down aprox 15cm,which resulted in a stall in aprox 6-9ft,i made a plf,but the impact were so hard that i broked my lower leg(find pic under accident),then i made the turn(in my plf)which broke it in the other direction and maked it a open fractur.. I manneged to cut my canopi,but hold on to 1 riser(not much wind but i didnt really felt it were good if i moved)i looked down at my leg,it were dislocated by 90 degree and i could clearly see the bone.Damnit,i had forgot my cellphone in the car(on the top i had desided to jump anyway),it were parked 300m/900ft away..lucky i had called my gf before i climbed to tell her that i were about to climb 600ft but would call her before i jumped.. i could feel i were bleeding.. ####.. i had to stop it before i got drained, i were thinking of using my belt,but then again.. i then knew i migth would loos the lower leg,so while i layed there in near nato possition i desided to try to see if i could get the leg back in the rigth posistion,i raised my leg and lod it drop down,next thing i rember is that i wake up whith dirt in my face,but the bleeding is stopped and the leg looks like it fits better there(also the bone has gone abit on place(not stitching out so much),next step,dont panic,and dont go in chock.i roled over to my back.packed the canopi around me,got my climbing glowes on and started to yell "Help".All this is on video,so i also made a kind of "Blair Which project"to tell about how i felt(dont know why but i did),after 2 hours there came a car,it were my gf and her dad.She had tryed to call me and the rescuestation.She could obisily not reach me,so she knew somthing were wrong(after 1 hour after i started to climb),she then called the rescues,but they didnt belive her,so she called her dad,so they were 2 to find me.When they came i were al clear(i had been 2 hours on a feild which were 13,5 degree C wearing sweatshirt pants and normal gear(and shoes of course).I asked them to remove all my gear and bring me my Cellphone.I then called the resucers that then came out after aprox 30 min more.It took 20 min to get me into the ambulance,and 30 min to the hospital.I were uncontiuness some times.
On hospital i got morphine(damn that #### works:D )and were told i would need a surgery to get an external fixator.I used it in 6month,whith out luck then they removed it and i healed up just like that.Its now near 8 month ago,and i now are back in buissness again.

Lesson to learn:
1. dont do solos whith out you cellphone on you and have talked to some one just before you jump.

2dont through you remain toogle

3i never jump whith out a flashligth(just a tiny one) and 3 pills of morphin on me again

4 rember to video it,or the docs dont belive you(they need info to treat you rigth,and cant talk to the police,well at least here)

things i were lucky about:
1i survived

2i acted proberly stopped the blodd kept me warm(i had 37,5 degee C by arival at hospi.

3 it were higher up at my leg then i think i would have been dead.

[JOMAN]

Well here go's I guess I didn't have but maybe 20 jumps at the time. We went out to jump a lift bridge over a drained river of sorts. It was a new site for me. My friends had jumped it a couple of times and said no problem. Well it was 160' at exit point and we where doing pca. I was jumping a fox 220. It was a good exit almost a stand up not much of a swing but to my surprise the canopy did not fully inflat. Also the opening was about 10 deg of heading. It put me over some hard rocky ground and i hit like a sack of ###t. After laying there in pain for a while I was able to get up and hobble under the bridge where i layed down again. My friends had a big debat at the top and then decided to go ahead and jump. There jumps went fine no problem. They where jumping mojo's. What did I learn. first if your not sure let your buddy go first, not realy. know the limets of your gear differnt gear has diffrent capabilitys and if your still not sure its better to walk away then to just do it cauz you walked away. and last never jump a fox sub 200' I didn't get hurt vary bad a sprained ankl and brused my knee I was lucky and thank the base gods for looking out for my stuped unknowing assets. Thanx nick good thread. :7


JOMAN BASE 793

[Geoff Treeboy]

i was keen to try a slider up off a popular 500ft E...as some of the other crew had done.....a little too eager actually...i had 50 jumps at this stage...i was so keen i turned up & decided to try this slider-up jump into a howling headwind....

anyway...in my keeness to try a low slider-up...despite knowing the possibilities....i even made the famous last words comment..."if i have a offheading left, im screwed"...how prophetic famous last words can be :)


anyway,,,as u would expect to happen jumping sluder up into a headwind, the pilot cute was blown back, & with the slower slider opening pulled the whole canopy into a 170degree so i was heading towards the cliff with a huge tailwind....

somehow my feet just missed the cliff...they were bent expectin impact,,,,,the loss of height came with the sinking sensation that i wouldnt reach the landing area & i ended up landing 25m up in the trees,,,tress so big i could even see the bottom...luckily i got snagged & grabbed hold of a branch,,,,luckily my only injuries were seriously grazed arms & legs from sliding 10m or so down the treetrunk...(great footage with a certain feral dude in plaster doin camera laughin to tears sayin.."he got snagged!)


lessons learned here were:

1/ dont jump slider up for jumps less that 3 1/2 sec as the chance of off heading openins is quite high
2/ dont jump into headwinds, as the chance of an object strike & off heading is quite heigh
3/ sometimes we like to all push the limits, but beware that if a jump doesnt include time for dealing with offheadings etc, an overdelay can put one in dire circumstances & big trees if u r lucky to have them as an out as opposed to nastier stuff like the pebbly/boulder landing areas that broke bones ....maybe i didnt learn this lesson cause a deliberate over delay off a 650ft waterfall cause an offheading left which meant i could not hit the small 10ft landing area, & took the alternative smashing my elbow in 100bits on a car size boulder....either way...be honest to yourself about consequences of decisions you makes


. and last never jump a fox sub 200' I didn't get
>hurt vary bad a sprained ankl and brused my knee I was lucky
>and thank the base gods for looking

finally...a side comment...i think foxs work fine under 200ft..including go & throw freefalls....most aussie jumpers here have put a combined total of many many 100's of jumps off 160-180ft bridges over hard earth(with Fox's),,,more importantly know ur canopies flight characters & the mico-climate conditions of am object...if you dont, dont do low jumps!

[E Raist]

My life is an essay in ambition and I've lived thus far by pushing the envelope a little further than perhaps is wise, although the stakes have never been so high. When ambition is an addiction one's judgement becomes scalene and clouded.

After making:
2 E jumps
4 A jumps
1 S jump

I was determined to claim my "B" and earn my BASE number. However, instead of planning that task in the most sane manner and travelling to a city with access to a decent "B", or better yet realizing the project was exceptionally dangerous and could wait, I made my way to the local Portland "B" (all 180ft of it, with a required 90 left turn, landing on a narrow cement area, with no outs) for my eighth jump.

Warnings and advice regarding experience, ability, and sanity were heard and taken into account by an individual who was going to jump anyways. And I ended up at the exit point and jumped.

I ended up stalling the canopy and flaring into a tree in a way that let me grab the trunk, shimmy down, while carefully extracing my parachute as I raced down and ran away before the authorities noticed anything was amiss.

I not only survived, I walked away completely uninjured. I earned my BASE number, and since then have taken a more mellow approach to my jumping. Looking back, if I had it to do over again, I would trust my own judgement more if I'd held back on this particular jump. It was my biggest BASE mistake.


-=E - R a i s t
Raistlin Alexander Majere
BASE 787
Night BASE 134

[JOMAN]

Tree boy if you would like to hear all the details I will be happy to give them to you but the canopy never fully inflated and the other two that jumped had no problem with the same conditions same alt it was i belive 165' you can email me at jomanking@hotmail.com

[Shaun]

My first season in Norway.

Experience : 112 skydives , 2 wingsuit skydives , 120 base jumps ,
4 base wingsuit flights .

Gear : Perigee Pro , Mojo 240 and a pilot chute made by
a local skydive company..........short pants and tee shirt .

Attitude : No worries bru .

I had had three 180's in a row off exit 6 , Space watched them and said I should check that my bridal was centred to the pilotchute because this was causeing occilations of the pilot chute and hence the 180's, he didnt know that I was jumping a pilotchute not made by a base company , I had to jump this pilot chute as I was waiting for my order to be sent to Norway . Okay , no worries , centred the pilotchute and went up to Smellies exit 2 . While my Swedish friends Perflare and Mika were gearing up the new jumpers that had come up with them I exited , watched my freefall and pulled about 6/8 seconds into the jump ( to make the landing area at the camp ground ) A solid 180 , cliff strike and I cant remember anything after that . I belive that I was on my risers to avoid the strike because Mika told me that after they heard the strike they saw my canopy fly out over the fijord with broken up end cells . Well it seems that I held onto the riser because I flew back into the cliff , stike and back away , strike and back away to the bottom . Mika jumped and came to look for me , Stien and the local guys carried me to a helicopter and so on to hospital in Stavanger .

Result : A couple of bruises to body , smashed up teeth , brain hemorage , coma for two days and lost the sight in my right eye because of bone fragments that were pushed back into my head .

It took nine months before I could start jumping again .

Lesson learned : Use base specific gear . Centre your pilot chute . ALWAYS jump with a helmet .

[SBCmac]

My biggest mistake was evaluating an exit point at night, basically I was too complacent. To add my complacency on that jump, I under estimated the wet exit point. So all in all, it was a night jump on an unfamiliar 250ft building while it was sprinkling rain. To make a long story short… My exit turned into unplanned aerials and I ended up slamming in on the building that I exited from on the fifth floor storage area. So the jump that was 250ft probably turned out to be 200ft jump… And if that wasn’t bad enough, I hit about a second after my canopy inflated. So all in all, I’m lucky to be here… Total cost of that jump… Two nights in the hospital = $6,000+ dollars… Stupidity = Priceless…
:o

[hamsandwich]

Woah, awesome stories here. Go up and read the one about the bridle breaking on a dbag from a building. Holy crap.

[Mac]

I also liked:

Mistakes:
1.Moving to Portland the same month Slim did.

2.Not stopping Dwain from moving to Portland.

RIP All

[nicknitro71]

Teaching maggot how to BASE jump...actually I just taught him how to pack, how hard is base anyway?

[hamsandwich]

Ending up in a canopy wrap after a 2-way horny gorilla from 486ft.

We spent a good amount of time planning but ended up up with my bro's center cell swallowing my head during his slider up deployment (low guy SU, i was slider-off). Now, Johnny is suspended by my neck and a partially inflated wing and us together are suspended by my trusty Mojo. I still don't know how my neck didnt break. Pulling fabric and lines, we were headed toward the north shore. My bro was doing all he could to pump his lines in hopes we could get a some slack or less pressure that would allow us to detach. I can't see anything and I eventually hear a load "FUUUUUCKKK!!" which meant doom was imminent. With all my strength I pulled that fucking canopy off me and Johnny immediately turned over the rocks and took a dunk in the river. I was now able to see again and what I saw was a rock wall. risers, stop, 180, land on boulder. Before I could catch my breath I heard johnny yelling from the water, "Are you ok???" Luckily we both were.

I think we both plan to make that jump again, this time without the drama at the end.

How may other riggers can say they've done a canopy inspection mid-flight?

[Johnny Utah]

How may other riggers can say they've done a canopy inspection mid-flight?

You got one up on me bro, I've never done a canopy inspection mid-flight. Thanks again for checking the dismal state of my canopy at the time.

Seriously though, glad you heard me and got my canopy off your head. Glad you have a strong neck, and glad you know how to work the risers. Oh yea, glad I had some water to hook it into.

Sometimes risky jumps go bad!

[BASE_689]

We were 3 of us.
B jump. Jolly urban. Quite late in the evening/night. Approach from behind the B itself where civil works were being carried out. Lift to top floor
Exit height is 70 m - 230 ft, jump is "MANDATORY" SL because there are trees in the road underneath and only option of landing is INSIDE a park all surrounded by 2 m - 7 ft railing with spears on top (not sharp tips but still SPEARS...). Landing is not that easy because inside the park there NOT a huge and definite landing, rather jumping off 70 m - 230 ft in SL there is plenty of margin to fly over railing and lose altitude doing turns and/or small deviations from straight line, avoiding trees/bushes.
Myself already jumped succesfully this site once before this night (together with other mates).
This time we are 3. We tie our SL's at the lightning rod (thanks safety rules ).
I attach my CWY SL device first and so I go first.
I light up my speleo light on my helmet.
Nobody is passing by, should be 1:00 am, perhaps slight earlier, perhaps slightly later, the town is desert (though we are very close to the railway station).
I jump. It opens slowly as a SL opening should be. Perfectly on heading.
I automatically unstows brakes. Something is strange, I can hardly move forward.
I raise my eyes. I soon discover I left a neon pink pull-loop just above the links.
I was so keen to abandon myself to the good old panick and live it but decide there was no time for panicking, there was only (few) time for doing something.
Which something was to act on toggles very deeply, my Fox in that "paracommander configuration" moved a little bit forward and responded sligthly to toggle inputs, left was a mild left, right was a mild right.
Lines were in a hourglass shape, should have looked jolly funny if seen from below.
My Fox flew over the railing and a little bit because of my toggle inputs and a LOT because of LUCK I found myself doing a semi-vertical approach between two trees, the more they were deflating my canopy the more they were causing drag and so slowing down my descent.
I ended up doing a tip toe landing between these two treees.
With few pulls I managed to get my Fox off those tree branches. I was sort of hidden there.
I sticked my Fox into my stash bag, removed my harness and sticked it also into the stash bag. I started running off my <landing> towards the cars (parked just outside the railing at the opposite side of park).
My mates saw me and jumped uneventfully.
We met at the cars and drove away.
I stood about one month about thinking to my mishap, then I came back jumping.
Lessons learned:
1) NEVER pack your rig when you are shattered by fatigue and/or finishing the pack job at 2:00 am (the day before jumping)
2) NEVER use a pull-loop string anywhere but at the big ring of 3 rings only: I know that a pull-loop string at the links makes the packjob (and risers and lines) "look" smarter but the pack job is still terrific even with ONLY a pull-loop at the big ring (of 3 rings), furthermore there is NO CHANCE of forgetting <something> in place if you don't put <something> in that place at all
NEVER use an unnecessary tool