Quezi

Jumping from Perrine Bridge, Twin Falls Idaho (photo by Mister M - CC-BY)

Base jumping is an extreme form of parachuting where, instead of jumping out of an aircraft, you jump from a fixed object such as a telecommunications tower, a cliff, a bridge, or a building.

Base jumping is much more dangerous than regular skydiving, for several reasons:

• The limited height gives much less time to get the parachute open (even though you have the rest of your life to do it)
• If you’re facing the wrong way when the chute opens, you may slam into the building or cliff
• Your landing options are generally very restricted, and you have very little opportunity to steer towards your landing zone
• There’s little or no time to resolve even a minor problem

There have been many fatalities, over 130 of which are described at Splatula, the website of a parachute rigging and repair business whose bizarre slogan is “we put the fun into malfunction”.

The danger doesn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of base jumpers, who are always ready to improve on a previous jump, or to explore unjumped objects, or to prove something to someone, or just to keep the adrenaline flowing.

There’s even a regular competition off the Petronas Towers, judged on landing accuracy, and there are many informal base jumping records to be broken.

Indoor jumps also take place, such as a jump from the 102-foot Whispering Gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral. A jump as low as this is only possible with the assistance of buddies opening the canopy at the top of the jump, and even then the risk of accident is high.

Well over a thousand jumpers have applied of BASE numbers, which recognise that they have jumped successfully from a Building, Antenna, Span (of a bridge), and the Earth (a cliff or waterfall).

Base jumps were originally undertaken with standard skydiving equipment, but nowadays a range of specialist base jumping equipment is available, and a wingsuit may be worn to provide lift and increase manoeuvrability.

The legal status of base jumping varies. In some places, such as Perrine Bridge Idaho, specific provision is made for jumping—either on specific days or without restriction. In other places, such as US National Parks, jumping is explicitly forbidden although sometimes undertaken regardless. Elsewhere, the jump itself may be legal yet the jumper may be trespassing, or accused of offenses relating to pubic order.