After riding the bike park at Whistler for a few days we were all beat down. Everyone was banged up, bleeding and sore from hard riding and numerous crashes. We loaded up the rig and headed to Twin Falls, Idaho where we met up with more Nitro Circus members and TP’s dad for some beginner BASE jumping. When I say beginner BASE jumping, I mean people with absolutely no parachute jumps…no skydives and no BASE jumps. Most jumpers would not advise this type of behavior but I figure I can take a certain type of person and make it relatively safe in a controlled environment.
The Prienne Bridge in Twin Falls is one of the only legal bridges to BASE jump in the US. Jumpers come from all over the world to session the bridge. This is a great place to spend time and learn about BASE jumping as well as practice your skills. When your not running from cops or hiding from security guards you can slow down and pay more attention to what is going on with the general safety of your jump.
In all, I pushed 7 new people off the bridge. The way it works is I hold the pilot chute in my hand while the jumper climbs over the railing. The pilot chute is the small parachute thrown out to catch air and pull out the larger parachute packed into the container on your back. The jumper makes the jump from the bridge and I hold onto the pilot chute manually extracting the larger parachute from the container. This allows the jumper to focus mainly on body position and shortens freefall time to avoid any type of parachute malfunction.
Once the parachute opens the jumper has been instructed to fly the parachute over the water and land in the water to avoid any chance of breaking bones trying to land on ground for the first time.
The highlight of the trip was when Travis’ dad stepped up and threw a gainer off the bridge for his first BASE jump ever. One of the crazier things I have witnessed and he stuck it! No wonder Travis is the way he is…
The bridge
Some of the Death Campers
Pastrana about to jump
Nitro Circus Member Hubert making his first jump
Willie Crum climbing over the railing…scared senseless.
Getting in some flips
Travis’ dad about to stick a gainer from the top rail without any parachute experience at all.
Death Camp Instructors
Landing pattern
I am from the Twin Falls Area and glad you guys could have some fun around our turf. The bridge is 480 feet to the water. When we eat at local diners we meet people from all over the world who make trips just for this bridge. 15 years ago it was not legal to jump off but if you can imagine everything from shopping carts to cats have been thrown off that bridge. I would say at least two people jump off that bridge a day.. Keep up the great stuff.. I have never jumped but I have one question. Is there a change of underpants down at the bottum???