BASE Fatality List Updated . . .

[crwper]

I've forwarded the list on occasion to "would-be" BASE jumpers who approach me at the dropzone. I reveiew the list myself regularly.

Yes, vending machines have been responsible for a number of deaths, but we all know that far more people come into contact with vending machines than with BASE jumping. Our sport can be very dangerous, and although the media may like to sensationalize that, I don't think it would be to our advantage if the media started writing that our sport is safer than vending-machine use.

I like to review the list because it doesn't attempt to rationalize the data--because maybe this isn't the sort of thing that can really be rationalized. I think it would be a shame if that changed.

Michael

[K]

Hi Nick-

Please don't take the List off the web. It is very informative, it puts the brakes on a lot of people that would rush in where angels dare not tread, (good thing we're not angels, any of us, eh?) and it is a cornerstone of fact about our sport. Done badly or with bad luck, it is deadly. No one should be in denial about that as they approach BASE. For me, occasionally viewing the List is like visiting dear friends that are no longer with us...at least on this plane of existence...

By the way, an avid rock climber brought me a magazine with an article about Moab...it was written for climbers, but I was amazed to see that in the year prior to the article being written, 5 mountain bike riders died by going off the edge on their bikes. No one died BASE jumping in Moab in that same year. I found that very interesting, and use it as a point of comparison when people slander BASE as being stupid and deadly.

Lovin' life, my leg's almost 100%!

K

[sabre210]

Hello Nick

For what it's worth, i strongly believe the list is essential reading in it's present format and with it's current accessability. I read the list regularly from start to finish; and did so before i embarked on the BASE rollercoaster. There is so much information there, so many lessons to be learned, it would be a real tragedy to hide this from view.

I understand what Jason is saying, and of course there is a trade off when you make this kind of information available to all (and in particular lazy journalists). Yes the data is open to be abused and sensationalised, but that negative is far out-weighed, in my opinion, by the huge benefits the list can bring to BASE jumpers of all levels and anyone considering it as a sport.

In addition I feel the list is a testimony to every single person lost to BASE. Each and everyone of the people on that list has contributed some degree to the evolution of the sport, so i feel it's appropriate that a record of their lives and deaths is made available to all who should want to see it.

I too have noticed how often News reports and articles refer to the 70+ deaths in the sport without contextualising these figures. However perhaps if the list wasn't available they might be claiming there to be far more. Would a journalist go to the trouble of categorising Dwains tragic demise as a skydive or a BASE jump? Would the recent Cave fatality be lumped in there to flesh out the figures for added tabloid clout? At least with the list there is a defined, considered, unambiguous figure which they can look to and which we (well you actually Nick) control to a certain degree.

We live in an age where information is denied to us constantly, misinformation is fed to us daily, history is being twisted and distorted and re-written. Let's not contribute to this orwellian hell hole by hiding facts. Let the record stand so that it's there for those who chose to want to know, and so we can point to it when it's ignored.

"the list is an absolute good. the list is life"

i thank you.

[Small]

Nick,

I remember reading the list several years ago as a newbie skydiver with an interest in BASE. It was a frightening read and IMHO that's a good thing because it curbed my enthusiasm. From a distance BASE can look glamorous and the list is an important balance to that.

Several years later, as a newbie BASE jumper, the list still makes for frightening reading but that's still a good thing because now it reminds me of what can go wrong.

I have a friend who keeps a printout of the list in his caravan at the dz and gives it to anyone that's making noises about BASE and from what others have said that's quite a common thing.

Thank you for all your work and please don't take it offline.

Gus

[Nick_D]

Thanks, Faber, for mentioning the graveyard aspect of the list. I've always been reluctant to do so. This is a result of the list I didnt fully anticipate, and it means a lot to me too. When I look at what the list has become (the first one I published had only six names on it) I cant help but find the irony in my promoting BASE all these years, and at the same time through the list, Ive probably prevented more BASE jumps than anyone else . . .

Sabre210, thank you, for your well-written thoughts concerning the list. I will keep it on the net for the foreseeable future. Thanks Gus and Sweet K and Mick and everyone else.

The Reaper and the Number. . .

I took the Reaper graphic down when I started thinking about the moms, and the dads, the sisters, the bothers, and the friends who happen upon the list and are close to one of the jumpers. It started with sometimes Id look at the Reaper and think thats okay, its BASE, its cool, its part of our culture. Other times Id look at it and it seemed flippant and/or disrespectful.

When I first started writing about BASE jumping in the Fixed Object Journal, I promised myself two things. Id never dumb it down for the masses, and Id always be really careful what I wrote because people will believe it. The first time I went to Moe Villettos house I couldnt help notice it had death written all over it. Where others had a lamp Moe had a skull. I hadnt been there ten minutes and hes showing my autopsy photos. His doormat is done in a Black Death motif and his doorbell goes Dong - Da - Dong Dong.

So I asked him, Hey Moe, whats with all the death stuff? He turned to me and said very seriously, you dont get it, Nick, death is an education tool.

I think I should put the Reaper graphic back up too . . .

Nick D:-)
BASE 194

[Nick_D]

>>>ps Nick What happened to the grim reaper holding the cristal ball with the number in it can you bring that back?...<<<

It's (it's a she this time) is up . . .

http://www.basefatalities.info/

Nick D:-)
BASE 194