base jumping

Base jumping is sport that evolved form skydiving in the 1960’s. The beginnings of modern base jumping is not very well documented because it is still considered to be an illegal activity but it is believed that one of the earliest and likely the 1st base jump involved 2 parachutists atop El Capitan in the Yosemite National Park, California in the mid 1960's.

The 2 base jumpers,  Brian Schubert and Michael Pelky, jumped off the 3600' (1100 meter) granite cliff. During their descent they were pushed back into the side of the mountain by the strong winds. Both suffered abrasions, severe bruising and broken bones. The sport consists of jumping off man-made and natural objects while wearing a parachute. The letters B-A-S-E is an abbreviation for Buildings, Antennas, Spans (Bridges), and Earth (Cliffs), the objects that are usually used to jump from.

Base jumping is an advance form of skydiving where the jumpers have to open their chutes in a relatively short period of time. The elevation difference from the jump off point and the landing zone is much less than skydiving. Often is the case that the vertical difference in launch and landing area is less than 200' (60 meters). Because of the short time periods involved, there is very little opportunity for the parachutist to deploy a reserve parachute if the main chute fails to open properly. For this reason, many base-jumpers don't bother carry a reserve chute.

Base-jumping is often considered to be the outlaw sport of extreme sports. While skate boarders have their skate parks and hang glider pilots have their airparks the base jumper is without a legal place to jump from. Base jumping usually involves the trespassing upon private property such as the rooftops of buildings and antennas. Public places such as national parks bridges most often have ordinances against the activity.