Base accidents and foreigners

[guest]

I have observed during the last few years that foreign jumpers are involved in most of the fatal Base accidents in Norway. In the early Trollwall days 4 jumpers died. All foreigners. In Kjærag 5 jumpers have died. 4 foreigners and 1 Norwegian. Last year one foreign jumper died in the Trollwall. I do not know the exact number of jumps effected in Norway, nor do I know the percentage of jumps made by Norwegian jumpers Vs foreign jumpers. However, I’m quite convinced that the Norwegian jumpers do more jumps than the foreign jumpers do. This simple statistics raises some obvious questions.

*Is the above observation relevant for other countries or is this a Norwegian phenomenon?
*Why do more foreigners get killed than local jumpers do? Both in respect of number of killed persons and also compared to the number of effected jumps.
*If this is a Norwegian phenomenon, what can we in Norway do, to reduce the number of foreign accidents to the same level as for local jumpers?
*If this is a general phenomenon, what can we in the Base community do, to reduce these accidents?

Any comments?

Blue skies and safe jumping
Håkon from Norway

[Dwain]

>*Is the above observation relevant for
>other countries or is this
>a Norwegian phenomenon?

There have been 5 fatalities in Australia. Only one of these fatalities involved an Australian-born jumper.

In order of occurrence (1985-2000)
New Zealander (cliff strike), English (possible rigging incident), English (cliff strike), Danish (cliff strike), Australian (rigging error).

Some other interesting facts.
-Helmets were not worn in any of the cliff strikes.
-The most experienced jumper was the Australian with over 100 BASE jumps but opted to use a Racer with bunnytail, Fury with sail slider, 5ft bridle and 30" p/c for an 800' cliff.
-The second most experienced jumper was found dead at the bottom of a 220' building with the p/c still stowed.

[guest]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jul-25-00 AT 10:26 AM (PST)[/font][p]Any info on how many of the foreigners injured were alone, and how many had local jumpers along to act as de facto guides?

Could the Norway fatalites have been related to currency as well (it seems like Norway has many uncurrent jumpers visiting, whereas the locals are probably fairly current)?

Are accidents more likely when jumpers are unfamiliar with the site (as opposed to the language spoken by the locals)? So, for example, is a Californian travelling to Oregon, or a Floridian in Utah just as likely to have an accident as an Australian in Norway?

Could it be that travelling jumpers (particularly those who have gone to great expense to travel) are more danger tolerant (i.e. "damn it, I've spent all this time, money and energy getting here and I'm not going to let a little thunderstorm stop me!")?

A final consideration for Norway. Are accidents more likely at legal sites? It seems like legal sites have more uncurrent visitors, more inexperienced jumpers, and can also develop a "boogie mentality" that can lead to a lack of proper attention to safety. This line of reasoning, of course, leads places that none of us really want to go...

Anyway, just a few thoughts.

--Tom Aiello

[guest]

4 fatalities worldwide so far in 2000 (that I know of). One each in USA, Australia, Italy and Norway. All different months, some locals some foreigners, different experience levels. All cliff jumps though! Statistics are statistics! Stay safe

[guest]

there was a BASE death in USA this year,
but it was a jump from a span, resulting in a drowning.
basement maybe knows something i don't?

[guest]

There was a death in Verdon Gorge in France as well, which resulted in BASE being banned there.

What was the death from a cliff in the US?

[guest]

We have a data base of all known BASE fatalities.
Unfortunately it cannot be stated that there is a single variable responsible for all or most of them. However, there is an interesting fact: More than 50% occured from objects over 300M. The majority of these from the "big walls". When you rule out post-landing factors like drownings the ratio is even higher. The altitude attracts less experienced jumpers and can also lead to complacency.


Adam
Consolidated Rigging, Inc.
http://www.crmojo.com

[guest]

Adam, good comment. Hard for me to believe that there seems to be a mystery here. It's pretty simple. As Adam said, tall cliffs attract the inexperienced BASE jumper since they think 3000' is like a skydive. This attracts novice skydivers or at least ones without a lot of tracking experience. The problem is not unique to Norway. We've had a number of serious injuries due to jumpers who did El Cap without skydiving experience. The lesson is simple, if your going to go to terminal velocity and expect to be in control to track away from a cliff, you need some air time. No matter how safe the equipment gets, if you do a terminal cliff, you need to know you can exit half way decently and for sure, you can track away to open. No equipment can do this for anyone. Even the best can die if they don't get far from the wall. Lets all accept our responsibility to make sure we are not taking folks to sites they are not ready for. Hell, I sound like an old man, but I'm still kicking.
Rick Harrison
PS Keep sending those BASE number requests to Joy and I. Later.

[guest]

Rick,
Solid argumentation, but Håkon`s question was why foreigners get killed and not the locals? In Norway we are lucky having several big walls so local jumpers are used to do a good track. I would assume many foreign jumpers coming to Norway`s big walls are most familiar with low altitude jumps.

[guest]

Youre right it was a span - the Snake River one. apologies.

[guest]

Vicar, you're right, it is a little puzzling about why locals die. I will say this, that when I was in Kerjag last July when Thor Alex died, there were a couple of Americans that I was not very proud of. My point is this, that just because a cliff is high, doesn't make it a piece of cake. Cliffs are by far the most deceiving of jumps. They can look great, but it is easy to miss the outcrop or the weird wind, or the lousy landing area. Mainly it is the shape of the wall people ignor. Sizing up a cliff takes more Skydiving and BASE jumping expertise than any other object. The dangers are very hard to recognize for the novice jumper. The altitude gives people a false sense of security so they get sloppy. Even our beloved father of our sport, Carl Boenish, who coined the phrase, "pay attention to detail" did not follow his own advice when his knee was too sore to make Troll and he chose to go off of Stabin without rock and wind dummy tests. I really do not know why locals are bouncing off cliffs except that everyone, no matter what nationality, need to understand that a cliff can have many hidden hazards. Last summer at Kjerag, I was a bit concerned about a ledge on the left side of the cliff that I did not see on exit. Cliffs have surprises and they take more knowledge and flight experience to be able to see the hazard and fly away. I have never believed it is safe to let a person with no skydiving experience do any BASE jump except a short jump over a water bridge. I suspect you are correct in saying that there are folks in Europe jumping without the needed experience. It is usually the case. Take care and thanks for your input.
Rick Harrison
Executive Director,

[Nick]

Forgive me if someone mentioned this upboard (I haven't read the whole thread) but when one visits another place, country, planet, etc., you can easily lose the luxury of time. You can get into a state of I-must-jump-itis. "I'm in the country of X and if I don't get a BASE jump in this week, I won't be able to say I BASE jumped in the country of X."

This happened to me in New Zealand and my haste turned it into the worst BASE accident I'd had.

I had occasion to study Carl Boenish's log book after he died and it recorded just under 30 BASE jumps. I later realized Carl put more into, and got more out of those jumps than most of us get from a hundred. And it taught me a lesson. Aside from remaining reasonably current, you don't have to gulp BASE jumps down like there's no tomorrow. The one thing you can say about Norway, or most fixed objects for that matter is, "they ain't going anywhere," and you can always return, "if it don't feel right."

Never be afraid to borrow a very good saying pilots have. "This is stupid, let's turn around!"

:-)
Nick
BASE 194

[460]

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Jumping
in a foreign environment and rushing it on top
of that is a recipe for disaster.

>You
>can get into a state
>of I-must-jump-itis. "I'm in the
>country of X and if
>I don't get a BASE
>jump in this week, I
>won't be able to say
>I BASE jumped in the
>country of X."
>
>

According to Boenish's BASE magazine, he
had 25 jumps ~1982. I thought he had between
50 and 70 when he died in 1984. But your point is
exactly right. Quality not quantity!!! If you
do jump less doing better jumps, think carefully
and fully prepare yourself since you won't be as
current.

>I had occasion to study Carl
>Boenish's log book after he
>died and it recorded just
>under 30 BASE jumps. I
>later realized Carl put more
>into, and got more out
>of those jumps than most
>of us get from a
>hundred. And it taught me
>a lesson. Aside from remaining
>reasonably current, you don't have
>to gulp BASE jumps down
>like there's no tomorrow. The
>one thing you can say
>about Norway, or most fixed
>objects for that matter is,
>"they ain't going anywhere," and
>you can always return, "if
>it don't feel right."
>
>Never be afraid to borrow a
>very good saying pilots have.
>"This is stupid, let's turn
>around!"
>
>:-)
>Nick
>BASE 194

[guest]

Thanks for interesting feedback to the subject. Just to emphasise this even more. There has been two serious cliff strikes by foreign jumpers in Smellveggen during the last week. The last one happened today. An American girl hit the cliff several times. Luckily she survived with broken bones. Both times a rescue helicopter was used to get the jumpers down. It is now an issue in the Norwegian public television and newspapers about foreign jumpers getting hurt and causing rescue operations. All of you read the comments under this subject and stay safe and alive and by doing so you help us keeping the mountains legal in the future.