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B.A.S.E. in Baffin


Lambone

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Saw just about the coolest/sickest show I have ever seen on TV last night.

 

A group of BASE jumpers escorted by Mike Lebeki (sp?) went to Baffin for a few weeks and jumped off a bunch of big walls. SICK stuff. They were dropping for 30+ seconds before pulling. They were also tracking practicaly a 1/4 mile out from the walls and landing out in the middle of the Fjiord. It was freaking amazing to watch...even on the tube.

 

I can't remember all the walls they jumped, but the two that may be familiar to climbers were Polar Sun Spire, and The Fin. They walked up the backside of all the walls, and Mike L. acted as tech support to help belay the jumpers to inspect their "exit points." i don't think Mike jumped, although they didn't really say.

 

This was really some of the craziest footage I have ever seen. Way cool.

 

It was on the Fox Sports Network, and a copy should be available through their web site.

 

Bummer...seems the web site is no longer active:

http://www.reevolution.tv/main.php

 

But I did find this site, looks somebody is running a helicoptered guide service for ASE jumpers in there in 2005. Resume of 50 jumps required.

 

http://www.polarsafari.com/baffinbase/index.htm

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When BASE jumping was in it's infancy, a friend of mine was getting into it. We scouted Montana for all the points of interest and found that the only building high enough was actually the old chimney in Anaconda. We cased it over a period of two years and could not figure out a way to get in, jump, and not get caught. They finally took it down so he never did get to complete his BASE inside the borders of Montana. Base jumping has it's adrenaline aspect but the most incredible thing I watched Kurt do was tag the tops of domes along a hillside up Lolo creek. He had to do a lot of low altitude manuevering after launching off the highest dome. It was a sport that never took off.

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maneuvering after the jump gets a lot easier with the WINGSUIT

 

wingsuit

 

Varly Rozov made a couple of wingsuit jumps off Great Sail Peak when the Russian team was putting up Rubicon. there were photos in Alpinist. i think they also basejumped Nulamorterssuq (sp?) last year when they were there.

 

The wingsuit seems like totally the way to go when jumping walls as it doubles your flying time and distance travelled = more free fall and less danger of being swept back into the wall like almost happens to the jumpers in that BASEclimb movie.

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There was a sweet BASE jumping film at the Banff Film Festival a few years back (called BaseHeads maybe?) that chronicled a trip to Baffin Island. One of the craziest things was when this guy jumped and there was so much wind blowing up the face that it slowed his descent to the point where he was damn near stopped. Then he adjusted his body position slightly and shot away from the cliff face like a rocket. He was truly flying.

 

I wonder if this was the same film you saw?

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It sounds like it....they fall forever...in real time. And shoot away from the wall like a rocket, you can hear them flying all the way from the ground cam angles.

 

It's a fucking sick film. Try the reevolution link above, I think you are able to download the movie.

 

Seems like the wing suit could also really fuck you if you screwed up. Send you back into the wall like a big kite...

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Yeah, but if you think about it...he's probly the most baddass of all those guys. I mean, he climbed most of those walls they jumped off by himself via new routes...now that is some burly stuff....not to mention all the other huge stuff he's done. Impressive.

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