BASE jumper prosecuted in Yosemite

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 1 - 20 of total 42 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

On-Site Flasher 69

Sport climber

Riverside

Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 10, 2017 - 07:17pm PT

http://www.sierrastar.com/news/article166303332.html

'Pass the Pitons' Pete

Big Wall climber

like Ontario, Canada, eh?

Aug 10, 2017 - 07:38pm PT

Oh my gosh, this is hilarous!!!

A criminal complaint says that on the morning of Sept 6, 2016, a park visitor saw a man and parachute in a tree about 150 feet from the ground near Housekeeping Camp, just below Glacier Point. On the ground was a helmet and goggles.

Carey was able to climb down part of the way. Park firefighters and climbing crews had to help him down the rest of the way.

Park employee Justin Buzzard, who maintains Yosemite’s trees, testified at Wednesday’s trial that he needed ropes and special equipment to rescue Carey. He recalled asking Carey: “Man, having a bad day?”

He got stuck in a tree and got caught!! There is no open ground anywhere remotely near Housekeeping Camp, except maybe the banks of the river.
What? He's got a wingsuit and parachute with directional pull cords, but he can't steer??? Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!111111111111

BASE fail.

Jon Beck

Trad climber

Oceanside

Aug 11, 2017 - 02:07am PT

Base does not bother me, but this guy seems like an annoying piece of work. Pushing legislation? Gimme a break

7SacredPools

Trad climber

Ontario, Canada

Aug 11, 2017 - 06:51am PT

Hardly a "BASE fail."
I think he makes some good points. Gawking tourists aside, why not allow and regulate BASE the way hang gliding is?

Garry

fear

Ice climber

hartford, ct

Aug 11, 2017 - 06:52am PT

MOAR laws! That fixes everything.

Poor bastard...

crankster

Trad climber

No. Tahoe

Aug 11, 2017 - 06:55am PT

This cat & mouse stuff has been going on in the park for decades. Carey's "freedom" arguments are nothing new. Doesn't help his case that he apparently can't steer the damn thing.

Don Paul

Big Wall climber

Denver CO

Aug 11, 2017 - 07:03am PT

The problem isn't base jumping, it's Yosemite. If it's inconvenient for the rangers, then the rangers are the problem.

donini

Trad climber

Ouray, Colorado

Aug 11, 2017 - 07:29am PT

A lot of people here think thst base jumping should be legal and get into a tither whenever someone gets prosecuted. I have no problem with base and think that, well regulated, base jumping would be an okay activity in NP's.
But basejumping is not currently legal and base jumpers continue to openly flaunt the law. There is such a thing as "the rule of law." If the NPS turned it's eye to base jumping what authority would they have when someone drove their ATV up to Vernal Falls?
Openly defying the law is not a productive way to chsnge it. Base jumpers, anarchistic dudes that they are, will continue to jump....good for them....but if their stealth plans go ary they should understand that there are consequences.

WBraun

climber

Aug 11, 2017 - 07:33am PT

when someone drove their ATV up to Vernal Falls?

Can't be done period, nor can it be done ever.

There's no such vehicle in existence that can drive up a waterfall such as Vernal falls......:-)

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Aug 11, 2017 - 07:54am PT

Pretty sure that John Muir would prefer Yosemite sans base jumpers and hang gliders.
Course, he probably would take a dim view of most of the rest of the circus, too.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Aug 11, 2017 - 10:32am PT

Rock climbing also is permitted because if a climber falls, the plunge likely will occur in a remote area and won’t impact other visitors, Gediman said.

Whoa. That is a load of crap. Climbing is allowed because is has been for a long time, going back nearly a hundred years. The safety record is lousy. Tons of climbers have died in the valley, and plenty more have had to be rescued. It gives Werner his job.

BASE is illegal because jumpers were hard to control back when it was an arm of the beer swilling skydivers. Now it is totally separate. I never felt like I was doing anything wrong when jumping in the valley. I would have felt terrible if I had stolen something, even a loaf of bread, from the store, if I were starving. I'm pretty ethical. Must be my Christian upbringing. I always behaved ethically when BASE jumping in Yosemite, and I was hard at it during a certain year in the mid-80's, hiding out in the SAR site most of the time.

Getting stuck 150 feet up a tree, when right next that monstrous meadow in front of Curry Village, is just stupid. I'm into paragliding right now, and they are much harder to spot land, just because of the huge glide ratio, but it didn't take long until I could spot land every time. Of course every site is different, and conditions change. Skydiving makes you a better wingsuiter, and all around jumper, so I think that they should skydive regularly. You certainly won't end up in a tree.

I dunno if one part of the day is better than another. I really doubt that wingsuiters feel thermals. At that altitude, thermals are pretty skinny, and you are through it in a fraction of a second.

I do feel like something should be worked out, and it should be allowed, though. If some basic rules were put down, like no proxy wingsuit flying, then you could have regular jumps with no problem.

I'm not sure about their hang gliding requirements. It probably requires an H4 license, and a draw or waiting list. Paragliders are now a part of the USHGA. It is now called USHPA. United States Hangliding and Paragliding Association. Each rating is pretty similar. They require more and more flights, more and more skills, more and more hours and flying days. You come out of school with a P2 rating, which requires 25 flights, but in reality you will have over 30. I just learned in Salt Lake City, which has amazing beginner hills, and you can stay up all morning if you want to.

Flying from thermal to thermal is a lot of fun. Paragliding is all that I care about these days, outside of family. I'm always trying to fly.

Paragliders are very different from skydiving mains, but in principle, they are the same. It the US Hangliding association has welcomed paragliding, then why can't you paraglide in Yosemite? It is certainly no more dangerous than hangliding.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Aug 11, 2017 - 10:45am PT

Donini, I've jumped the living snot out of Yosemite. Always illegal.

I never left even a trace of my having been there. Only footprints, and damn few of those, because I was hiding beneath big boulders back in the trees most of the time.

Nothing like driving an ATV up to Vernal Falls.

Cops used to show up to watch the jumpers doing the Library Tower, the tallest building in L.A. They could have busted them, but it would have been a pain, and it went on every night until it was finished. They had more important things to do, so yeah, they would just watch.

It wasn't uncommon to be pulling your rig out of your trunk, then hear a noise, and look up to see 2 or 3 flying canopies. By then the scene had grown so large that even the jumpers didn't all know what each other was up to.

It is just air. That is all that they are using. With the new gear, normal BASE is pretty safe. Almost all recent deaths have come from wingsuiters buzzing things. I think that I would put in a rule requiring them to stay far from the cliff faces. That would eliminate the risk for the wingsuiters.

fear

Ice climber

hartford, ct

Aug 11, 2017 - 11:03am PT

I think that I would put in a rule requiring them to stay far from the cliff faces

There's no way to enforce that, esp with multiple squirrels.

I'd imagine that the proxy fliers who aren't careful are a pretty small and self-limiting population no? A removal of the ban would probably see a spike for a year or two in grisly things but then should level out and decline...

snakefoot

climber

Nor Cal

Aug 11, 2017 - 11:14am PT

Damn kids! hilarious rookie move and likely a dirty low pull with no time to go anywhere, just hit the trees.

Sula

Trad climber

Pennsylvania

Aug 11, 2017 - 02:13pm PT

donini poasted:

But basejumping is not currently legal and base jumpers continue to openly flaunt the law.

[nitpick] flout [/nitpick]

i'm gumby dammit

Sport climber

da ow

Aug 11, 2017 - 02:13pm PT

He's not saying base jumping is like driving an atv to vernal. He's saying the park has to prosecute the guy stuck in the tree or else they don't have the right to prosecute the guy that breaks the law by driving up to vernal falls.

rbord

Boulder climber

atlanta

Aug 11, 2017 - 02:40pm PT

I don't usually get a ticket when I break the law by driving 10 miles over the speed limit, but I do when I'm driving 25 over the speed limit. IMHO, what's flouting and what's not is in the eye of the beholder, and the beholders who matter in this case aren't the highway patrol.