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
4 comments:
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.
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