Night BASE jump with glow sticks - most scared I've ever been!

in travel •  6 years ago 

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BASE jump with a mate in pitch black. Why do we do these fucking stupid things??

This is my account of the BASE jump, not a 'how to'.

Video at bottom of post

I wanted to document this jump in particular as it will stay with me in my memories for some time. I doubt I will do another one now I have experienced it.

We used the car headlights to gear up and do our checks, then we had to access the bridge (being extremely careful not to disrupt our pins, or catch anything on the fence) then walk to the exit point.

It is scary as you have to trust that your pins haven't moved from when you checked them, we had to feel our bridles to make sure we haven't caused a mis-route of some sort.

After this, we climbed over the rail, again making sure not to knock anything. Once over, I checked that bridle again to make sure it hasn't gone under an arm or something.

You cannot see anything at all.

An off-heading would disorientate you even more, thankfully we both got on-heading openings. We had 2 glow sticks on the ground, one target for Gary and one for me in the centre of the landing area.

Once I hear Gary's canopy open, I counted to 15 and then jumped. I had to be sure to get a good exit and good pitch as I was wearing a GoPro camera on my chest, which is a potential snag hazard. It is unlikely, but it's possible, so I gave a real good throw of my pilot chute about half a second after I pushed off.

We both landed on our targets and the jump went well. I think it's the most scared I have ever been, but then being 'the most scared I have ever been' happens a lot in BASE, so I can't be sure, but its definitely up there with outside ladder climbs! Fucking hate those.

Video of the night BASE jump below:

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No thanks, you can keep that