Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!