Base Jumping in Montana

Looking for a mentor to this sport. Does anyone in Montana BASE jump around the Bozeman area? 

I’ve watched some videos. It looks pretty straight forward. 

Tomily ma wrote: I’ve watched some videos. It looks pretty straight forward. 

I know right? Just YouTube that shit. .

You might be under the impression that there are a ton of climber/basejumpers out there based on what you see in the media, but in reality most basejumpers are not avid climbers. A basejumping forum would be a better place to look. General recommendation is learn how to skydive, gain some experience then either find a mentor or take a course.

http://www.basejumper.com/Articles/Getting_Into_BASE/

Hayden Brown wrote: Looking for a mentor to this sport. 

Most of your potential mentors are dead. The statistics I saw somewhere is one death for every sixty jumps. There are cheaper ways to die. 

Oh shee, boi. Dey got dey own forumz.

​Base Jumper Dot Com​​​

normajean wrote:

Most of your potential mentors are dead. The statistics I saw somewhere is one death for every sixty jumps. There are cheaper ways to die. 

I think you're referring to an infographic that made its way around facebook a while back comparing various outdoor/extreme sports and mentioned base jumping as having 1 fatality for every 60 participants (I'm assuming each participant is making several hundred jumps and if I recall this was similar to high altitude mountaineering). Either way it's not exactly solid science and there are some flaws with trying to compare all those different activities. 

BASE jumping is obviously safer than climbing because yer gonna die

Like someone else said, find a dropzone and learn to skydive first if you haven’t already. Lost Prarie is supposed to be great in MT. The recommended minimum is 200 skydives before attempting a BASE jump.

There are at least a couple courses in Twin Falls, ID as the city hosts one of the only legal man-made objects to jump in the US.  In terms of legal natural objects, BLM land is where it’s at.  Tom Aiello and Sean Chuma are a couple names to get you started.

The margin of error in BASE is nil. I learned to skydive 10 years ago so I could get into BASE. I did my first BASE after about 190 skydives and wish I had done more. I still skydive and climb regularly. I haven’t BASE jumped in years.

One death in every 60 jumps is definitely not accurate. One death for every 60 jumpers is closer to accurate but definitely not spot on. Especially when you consider modern-day equipment and training.

Anecdotally, when I was learning to BASE, one of my mentors was teaching a guy with zero skydives (they call it “death camp”) and he has since learned to skydive I believe and has hundreds if not thousands of BASE jumps. But people like him are the exception to the rule.

Open a profile on dropzone.com and basejumper.com. Read the incidents and beginner forums. Good luck and if you do get into it, do more skydives than you think you’ll need. It’s the most fun training you’ll ever do.

Marc H wrote: Like someone else said, find a dropzone and learn to skydive first if you haven’t already. Lost Prarie is supposed to be great in MT. The recommended minimum is 200 skydives before attempting a BASE jump.

There are at least a couple courses in Twin Falls, ID as the city hosts one of the only legal man-made objects to jump in the US.  In terms of legal natural objects, BLM land is where it’s at.  Tom Aiello and Sean Chuma are a couple names to get you started.

The margin of error in BASE is nil. I learned to skydive 10 years ago so I could get into BASE. I did my first BASE after about 190 skydives and wish I had done more. I still skydive and climb regularly. I haven’t BASE jumped in years.

One death in every 60 jumps is definitely not accurate. One death for every 60 jumpers is closer to accurate but definitely not spot on. Especially when you consider modern-day equipment and training.

Anecdotally, when I was learning to BASE, one of my mentors was teaching a guy with zero skydives (they call it “death camp”) and he has since learned to skydive I believe and has hundreds if not thousands of BASE jumps. But people like him are the exception to the rule.

Open a profile on dropzone.com and basejumper.com. Read the incidents and beginner forums. Good luck and if you do get into it, do more skydives than you think you’ll need. It’s the most fun training you’ll ever do.

+1 on this!   

Skydive first.  There is a common feeling that skydiving first is like paying your penance to learn to BASE.  That’s silly!  Skydiving is wonderful in its own right and will teach you so much about flying your body and a canopy before you put those skills to the ultimate test in the less controlled BASE environment.  

After jumping for a couple hundred skydives you will get to know plenty of BASE jumpers and can go from there.  Twin Falls is definitely the best place to start BASE in the US.

Have fun with BASE and retire before it kills you. My most memorable outdoor experiences are from BASE, but I am happily now retired from the sport.

You are 21.  At 21 I would have pushed BASE too hard.  Luckily I started later in life.  Go slow....there is plenty more time to die.

http://www.blincmagazine.com/forum/wiki_index.php?title=BASE_Fatality_List