Tragedies and Triumphs of BASE Jumpers

In 1978, Norwegian extreme sport cinematographer Carl Boenish and three extreme athletes coined the term "BASE jumping", an acronym standing for Building, Antenna, Span (bridges), and Earth (cliffs). More specifically, BASE jumping is the act of parachuting from these aforementioned objects.

Because of the sport's inherent danger, daredevils have had to trespass to get to desired jumping-off spots. Since the BASE jumping's 1978 beginning, 39 people have died.

Yosemite's El Capitan and Venezuela's Angel Falls are two of the most popular jumping-off spots for BASE jumpers.

El Capitan

El Capitan is a 3,000-foot massive vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Imagine three Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.

At one time, El Capitan was considered to be impossible to climb, let alone BASE jump. There are, however, dozens of named climbing trails going up El Capitan; all of them, however, are long, difficult, and dangerous. Besides being a favorite for BASE jumpers, it's also a favorite for rock climbers.

In 1966, two skydivers leapt off El Capitan with traditional round parachutes and suffered serious injuries, including broken bones.

Carl Boenish and BASE jumping

In 1978, Boenish believed that skydivers with the right equipment could safely parachute off the top of El Capitan.

Boenish, his wife, and three friends climbed El Capitan and he filmed his friends successfully jumping. Unlike traditional sky divers, Boenish and the BASE jumpers had been equipped with special rectangular canopy parachutes that were developed as an alternative to the more dangerous round parachutes. Also unlike sky divers, BASE jumpers have no reserve parachutes when they jump. (Note that BASE jumpers fall at 60 mph.)

In 1984, Boenish took part in a BASE jumping sequence at Troll Wall, a vertical rock formation in his native Norway, for the American television reality series "That's Incredible." After his jump for the TV show, Boenish decided to do one more jump off Troll Wall, his last.

"The whole world is jumpable" was a famous quote from Carl Boenish.

Frank Gamboli

In 2001, daredevil Frank Gamboli successful jumped off El Capitan; then drowned while trying to swim away from approaching rangers.

As an act of protest against Gamboli's death and the park's ban against the sport, BASE jumping competition promoter Avery Badenhop and a small group of BASE jumpers, including Jan Davis, who was dressed in a prison uniform, trespassed with the intent of jumping off El Capitan together. Tragically, Jan Davis plunged to her death.

Over the past twenty years, there have been 6,000 illegal jumps off El Capitan.

SOURCES:

"BASE jumping", Ed Grabianowski, How Stuff Works

"The whole world is jumpable", Roger Rosenblatt, Time

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/532131.stm

"Parachutist's death", Sabin Russell, San Francisco Chronicle