Base Jumping: this looks cool as hell bot these guys are INSANE!

Holy crap!! I am definitely in the wrong sport!

that is absurd, and would be such a good time.

I think it is supposed to be BASE jumping. From wikipedia:

BASE jumping is a sport involving the use of a parachute to jump from fixed objects. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump:

* Building

* Antenna (an uninhabited tower such as an aerial mast)

* Span (a bridge or arch)

* Earth (a cliff or other natural formation)

It can be a bit dangerous. Someone in my old running club did a jump from an antenna and ended up with a broken back. Then there was a case a while back where a group was trying to get Yosemite, or some other national park, to allow BASE jumping there. To show how safe it was supposed to be, a guy filmed his wife doing a jump off of a huge cliff. Unfortunately the chute didn't open, so the guy basically filmed his wife's death.

Color me 'risk averse.'

I think the video was doctored. People don't actually do that.

common now wrote:

People don't actually do that.

No, but Frenchmen do.

Where'd you get the link? I just got it emailed to me on a news list and thought it was f***ing amazing.

It looked like they were a little too close to the rocks for my taste. One encounter with protruding rocks on the way down could really ruin your day.

Don't have audio. Where exactly are they? What mountains are those?

Its not real...

This is real. This was in Warren Millers movie Higher Ground, saw it on the big screen. Crazy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cVLxs6fp0MQ

An Aussie friend of mine knows (knew) a group of five BASE guys. Four are now deceased.

I climb rock and have had these guys whiz by 75' away. It would be cool I guess except they tend to knock rocks down on us. One of their guys cratered near one of our climbs and the chute flapped around for a few seasons in tribute to his lack of Darwinian awareness.

Kele wrote:

Where'd you get the link? I just got it emailed to me on a news list and thought it was f***ing amazing.

A friend of mine emailed it to me

That Miller clip is definitely not BASE jumping. That is wingsuit flying. If they actually jumped off a structure wearing the wingsuit then it would be BASE jumping.

asdf fe wrote:

Don't have audio. Where exactly are they? What mountains are those?

It's Romsdal, mountains nearby the western coast of Norway. One of the guys in the wingsuit (the one flying close to the rocks and the mountain road) is a local, pretty much knowing "every rock" in the area.

That said running sure looks a lot more safe...

(I think it is a part of a skiing movie (at least where I watched it), the only thing that had nothing to do with skiing but still cool enough to be a part of the movie... I can see why.)

If you watch the video in it's entirety, you will see that they are indeed jumping from a clifftop (three at a time, and rather dramatically)

King of Doucheville wrote:

That Miller clip is definitely not BASE jumping. That is wingsuit flying. If they actually jumped off a structure wearing the wingsuit then it would be BASE jumping.