BASE jumper prosecuted in Yosemite

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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.

WBraun

climber

Aug 11, 2017 - 04:22pm PT

BASE jumper prosecuted in Yosemite

It happened in Yosemite.

Should it have been prosecuted in Yellowstone?

Ho mannn ......

FRUMY

Trad climber

Bishop,CA

Aug 11, 2017 - 04:39pm PT

I could easily get a motorcycle up the trail to Vernal Falls. From there I'd have very little problem getting it on top of Half Dome.

WBraun

climber

Aug 11, 2017 - 04:44pm PT

Motorcycle to the top half dome?

Up the cables route?

easily?

You're dreaming ......

FRUMY

Trad climber

Bishop,CA

Aug 11, 2017 - 04:50pm PT

No I'm not. I've been on top several times. It would have been easier taking a trials bike than walking.

gruzzy

Social climber

socal

Aug 11, 2017 - 05:23pm PT

All I can say is hes lucky to jump another day

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Aug 11, 2017 - 05:24pm PT

Back when it was legal that one season, it was skydivers who were all super rowdy, and they broke all of the rules. Skydivers were the bikers of the sky back then.

Skydiving isn't the same these days. It isn't such a wild activity.

More importantly, skydiving and BASE have now almost totally split as disciplines. Lots of BASE sites have rules, and they are followed, because if you F up and burn a good site, you will probably end up getting your ass kicked as well as being black listed. Almost 40 years have transpired since that season.

If it were legal, I can say that the requirements would probably be high. At least several hundred BASE jumps, and quite a few skydives, because it isn't a 500 foot cliff with a 3 second delay. They are mainly terminal velocity objects, and you have to know how to fly your body.

I bet that the rules would be followed. You still might have an outlaw crowd who wingsuited, kind of like what Dean had been up to, at night. He had done a ton of jumps in the valley, but the valley isn't where the action currently is. It is in Europe, where they don't care.

Proxy flying with wingsuiting has proven to be a super dangerous activity, but if you just flew your wingsuit out away from the object, it would make it safer. That was how wingsuiting started. Then they started playing around, but it is a European invention. The valley is sort of a backwater. The hardcores go to Europe every season and jump the snot out of the place.

America has always had rules intending to prevent you from yourself. This is almost totally foreign in Europe, or they would have shut Chamonix down long ago. They love the adventurers there.

I know of one site where they wingsuit during a several hour window, after which the paragliders take over. Nobody breaks that rule anymore. If you are the guy who ruins a perfectly good site, you would be blacklisted for life.

It wasn't that way back in 1980, when skydivers drank beer all day when jumping. Even skydiving is more serious. Rules can get you grounded, so you are careful.

The entire atmosphere has changed.

I'm suprised that a guy landed in a tree these days. It must have been pretty dark, because you don't even have to be that good to land on a dime with modern gear.

I'm into paragliding now, and sites are all rated. You need a certain rating to fly a site, or do it under the direction of a P4 pilot. You can get hurt if you don't know the ins and outs of a site, so you learn from the locals. It is pretty organized. I just got my P2, and am loving it.

I know several climbers who are into paragliding now. Cedar Wright made it from zero to a P4 rating in almost no time, because he is flying his butt off. As far as I can tell, he isn't even climbing these days. It doesn't have the best safety record, but if you are careful, you can fly for decades without injury.

Watch this video. You will die laughing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPg8pU7nguA&t=622s

WBraun

climber

Aug 11, 2017 - 05:27pm PT

Potter and his crew were very active wingsuiting in the valley, but nobody knew.

You are sooo dreaming.

Everyone knew and I mean everyone .....

10b4me

Mountain climber

Retired

Aug 11, 2017 - 05:46pm PT

There are plenty of other places to BASE jump in the Sierra. Think GoD, oh yeah, if something goes wrong it's harder to call for help.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Aug 11, 2017 - 05:49pm PT

Werner, I mean that the rangers didn't know, or if they did, that means that their attitude has changed.

I re-wrote that post, so go read it a second time.

And how many jumps have you done? One time, and you would be hooked.

Anyway, I've been flying a lot lately, and this place is a total waste of time. I'm emailing every morning and day about which launch is on, and where everyone is meeting up.

Paragliding is shiteloads of fun, and we can do it even at our old age.

All of the skydiving helped with some of it, but most of it was new and difficult to learn.

WBraun

climber

Aug 11, 2017 - 06:09pm PT

Rangers knew and believe me they 100% knew all along .....

But .... you still have to be caught in the actual act (hard evidence) to be arrested and prosecuted even if they know ....

jeff constine

Trad climber

Ao Namao

Aug 11, 2017 - 06:22pm PT

"Where Athletes" is said in the article, lol. seen plenty O pot bellies jumping.

Ken M

Mountain climber

Los Angeles, Ca

Aug 11, 2017 - 09:03pm PT

Let's see. Yosemite is so cramped to the gills, that you can't park a car during your 6 hour 1/2 mph tour around the valley.

And people want to create ANOTHER reason to attract people to the valley.

Isn't that why they got rid of the firefall?

We don't need more people in the valley, we need fewer.

Flip Flop

climber

Earth Planet, Universe

Aug 12, 2017 - 12:52am PT

Spew 104 and his bro-ey wake of corpses. Base kills climbers. "I saw a Mountain Dew Commercial and thought it looked cool." "I'm not a daredevil, I'm an athlete" you're a smear in the making.

sween345

climber

back east

Aug 12, 2017 - 05:56am PT

https://www.thelocal.fr/20161005/chamonix-bans-wingsuits-after-spate-of-deaths-in-alps

clinker

Trad climber

Santa Cruz, California

Aug 12, 2017 - 06:04am PT

There are plenty of other places to BASE jump in the Sierra. Think GoD, oh yeah, if something goes wrong it's harder to call for help.

YOSAR covers the Sierra when called upon.

Brandon-

climber

The Granite State.

Aug 12, 2017 - 06:12am PT

Flip, who are you to judge others? People die, yes. You probably know someone who has died doing it. So? What's your point? I've lost plenty of friends to skiing but I don't rail against skiing.

I wonder what Miles D is up to these days.

Don Paul

Big Wall climber

Denver CO

Aug 12, 2017 - 06:53am PT

Base104 - which company in Utah did you use for the paragliding course? I was going to learn this in Medellin, thinking it's so much cheaper, but when I searched on google, the Utah Paragliding company is about the same price. ($1500) Even just doing 6 flights in the first lesson for $150 is cheap.

Cedar Wright glosses over a minor detail in his video. You have to climb Orizaba with a really heavy backpack (the paraglider) first, lol. Speaking of Utah, people are using these paramotors out there, are they regulated separately? This is definitely great for old people who used to be good at adventure sports.

[Click to View YouTube Video]

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Aug 12, 2017 - 01:36pm PT

I was taught by Jonathon Jeffries, of Utah Paragliding. Unlike most instructors, he doesn't require you to purchase a complete rig from him upon completion of the course. So you can save thousands by buying a barely used kit from the European used gear sites. That is what I did, and my gear is almost brand new.

You can find them on the web. They are very good, but very serious. You fly in the morning, watch online lectures all day, fly in the evening. You can barely get in 8 hours of sleep. You will leave with more than 30 flights, more than is required for your P2, and you will have HOURS of flight time. So Salt Lake is a good place to learn. There are at least three schools there, flying the same spots.

They are really good. The Point of the Mountain is a great place to learn, because it is like a wave that is on every day. So you will fly your butt off, and they won't be little one minute flights. In that much lift, about the fastest you can make it down, without getting rowdy, is 5 minutes, and we also did trips to other sites. On my first day I did a 2 hour flight after two short flights that morning. All of the skydiving helped with flying, but ground handling and kiting are by far the hardest things to get good at.

I'd say go to them. I can hook you up with a great place to stay as well, that caters to flyers, and is only 20 bucks a day. A huge home only two houses away from the North side flight park. Lots of Euro's hang there.

The SLC area has a ton of great launches. I'm sure that I will go back next summer, but try to go before the monsoon kicks in. That will kill the afternoon flying, due to thunderstorms. We don't fly anywhere near them. They put out big gust fronts, and nobody is in the air, even though there are tons of flyers there. Guys from all over the world go there.

You have to get up at 5:00am for a text about whether to fly, then a few hours of flying in the morning, and if the wind is good, flying in the evening from the North side, which is tougher, but you can have some incredible flights there.

I never could understand why they all require you to buy new gear from them. Anyway, I'm already helping another climber from here to get trained and stuff.

I think that this will be my last post at this place. It is filled with idiots.

To do something that you really love, for many years, and after all of the work to get good at, and then listen to the heckling you get on this site from people who have never done it, well...it just isn't worth your time. This place is a HUGE waste of time.

It isn't much better than commenting on a yahoo news story. Just check out the replies sometime. That is why this place has sucked for the last five years. All of my old friends have left.

Anyway, I'm happy to be doing something again, and it is a hell of a lot of fun. There are quite a few ex-climbers who fly. When age catches up to you, and you've had joints replaced, paragliding looks like a fun choice, and it is. You can get hurt, but if you are careful and know when to say no, you can fly for decades with nothing more than skinned knees.

I don't even know why I ever posted here. I was done with climbing by the time I made my first post. It used to be fun because a lot of old friends like Fish used to post here. Now they are all gone. It has been going down hill for years.

Facebook is better.

Flip Flop

climber

Earth Planet, Universe

Aug 12, 2017 - 07:24pm PT

Who am I to judge?
Focus, I only judge the bro-ey cheerleaders who say it safe, who say it's climbing, who say it's important. It's not. It's dumb fun. Nothing more.

Semper Farcissisimus.

Playing in the mountains is a game. If you die, you lose. BASE is for losers.

At this very campfire, ive listened to this cluster of idiots encourage guys who then got smeared. There is no introspection or remorse. And absolutely no learning being done.
These bruhs in here have no character. No style. Just mindless bros

I don't envy Dean Potter, Shane McConkey or any other misguided soul who "died doing what they love."(gag) I still climb and tele and boat and swim. I still hug my kid. You can hump fame's leg all your life. That ain't me. It's the fanboys like this crowd that are so embarrassingly dense.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Aug 12, 2017 - 07:50pm PT

Tell us what you really think, Flip!

You coulda just quoted Walter Bonatti:

"Great climbers die in their rocking chair." ;-)

Base, I would probably try para but with my back one bad landing would do me.
I'll stick to sailplanes - on a good day in them you come down because the lift is too good (brewing T-storms) or you run out of O2.

Don Paul

Big Wall climber

Denver CO

Aug 12, 2017 - 08:18pm PT

Base what is the name of the $20 hotel? There was a guy here posting about crossing the Sierras, I dont think anyone has crossed the Rockies in a paraglider yet. I need to get out to Salt Lake and do this next time I can get away.

kunlun_shan

Mountain climber

SF, CA

Aug 13, 2017 - 12:09am PT

BASE104, thanks for your posts on this thread, and especially the beta about getting into paragliding. Like many of your posts, I've copied and saved this info. Ignore the hecklers - there are always whiners, no matter the subject here on the Taco. I guess their Moms didn't teach them proper etiquette :-)

You are very well informed, and I always appreciate what you have to say.

i'm gumby dammit

Sport climber

da ow

Aug 13, 2017 - 12:28am PT

I don't envy Dean Potter, Shane McConkey or any other misguided soul who "died doing what they love."(gag) I still climb and tele and boat and swim. I still hug my kid. You can hump fame's leg all your life. That ain't me. It's the fanboys like this crowd that are so embarrassingly dense.

Dying doing what you love doesn't matter. Living doing what you love does. Those guys did.
You think you're not rolling the dice every time you go skiing or climbing, or getting in a car? You are.
The difference is, you're a judgy prick about it.