Tell us who he was. If there is no deterrent to this type of activity, then standing on the rail will continue and that bridge will be shut down. Public embarrassment is a great way to keep these a-holes off the rail.
Consider the release of this guy's name a new form of tar and feathering.....
If you don't want to release it publically, PM me please.
------------
Jason Bell (BASE428)
Email: jbell@vertical-visions.com
Web: www.vertical-visions.com or www.bridgeday.info
Maybe I spoke too soon.
Thanks Jimmy and Leo.
The jumper in question is a young man I hadn't previously met. His name is Leo and he's originally from Brazil.
To be clear, I'm not complaining that he stood on the rail once. Anyone can make an error if they don't know the local rules. The reason for this public lashing is that he took an aggressive anti-Don, anti-cooperation position afterwards. He made it clear he would continue to do it except when Don was watching.
Leo mistakes self-policing for a personal challenge. He thinks this incredibly mild and understandable request is beneath him. I hope Leo either rethinks his position or stays away from this jewel of an object. The sport has exactly ONE of these and losing it would be a tragedy.
Hello,
There are actually more sites like the one mentioned,
fortunately they are less commonly jumped, and even
less talked about.
Avery
This weekend, a couple of dozen base jumpers converged for some fun at that big 486' span in the west. You know which span I mean: the one that shows up in newspapers and television shows and commercial base videos, the one perfect for daytime first jump courses, the one serviced by a friendly riverboat to ferry us to the park or (occasionally) to rescue us from accidental or tragic water landings. I mean the bridge which features prominently in nearly every base jumper's career including two who married there last month with reporters and TV crews in attendance. The span in a city that gives BASE discounts on hotel rooms and free beer in the bars. It's just like the one in the east, except this one is has a better landing area and is legal the OTHER 364 days of the year...
... for now.
Yesterday as I was walking around the visitor's center, answering tourists' questions about those wacky jumpers, I heard sudden loud, continuous car horn honking from the bridge. I looked up and saw a jumper standing on the guard rail, in broad daylight, visible from one end of the bridge to the other. The cars were going nuts with their horns until the jumper hopped off theatrically.
Now, if you've been to this bridge you probably know there's a gentleman's agreement with the police: Don't distract the traffic and they won't bother us. Don, the man who runs the tour boat rides, lobbies the city, county, and state police, the chamber of commerce, and the Idaho traffic department to maintain the openness of this one fantastic object for us. Against the authoritarian demands of the safety nazis, he has managed to keep this object open for years. The authorities have only one request: Don't stand on the rail because it distracts the drivers. Just do this one thing for everyone else's safety and have fun.
So today, imagine my surprise when two hotshots preparing to jump pointed at Don's boat waiting below and said, "I hate that boat being there." I turned and asked them why? I'm thinking Don's boat is nice if you want a ride instead of a sweaty hike. I'm thinking Don is there ready to pull critically injured jumpers out if they go in (which he has done several times over the years). I'm thinking Don's boat makes water landings possible which is the only thing that keeps some injured jumpers in the sport. I'm thinking until my ankle stabilizes I might make some water jumps myself.
The punk said, "I don't want to get yelled at for standing on the rail."
I figured this was a simple misunderstanding, so I corrected him. "It's not him. It's the cops. They ask us to stay off the rail for traffic safety. Don's just trying to keep the bridge open for the sport."
"He doesn't give a #### about the sport. He's just protecting his BUSINESS!" said the snot nosed ####.
(Now, you might wonder if this piece of crap jumper had a single brain cell firing. He should know protecting Don's business IS protecting the sport. But no, this self-centered simpleton thinks burning the whole object is better for the SPORT than Don's business.)
Just before completely giving up, I tried once more: "And do you give a #### about the sport?"
"Oh man, it doesn't matter. I didn't see any cops."
No, you didn't see them, you arrogant turd, but everyone for 1/2 a mile sure saw you and heard the traffic commotion, and you can be SURE word gets around quickly in this little town that's been so welcoming so far.
This guy is almost intentionally trying to burn this object. Even El Capitan was legal once, back before thoughtless ####heads like him trashed it and turned the Park Service into a police force aimed directly against BASE.
--
By the way, Don asked me to spread the word. Next weekend (Labor Day) he's running raffles for free gear, meals, and hotel rooms. He's getting the business community involved for a huge celebration of BASE. He's putting on a massive barbecue for all the jumpers. Everyone's invited to come pump out jumps, impress the cheering crowds of tourists, charm the old ladies running the Visitor's Center, and have a great time.
If nobody ruins it first.
yahoo muff muff muff we all need to do what we can to protect the legal sites we have and actions like this can do so much to undermine all the good will that a lot of people have estabalished over a period of time i have only been base jumping 3 years but i have quite a few trips to twin falls and love the ability to jump and jump as much as you want as long as you stick to the very limited quidelines they give us and the MAIN ONE is DONT JUMP FROM THE TOP OF THE RAIL PLEASE i dont think they ask too much of us and for one am very glad to oblige and i think most are also so if you are reading out there take this to heart dont blow it for all of us .and on the subject of don i have the privilage of calling him a friend .that man does more to keep things legal for all of us than you will ever know he is at every meeting that pertains the bridge and provides a service that we all benifit from he picks us up at the shore and ferrys us down to the park .he can pick you up when you land in the water (planned or unplanned ) can get you to aide quickly if needed and is just a general friend to us all he also has a big cookout for us all with door prizes he gets donated from local merchants (free rooms free food etc and other things )so all that said i am looking forward to seeing you all there over the labor day weekend so till later have fun & love each other seeya mb65 johnny gates
What happened to the board that sticks out two feet and makes a nice platform for aerials or exits in general? If this was in place regularly, people would be less likely to jump from the rail.
Does anyone know the rules for the board? I guess it has to be chained to the rail or something??? I'm going out there soon (after the boogie) and will put one up if there is not one there already.
JJ
It's my understanding that the main rule for using a board is that it is ALWAYS removed after you're done jumping for the day, so as not to become a safety hazard for pedestrians.
I think Don would be able to tell you exactly what the rules are.
divot
I posted this over on dropzone.com as well.
OK,
Before everyone starts to get the tar heated up for the feathering, I have contacted Leo to let him know that the heat is on. The conversation that you had with him at the exit point really doesn't sound like him, but people definitely have their moments. When I saw him exiting from the railing, Marta and I explained to him why this was uncool and told him to stop and he did. He didn't understand why he shouldn't do that, but now he does.
Really, this is all my fault. I stopped exiting from the railing last year along with everyone else.
(about the time they put that traffic light in).
On the morning that this incident happened, I was alone on top of the bridge and noticed for the first time that I can remember, there was absolutely no traffic on the bridge in either direction,and no spectators on either wall. I did the unthinkable. I hopped up on the railing and jumped immediately. Thinking I had got away clean, I knew that I was a bad man, but thought no harm had come of it. It was a nostalgic moment for me and not to be repeated. Anyway, Leo had seen me do this and wanted to try it. He didn't mention that he was going to do this to us or we would have told him not to.
The moral of this story is that there is always someone watching you at the bridge. Marta and I are always trying to set a good example by cleaning up ours and other's empty cups, taco bell bags, etc...in the packing area by the visitor center, talking it up with the tourists and the folks who work at the bridge, curbing our language in the boat especially when Don has clients on board for the tour and generally being the ambassadors for the sport as we all are when we are anywhere among the public especially at the bridge. I let my behavior slip for one second and the ripples started without my even knowing it.
I can't put Leo out to dry for this one. His attitude sounds crappy at the exit point on this one occasion, but he is a great kid and very new to the sport and I would hate for everyone to think that this is what kind of a person he is. He does not have a bad attitude and is very excited about our sport.
Jimmy P
Bad person
It takes a lot of cajones to step forward and fess up to a mistake in front of everyone.
Ya got class Jimmy. :-)
I was there for this conversation and know that Leo was misquoted and misunderstood. LJ had come into the middle of a conversation that he only heard half of when he butted in and involved himself. He did not know what was being discussed and over reacted to a situatution that could have easily been handled with conversation, instead it ended up being a minor misunderstaning that turned into a #### talking festival about a really good guy. Im sure when you all meet Leo it will be quite obvious that he is not the "piece of crap jumper" that he his slandered to be. Next time maybe a few beers and a conversation would sufice instead of a half informed post on two major forums, eh? lets be grown
drew
Hi,
I'm Leo,
After I jumped (from the rail) This old man came to me with serious look and sad that he didn't think my jump was cool, he sad that I wasn't supposed to do that because the cops would go talk to him, or even they might close the spot ... I appolagized to him( even not agreeing with him), and told him I did'nt know, and that wasn't going to happeng again....
After that thing, I was waiting JJ's students jump, and one of them had a bad landing in the water with a bad foot, Don was there and helped the guy, things got more clear to me after that...
Now I know who Don is, and I really think he's wrigth protecting his bussiness ( and the sport ), next chance I'll person appolagise with him for the consequences I could had caused to him and everyone else...
But you my friend, you don't know me, so don't call me those things again, you seems to gain confidence in front of you computer!!
I never done anything agains't you, maybe i've done for the sport, but that wasn' intentional and I'm here appologizing for the people I've been learning from and respect...
Leonardo.
Leo,
Well said. I'm glad you understand Don better. I'm curious if you saw him helping the student before or after the conversation with me. When you gave me all that attitude it was very clear you were still angry at Don and were going to continue jumping the rail whenever you could and that spotting for cops was enough. If later you came to understand that Don's on our side, I think that's great.
I want to apologize as well. I made a very big mistake here and that was naming names. Letting you read the thread anonymously would have been much, much smarter. When I wrote the strong language, I did so with the intention of never writing names. Unfortunately I let the requests guide me instead of good judgement. The combination was terrible.
At my request TomA removed all mention of names from the dropzone thread. I wish I hadn't put it there in the first place, but I've done what I can at this point.
-- LJ
I'm glad you guys all sorted this out.
Perhaps the use of the "call the locals rule" would have prevented this from happening? I guess Leo didn't know about the standing on the rail rule, however, as they say in court "ignorance of the rules is not a good defense".
Kudos to Jimmy for his gutsy post.....!!!
------------
Jason Bell (BASE428)
Email: jbell@vertical-visions.com
Web: www.vertical-visions.com or www.bridgeday.info
YOU RETARDS JUST DON'T GET IT DO YOU! ALL THIS APOLOGIZING CRAP! THIS IS THE BASE BOARD! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GIVE EACH OTHER A HUGE ANUL REEMING!
THAT FRIGGEN THREAD WAS WONDERFULLY ENTERTAINING UNTIL YOU SOFT LITTLE WUSSIES STARTED COMPLIMENTING EACH OTHER AND SAYING SORRY. FIGHT! DAMMIT! CARNAGE! CONTROVERSY! ENTERTAIN ME FOR SHHITS SAKE!
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