Bridge Day (Base Jumping)

Base Jumping

Article by: © Michael J. Rosen 2012

"If There Is a God, He Must Look Down and Say, 'Look, the Thing I Made Them the Most Afraid of, They Went and Turned Into a Friggen' Sport."

-BASE Jumper Nick DiGiovanni

Yes, BASE is an acronym, which makes you think it's just another boring corporation. But is boring ever delivered at a speed of 100 miles per hour? No, BASE stands for Building, Antennae, Spans, Earth-all "things you can jump off."

The concept and acronym were coined in 1978 by filmmaker Carl Boenish after he jumped off the world's largest granite block, El Capitan (7,569 feet) at California's Yosemite National Park. Since then, despite legality issues and the extreme dangers of the sport (over 123 fatalities occurred between 1981 and 2008, including Boenish himself in 1984), jumpers have covered the Eiffel Tower, Seattle's Space Needle, antennas all over the world, and a Guinness World Record-breaking 21,667-foot jump from a peak in India.

Every year, for one day in October, city officials in Fayetteville, West Virginia, turn a blind eye to Bridge Day, during which jumpers conquer the second highest bridge in the United States, which overlooks the New River Gorge. During the six hours that BASE jumping from the bridge is "legal," 200,000 spectators watch 450 jumpers plummet 876 feet down into the gorge below.

In order to receive a BASE number, an athlete must jump at least once in each category or letter of the acronym. BASE-1 was awarded to Phil Smith in 1981. Matt Moilanen received the 1000th BASE number in 2005, finally answering the question, "If your best friend jumped off a cliff (or bridge or building or antenna), would you do it too?"

Has your answer always been "yes"? Check out www.blincmagazine.com.

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