Base-jumping involves leaping from fixed objects like mountains, bridges and buildings with a parachute. I posted a video in December of wing-suit base-jumpers leaping off Norwegian mountains. Pretty spectacular stuff.
We tend to forget that there are risks involved. The video below shows a very narrow escape indeed.
Somehow I think I’ll leave this particular sport to those more daring than I . . .
Peter
THAT was close to being a splat…
As a young guy I was never afraid of heights. But as I aged I guess I came to a better understanding of gravity and its workings on weighty things.
Now I even dread a six-foot step ladder.
Rio,
I know exactly what you mean! As we become more ‘seasoned’ we seem to love being closer to the earth, eh?
PeterT
I think of myself as “risk averse.” It’s why I carry a firearm, am a financial conservative, etc. And yet I have skydived. At the time, the stats I dug up indicated that main chute malfunctions requiring a cutaway and deployment of the reserve occur at a frequency of, if I recall, about one out of seven hundred jumps or so. Those are odds I can live with for the experience. I don’t mind risk if it’s risk under my control, with second chances at hand. But with base jumping, there’s no time for deploying reserves; no second chances. With base jumping, although there are a few fixable malfunctions–twisted risers, for example–under my control, a major main chute malfunction leaves no time and no second chances. I abhor risks I cannot control. That’s why skydiving is alright: Many of the risks are controllable, there being things I can do should a malfunction occur. But base jumping is right out, because I perceive that I am more of a passenger in the event of a goof-up. I realize that I’ve drawn somewhat of an arbitrary line–it might seem strange that the risk of skydiving is acceptable to me and the risk of base jumping is not, especially since I call myself “risk averse.” But to me, risk is as about the perceived level of control I have over the event, should it occur, as it is about the actual odds of the event happening. I hate being a passenger.