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would expect. Fear and distress occur in
situations where they have the least control,
such as when they first jump off the cliff
or pull the cord on their parachute. That is
also when they have the highest adrenaline
levels. A BASE jumper's motivation is the
desire to grow as a human being, and they
realize that requires leaving their comfort
zone."
In free fall
BASE jumper Ryan uses his eyes to measure
the distance to the ground. It seems as if
it just flows past, only a few tens of centi-
metres fromhis helmet-mounted video
camera. He must fly quite close to the
mountain wall, because even though he is
although he is making good progress, the
clearance between him and the rise in the
landscape is dangerously small.
Gravel and boulders race up at him at a
furious pace. He steers his body towards the
hill. It is now or never. Suddenly it seems as
if he is flying into the treetops on the moun-
tainside. Then the little rise disappears and it
gets steeper. He is over the hump. He floats.
And the lens on his camera begins to fog up.
Most BASE jumpers start as parachutists
and jump for many years before they throw
themselves off their first vertical wall.
The first jump is not at all pleasant, they say.
It takes about ten or fifteen jumps before
they feel that they have enough control of
the situation to enjoy the experience. But
what drives them to continue through
the unpleasantness is the confidence that
they will eventually be able to master the
situation.
After ten or fifteen jumps they have more
control andmore time to absorb the feeling.
They usually begin with highmountains,
such as Kjerag. The mountain's 1000 metre
drop allows for 25 seconds of free fall. In
the few seconds where they feel like they are
actually flying, they are moving at nearly
180 kilometres an hour.
"You can almost touch the air. Everything is
completely still. Time goes very slowly, you
have the feeling that everything has slowed
to half speed. You are very present in your
environment. They describe being able to fly
like a swallow as a fantastic experience," says
Hetland.
Are they adrenaline junkies?
"No. Macho men do not live long doing this
sport. BASE jumpers are mostly sober-
minded outdoor enthusiasts. They don't
needlessly seek out dangerous situations.
Some even think it's scary to paint the ho-
use, because they have to stand on a ladder.
BASE jumping is all about excelling at what
you do and doing your utmost to complete
the jump. In fact, it is not all that different
fromwhat a concert pianist goes through
during a concert. For both, the adrenaline
rush is mainly a source of discomfort, not a
goal in itself. Completing a successful jump
requires mastering the situation and the
adrenaline rush."
On solidground
Ryan Saunders's jump is coming to an end.
Suddenly you can hear the sound of fabric
cracking in the wind and through the fog
on the lens, you can see the dark shadow of
the parachute over Ryan's head. His body
jerks up. For just a few tenths of a second it
is completely quite. But as Ryan Saunders
makes his landing, you can hear a yelp of
pure joy.
The joy of succeeding is overwhelming and
the feeling of happiness is all encompassing
once you have made a successful landing.
But to continue to achieve this feeling of
extreme happiness, BASE jumpers have to
operate with increasingly smaller margins of
safety. As they become increasingly better at
what they do, they often attempt more dif-
ficult jumps -- either by wearing wing suits,
or jumping from lower mountaintops, or
fromhouses, bridges or antenna towers.
"One of the best BASE jumpers toldme that
the average length of a jumper's career is six
years, and that there are three ways to stop:
to die, to be injured, or to realize that the
risk is simply too great," Hetland says.
The range of feelings in BASE jumpers is
enormous. But one thing they do not feel is
sadness. That is unusual, because sadness is
usually an emotion that people invoke when
they describe the complexity of any feeling.
"It's pretty amazing. The strongest feeling is
engagement. It seems as if the humanmind
can tolerate a great deal, as long as a person
is doing something that
is interesting. So youmight ask howwe can
arrange for people to have these kinds of
experiences in their everyday life, without
having to jump off of a mountain," says
Hetland.
"Yes, fucking yes!That was fucking aweso-
me! I don't care if I sound like a fucking
retard but that was fucking awesome! I did
it! I did it!" Shouts of joy
bounce between the valley walls. Ryan lives
to jump another day.
Watch the video of Ryan Saunders' jump on
our website: uit.no/labyrint
FACTS about BASE
jumping:
BASE is an English acronym used to descri-
bethe four common objects that jumpers
leap off of:
•
Building (structures)
•
Antenna (aerial)
•
Span (bridge span or similar)
•
Earth (mountain)
There are a total of 70 active BASE jumpers
in Norway. Norway is very popular with
BASE jumpers. The world championship
is held annually in Romsdal and Norwe-
gians have won the top spot in the last
three competitions. The Troll Wall is the
only mountain in Norway from which it
is illegal to jump. One hundred and sixty-
one people have died from BASE jumping,
according to a website dedicated to those
who have died. Forty-eight of these deaths
occurred in Norway. One of those who
died in Norway was the originator of the
name and the father of modern BASE jum-
ping, Carl Boenish. He was the first jumper
to die on theTroll Wall.
Source: Store norsk leksikon (The big Norwegian
Encyclopedia)
BASE jump fatalities: http://www.splatula.
com / BFL /
University of Tromsø –
Labyrint E/11
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