BASE jumping, simply put, is the fine art of using a parachute to jump from fixed objects.
It is by far one of the most dangerous of the extreme sports and is becoming popular at an alarming rate among young daredevils and others with a wish to descend with a parachute from tall buildings. In psychological circles, these people are categorized as "nuts" or "crazy".
One wonders how much sanity remains in someone when they desire to leap from a fixed bridge or from a tall building with only a parachute, but the reality behind BASE jumping forces us to take a look at this extreme sport and learn more about it before our children start moving from leaps from the couch to leaps from the Sears Tower.
BASE is actually an acronym that relates to the four categories from which a jumper may jump from. A Building, an Antenna, a Span, or Earth are all pieces of the BASE puzzle that make for jumping options for BASE jumpers.
The acronym was created by Carl Boenish, a filmmaker that filmed the first jumps of El Capitan with ram-air parachutes and freefall techniques. El Capitan is a three thousand foot vertical rock formation in Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park.
It is a favorite formation for rock climbers and BASE jumpers and got its name from Native Americans in the area. Jumping from rocks like El Capitan tend to be considered on the more controlled end of BASE jumping, but there are structures and factors involved that create significant danger for BASE jumpers that should be looked at.
In 1912, Frederick Law jumped from the Statue of Liberty. That was the first known BASE jump in history that was recorded and documented. Since then, there have been several examples of BASE jumping through history that has been highlighted by the fanfare and excitement of the event.
In 1913, Stefan Banic jumped from a building in order to prove his patent on the parachute as a working mechanism.
In 1975, a jobless construction worker jumped from the World Trade Center tower in order to draw attention to the plight of the unemployed in the area.
In 1976, Rick Sylvester jumped from Canada’s Mount Asgard for publicity for the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" and gave the world its first formal look at BASE jumping on the big screen.
While BASE jumping and skydiving closely resemble each other, there are some marked differences. Skydiving isn’t done in any proximity of the object being jumped from, and the altitude of the jump is much higher than anything done in BASE jumping. Also, because of the height involved, the speed of descent in skydiving is faster than someone jumping from a fixed object.
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