The Craze that is BASE Jumping
People like to do crazy things, such as bungee jumping and skydiving, but when they get bored of these extreme sports, there is an even more extreme sport on offer. This mental activity is called BASE Jumping. The base is capitalised because it is an acronym. It stands for, “four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridge), and earth (cliff),” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_jumping). BASE jumping is basically when extreme sports enthusiasts strap parachutes to their backs and jump off of any high object they can find. It is usually buildings, cliffs and bridges but they have also jumped off famous landmarks and even into massive caves. Why is this sport becoming so popular these days because it is one of the most dangerous extreme sports around?
What would motivate someone to jump off a building or a cliff? There are probably many reasons but people do it even though the dangers are so great in this sport. Extreme sports enthusiasts have been trying to find activities to do which would give them a bigger buzz than what has now become mundane; things like bungee jumping and skydiving. Bungee jumping and skydiving are both extreme sports but have almost become mainstream these days because of higher levels of interest among people who are not extreme sports enthusiasts and greater safety. As these two sports became more popular companies were formed and the safety issues were addressed and so now anyone can go bungee jumping or skydiving and it is relatively safe. But when it comes to BASE jumping things still haven’t progressed to those levels.
BASE jumping is very dangerous because unlike skydiving, there is a very short time period in which to deploy the parachute and land safely. As opposed to skydiving, BASE jumping is done in close proximity to objects and a lot of the time accidents occur due to the jumper striking an object on the way down. We can just imagine if someone jumps off a cliff then there is always a chance that even if the parachute is deployed in time, a gust of wind can come along and blow the jumper into the cliff and a fatality can occur. The parachute in BASE jumping has to be deployed very quickly because unlike skydiving the jumper doesn’t have a long freefall. In BASE jumping the jumper has only a very short time of freefall before they have to pull the cord and deploy the chute. Even this can cause problems because if the jumper is not in the correct position when the chute is deployed it can get tangled up and the jumper may not have enough time to right themselves for a safe landing. According to Wikipedia, “Starting in 1981 and as of December 22nd, 2009 there have been at least 140 fatalities related to the sport. BASE jumping is one of the world's more dangerous recreational activities, with overall fatalities in 2002 estimated at about one fatality per sixty participants,” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_jumping).
If it is this dangerous why on earth would people continue to leap off cliffs and huge buildings? One reason is that with the danger comes a level of excitement and adrenaline that is unrivalled by anything else on the planet. There just doesn’t seem to be the same level of danger and excitement anymore in skydiving and bungee jumping. This level of danger has led to the sport not being able to be regulated by any sort of regulating body or authority so that is another attraction of the sport; it is still seen as being free and ungoverned. It used to be that standard parachutes were used in the sport but as it gained in popularity special equipment was designed especially for the needs of the sport; like being able to deploy very quickly and remain free from tangles.
As long as they can, people are going to continue to find and jump off higher and more dangerous objects in order to claim bragging rights and achieve a level of adrenaline not achieved by anything else. Let’s hope they continue to do it with at least some level of safety and not try something new to get a higher level of buzz like jumping off a cliff with only a board in hand to then surf to a landing in the water below.
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