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Cynthia Lynn asked:




Two jumpers in gear at the back of the exit ramps,

The starter will ask…

“Jumper A ready?” – confirm

“Jumper B ready?” – confirm

Jumpers take your starting position at the edge.

The starter begins countdown, “5 – 4″

A single signal is repeated 3 times, bip, bip, bip

Welcome to the World BASE Race

Envision two men standing on wooden platforms at the edge of a mountain cliff. Each man is dressed in what appears to be a flying squirrel suit. At the signal, they jump and race head-on to the finish line, deploying their parachutes and gliding to a safe landing. Mind blowing? Extraordinary? A testament to man’s intestinal fortitude? Innovative genius? A sporting event unlike any other in the world? If you answered yes to all of the above, then let me introduce you to an event that P.T. Barnum would have billed as part of “The Greatest Show on Earth”.

The World Base Race lays claim to being the ultimate B.A.S.E jumping competition in declaring one wingsuit pilot/jumper as “The World Fastest Flying Human Being” and awarding the winner 3000 euro as prize money. The 2009 event consists of 32 athletes, in a 2 jumper 750m full on race, in a 6 round competition. The event takes place August 12-14th, with athletes arriving during the week of August 6-12th for warm-up/preparation jumps. Norway’s picture perfect Innfjorden-Romsdal provides the arena and setting for after hours activities.

Prior to my interview with Brendan Nicholson, a U.S. B.A.S.E jumper/wingsuit pilot, who will be competing in this years race; I had an opportunity for a brief Q & A with Paul Fortun.

Norwegian, Paul Fortun, director of the World Base Race acts as though he is the proud father of a newborn when it comes to discussing the event. He boasts and hawks in a fashion that would make ol’ P.T. proud, “We have the world’s most amazing public sporting event, in an arena located among the beautiful surroundings of nature itself. There is no registration fee for jumpers, or fee for public spectators. We want to make this the greatest public party for athletes and spectators alike. This event demonstrates to the world the type of athletes BASE jumpers truly are in an exciting competition. This is a top skilled athletic sport, where you not only have to compete head to head, but perform in front of the public. All rounds have to be hiked by the athletes, therefore the winner must also be in great physical shape.”

Do you anticipate a larger spectator turn out this year since you’ve had a year to advertise and market the event?

“We have a limit of 2000 to 2500 spectators, but we have a big Fjord and welcome charter boats to come and enjoy the show. I expect that we will see an increase in spectators as we have seen an increase in athletes.”

The World Base Race is an event designed with the spectators in mind. What type of vendors and entertainment do you have planned?

“We will have a young talented rock band, Ronald Nikolaisen with “Black Cat Bones” as The World BASE Race band this year. They will play at the final day of competition and at the WBR party in the evening. There will be a band playing mellow music suited for young children to 90 year olds. This is an arena in a natural setting that we are offering a good time to any age spectator. We are not trying to copy other high profiled extreme sports events with loud music and cool young people in the latest fashions. We wish to remain a public event for everybody. Line Horvli and the local choir, plus a local folkdance group Leikarringen and an uphill running race. The Norwegian national paragliding team with Ove Tillung and Pål Hammar Rognøy performing a program for us. As well as 10 dome jumpers in formation flying with smoke. Ending with three jumpers with red, white and blue smoke representing national colors for the opening of “The World Fastest Human Flying Being” finale.

My goal is to lift the event one cm every year to the next level, take it step by step, as long as the public is fascinated and takes part in the event enjoying watching batman/batwoman flying in the air. I believe this is the correct way to progress, leaving them wanting to return for more the following year.”

In the upcoming 2009 event, the largest contingency of jumpers will be hailing from the United States with 17 athletes. One of those 17, is Brendan Nicholson, age 27, a graduate of the University of Utah with a degree in Graphic Design. He spends his work days as a Medical Illustrator and Animator for the Department of Genetics at the university in which he graduated. Hailing from Salt Lake City, Brendan is a bit more reserved in his chances to reach the podium, “I doubt I will place in this years race. The level of competition will be significantly higher due to the success of last years event. I look forward to the day when I have more wingsuit flights and can be considered a peer of this years veteran competitors like Robert Pecnik and Ronny Risvik.”

Nicholson didn’t compete in last years race, instead he worked as race starter. It was then that as he would jump and fly down following the competitors using tracking gear when both Paul and Johnny Bjørkås seen a natural talent in Brendan. Paul noted how quickly Brendan took to flying such difficult cliffs. I asked Paul Fortun who he was looking forward to watching, he unequivocally announced ” I am particularly excited to see how Brendan Nicholson of Salt Lake City, Utah will fair in this years competition. In asking Brendan about their assessment, he credits his 11 years in Nordic Ski jumping for the early development into the world of wingsuit piloting. Stating, “I enjoy tracking the most because it has the most freedom”.

I asked the young athelete how he would approached “racing” another individual when generally B.A.S.E jumping is not about “winning”? “B.A.S.E has a long history of competition from early accuracy meets to the World BASE Race. The lowest, highest, longest jumps are all know throughout the community of B.A.S.E jumpers due to the competitive nature amongst us. Each one of the World Base Race athletes is so experienced in flight that ‘racing’ in wingsuits is as easy as ‘racing’ to the fridge for the last beer. If you have any reservations about the psychological pressures of ‘racing’ then it is best to wait until you are mentally prepared ahead of competing.”

As for his B.A.S.E jumping philosophy, “Always live to see the next jump. While it may be fun to burn it low or fly very close to the wall, you must weigh that experience against all future jump experiences. Is that extra 10 feet really worthy losing hundreds of awesome experiences over?” The one jump that stands out in his mind, “Clearing the ledge at “Karl’s Big Mountain Cliff” (Imperfect English translation of Norwegian). This wall is where B.A.S.E jumping became mountain flying and it was awesome to relive that experience transitioning form falling to flying. There is a point where you must decide whether to pull or try to clear the ledge and that certainty in your own abilities is rewarding.”

We discussed whether he felt B.A.S.E jumping was a “sport”, “stunt” or “hobby” and what drew him to the World B.A.S.E Race. “I think it is different for every person and even changes over time for that same person. When I started it was an all-consuming lifestyle. Every word out of my mouth was about B.A.S.E and every thought in my head was about where I was going to get my next fix. Now I try to find a balance between B.A.S.E, Skiing, Rock Climbing, work and personal relationships, so it would probably fall under sport for me. Some jumps are stunts, like when I jump for money and sometimes out of my comfort zone. Many jumps do not take much skill and it seems silly to call them sport when true sports are out there. Hobby sounds too much like needlepoint.”

“For me the attraction to the World Base Race is an opportunity to meet and jump with the best mountain fliers in the world. The event itself is very casual with everyone hiking and chatting together. The exchange of ideas and experiences is like nothing else because only Romsdal could draw this caliber of talent from all corners of the globe. The idea of making human flight safer with higher performance is what draws me to come and learn form the best”.

Besides the actually racing, what do you enjoy best about the event?, “The World BASE Race is an opportunity to get together with the best mountain fliers in the world’s best playground. There are fifty other walls to explore in the region and countless ways to fly the terrain. I love meeting new people and learning their approach to the sport. The barbecues are also awesome, because of the organic and fresh nature of the food.”

Brendan’s training technique in preparing for the race in Norway, while he doesn’t have the luxury of taking advantage of jumping there regularly, “I fly wingsuits out of planes as much as I can afford and jump some of the larger legal cliffs in my area. Mountain flying has a lot in common with many other gravity sports such as mountain biking and downhill skiing. Flying a predetermined line is just like carving through the snow, from planning to execution of a perfectly balanced carve.”

His mentally preparation for a jump may seem a bit unusual to an outsider, but remains effective for him. “I have mild OCD so I need a lot of repetition and physical touching to feel ready to jump. I will touch my buckles 20 plus times, check my bridle routing 10 plus times and repack my chute before nearly every jump. Beyond that I try to remember what a perfect exit feels like beforehand so I can repeat it on the upcoming jump. This includes visualization with my eyes closed and mock body movements”. His final thought before jumping, “There is a real void in thinking right before exit. I am trying to focus solely on what my body is telling me so I can exit smoothly and set myself to flying away.”

In responding to my question, “In your opinion would such an event work in the U.S. if it could be done legally, do you think it would help with the perception of B.A.S.E by the general public?”, he offered these thoughts, “Yes, I think it would be a good way to introduce mountain flying to the American public. The popularity of Matchstick Production’s ‘Seven Sunny Days’ clip proves that people are fascinated with mountain flying and I think an American B.A.S.E Race could fit well with something like the X-Games. Bridge Day attracts over 200,000 people and I think interest in mountain flying would be even higher. Paul has formatted the World BASE Race to be very spectator friendly and has also instituted a strict safety protocol that resulted in zero incidents last year.”

I asked him what he felt his contribution to B.A.S.E was during his short career in the sport, his reply again showed his humble nature, “So far I have contributed very little. I enjoyed helping Paul out with the World BASE Race and showing the world that the sport of B.A.S.E can have a safe, spectator-friendly competition. I am always trying to be an ambassador for the sport in the hopes that it will become accepted in America as a valid way to experience the outdoors.”

Brendan’s favorite object to jump, “Big cliffs are at the top of the list. I love hiking and exploring beautiful new places and mountain flying is just a logical extension of that. Building’s come in a close second because of the James Bond factor of sneaking around coupled with the thrill of a technical flight.”

How often does he jump?, “I made 100 jumps in my first year. Now I try to savor them a bit more and only jump about twice a month. During my vacations to Norway I will jump two or three times a day for about a month.”

He earned his B.A.S.E. number around jump 50, but only applied for the B.A.S.E card after about 100 jumps. Brendan had recorded only about 100 skydives when he first started B.A.S.E jumping. He says, “I wish I had 500 skydives. I usually wish this right before I hit something hard that I could have easily avoided with more experience.” He attended Tom Aiello’s “Free Deathcamp” in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he made about 40 jumps in 8 days. Claiming to have “learned just about everything that can be taught to a young and dumb male”. He still jumps with his mentor, Skyler Beck, from time to time and sees him every week. The best advice his mentor Beck, gave him, “He told me, “Don’t be a dummy”. I took it to mean, slow down and check yourself. This has proven to be good advice. As I got into Mountain Flying more I was also mentored by the Norwegian pilots who gave me very similar advice.”

I asked Brendan if he would consider being a mentor, “I think mentoring is one of the best things you can do for progressing the sport of B.A.S.E jumping. It is a very time-intensive activity and requires a lot of ulcer medication. Once your student has left the object you can’t do anything to save them, so you need to teach him well.” He continues on to point out what he feels is the biggest mistake new jumper’s make, “B.A.S.E jumping is ridiculously easy, so a false sense of security usually shows up around jump number 10. The rub is that you have to execute everything perfectly the first time, no second chances. Things only go wrong roughly once in three hundred jumps so it is very easy to let your guard down and call yourself an expert. It is important to always be scared. Once you stop being fearful, you become complacent and that 180 degrees off-heading ends it all. The most important piece of advice he has for new jumpers, “Slow down and be conservative. Build your skills over time. It sounds hypocritical even as I say it, but the time and money spent taking it slow, pale in comparison to the friendships you may lose.”

Brendan willingness to be a student of B.A.S.E and absorb as much information as he can with every connection he makes within the community of jumpers is exemplified in his answer to the infamous “What is the most bonehead thing you have ever done in jumping?” question. His answer, “Getting into B.A.S.E without complete control of my canopy flying. I liked to jump low objects, or pull low off of large objects, because i didn’t know how to fly a pattern or sink my canopy. Luckily, I didn’t hurt myself before I learned these skills though I still have much to learn.”

The Nicholson family’s take on his participation in B.A.S.E can be summed up as “cautiously supportive”. “My parents become concerned when I show them my videos, but they also like to show them off to their friends afterward. My brother wants to know when I am planning on giving it up. My grandfather is the most outspoken, saying “Okay, you have proven you have brass balls, now stop.” They have met friends of mine who later passed away jumping, but they also know how much joy it brings me. My girlfriend, Elizabeth Brand, an Emergency Room doctor in Salt Lake City, Utah, will be this years starter at World BASE Race. She is very supportive of my jumping/wingsuit flying, she herself has 80 skydives and is looking forward to not having to hike down after escorting me to the edge”.

So when does he plan to give it all up, if anytime, “When my ego takes a back seat to my responsibilities. I hope that happens when I have a wife and child. I think the big walls can be jumped with an acceptable amount of risk, but I may reconsider.”

What attracted this articulate, talented, confident, yet humble young man to the sport of B.A.S.E? “Mountain flying is the closest humans have come to personal flight. From day one in learning to jump, I looked forward to when I could fly a wingsuit through the mountains.”

In six short days, Brendan will be atop the mountain, standing on the edge of that wooden plank, heart racing as he listens to the starter’s voice for the signal, within seconds racing towards a finish line in the air below, before safely deploying his chute and gliding towards the ground in hopes that he has won his race, only to climb the mountain again to face the next challenger until finally there is only one, that can claim the title, “The World’s Fastest Flying Human Being”.

Word to the all other World BASE Race competitors, “It’s always the quiet, polite ones you have to watch out for; in other words, keep your eye on the unpretentious American kid”.

Brendan Nicholson

Age: 27

Marital Status: In a Relationship

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Children: None

Education: BFA in Graphic Arts, University of Utah

Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah

Year of 1st Jump: 2007

Wingsuit: Phoenix-Fly Shadow (prototype) and a Phoenix-Fly Tracking Suit

Container: Gargoyle and Hybrid L/D+

Canopy: Blackjack and Trango

Profession: Medical Illustrator

B.A.S.E Number: 1295

Nickname: Curls McSquirrel

Five Random Facts About Brendan That Could Be Classified As Weird, Strange, or Different

I could ski (snow) before I could walk.

I have found spandex to be the perfect rock climbing apparel.

I can’t pack without my lucky 13 clamps.

I am not a Mormon, but I live in Utah.

I didn’t learn to drive until my twenties.

B.A.S.E jumping, is a sport that employs a parachute to jump from fixed objects. Wingsuit pilots employ both a wingsuit and parachute in jumping from fixed objects.

“BASE” is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump:

Building

Antenna

Span

Earth

B.A.S.E jumping is an extreme sport that can result in injury or death of it’s participants. Interested parties are advised to undergo proper training and mentoring prior to attempting B.A.S.E jumping.

B.A.S.E Numbers are applied for from the United States BASE Association.

View further information and updates @ www.worldbaserace.com

Cynthia Lynn asked:




If ever there was a BASE jumper deserving a “E!” True Hollywood Story, that would be the man you recognize by his trademark “Take Care, Space” signature line.

Tracy “Space” Walker, born and raised in the deep south of the United States, is every bit a self made man. He was reared along with an older brother by his single mother and grandmother during the early years of his childhood. It was later, during his teenage years and surviving a heavy handed stepfather, whom Tracy would come to describe as the epitome of evil that life served up some tough knocks. Tracy set out on his own as soon as he was able to fly the coop, breaking a negative cycle in search of a positive life. To hear tales of his teenage years makes one cringe; to know the caring, loving man that he became against the odds, makes one want to sing his praises.

Ask any of the BASE jumpers who have had the pleasure of his company on a jump, or the opportunity to spend time talking with him and you will hear the same descriptions over and over. “Space is the Yoda of BASE”, “He is a guru of sorts”, “He mentors the best of the best.” As research progressed I soon heard, “He is mentor to Felix the glory hound of all glory hounds.” I could almost hear the “booing and hissing” in the background as the words rang in my ears.

In my first conversation with Tracy I decided to cut right to the chase, flat out hit him right between the eyes, “Are you responsible for the monster that is Felix Baumgartner?” He laughed and agreed to take full responsibility, before continuing on to explain the joy of having trained such an athlete as Felix. He assured me that Felix is no monster, a bit “misunderstood” by the general BASE population, has a bit of an ego, (gasp I said, “ego in a BASE jumper it can’t be”) and like everyone else on this planet has made some mistakes in judgment.

In those few statements alone I gathered a basic understanding on how Tracy felt about mentoring. His love of all things BASE jumping could be summed up in the loyalty and concern he exhibits on behalf of his students. BASE jumping is a serious topic and is meant to be treated with respect. BASE jumps aren’t just made, they are planned and executed, a spiritual experience to be savored and celebrated.

He explained the qualities he has seen in each of his students that persuaded him to take on the challenge and responsibility of teaching and which characteristics he admired in them afterward as they matured as jumpers in this manner. “Perseverance in the quest for knowledge”, he responded, I have had many students, but mentored only a few. Solid rigging skills, the ability to not jump, BASE ethics, and doing jumps that have not been done prior in the sport are characteristics I admire in my former students.”

Do you have basic guidelines that must be met by the student prior to you considering taking on the responsibility of mentoring them? “Rigging, tracking skills, canopy control drills, accuracy landings, etc. The amount of skydives is unimportant. What is important is the amount of skydives preparing for BASE and the mentality of the jumper.”

Rigging, scoping out the object and conditions, safety protocols, etiquette, and decision making are the 5 most important things Tracy believes a mentor must teach their student prior to the student going it alone. He adds, “of course this is assuming they have their exits sorted.”

I asked him to share his viewpoint on whether he felt it was important for every BASE jumper to have a mentor and how much control or influence does the mentor have over the jumper’s activity?

“It’s a great idea to have a mentor. There is so much information out there that it is pointless to reinvent the wheel and be a pioneer in one’s mind and nowhere else; leading to having an accident. Certain elements of people resent this though and enjoy the higher risk of figuring it out their selves. A mentor does not control a student; they can only hope to have the possibility to influence a student. That jumper’s activity’s is totally up to them.” As to how much responsibility should be placed on the shoulders of the mentor regarding the student’s activities, “None if the student has disregarded the mentor’s advice. The rest should be regarded on a case-by-case basis.”

The million dollar question being, “What makes a person qualified to be a mentor?”

“I believe it is the ability to do the following: Teaching: Helping the student to remember a list or sequence. Instructing: Helping the student to employ that list or sequence. Mentoring: Listening to the student and personalizing the teaching and instruction parts to the fit the student. This is allowing the student to analyze and know when to implement dynamically whichever lessons and instructions called for in a given situation.” Had he ever turned down a student, “I have turned down instructing students because of my lack of time or inability on the student’s part to achieve the objectives I use as a guideline. In my Euro course, I would state that jumping was not part of the instruction, but if they did well….”

As far as teaching the technical aspects of BASE vs. Ethics, Community and History of BASE, Tracy offers this tip. “After the initial discussion with the student where I tell them horror stories and how BASE will effect or maybe end their life, I start with rigging. This allows me to judge how they mentally approach challenges and for me to then tailor the mentorship to the jumper.”

Tracy’s most bonehead thing he had ever done: “That is my secret. I have a fear if I tell; someone will up the ante and do something more boneheaded. Jumping a 110 degree inside corner of a 370 foot building on my 15th jump would rate right up there in the bonehead department. Tom and Dwain did it later, but having much more experience in BASE jumping.”

His attraction to BASE came as a three part epiphany of research and discovery, leading him on the path to doing. The first being his meeting of Eric Lee, “a truck driving dude who showed up at the Mardi Gras Boogie just across Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. He was talking BASE with another skydiver; I saw the fire in his eyes as he spoke of the highest building in New Orleans at the time, 700 feet. So I researched the building and jumped it as my number 9 jump.” His second affirmation came in “the fatality of Jeb Williams. Jeb being an experienced skydiver/commercial airline pilot, the type of guy that one would feel confident if he was at the controls. The type of guy that I figured would be the last on your list of dying in jumping. So I researched all I could about Jeb. Lastly came “Skydiving Magazine”, I thought they had a typo in announcing that someone had celebrated their 1000th jump on a jump from a 400 foot antenna. So I researched it and discovered it was true.”

Tracy considers the fact that he has been around for “awhile and have probably ground crewed and witnessed more BASE jumps than anybody (ca 10,000) and witnessed it’s growth from infancy” as what makes him unique to the sport of BASE. He adds, “I also have the notorious distinction of being the instructor/mentor of infamous high profile jumpers, John Vincent and Felix Baumgartner and famous guys also.” In questioning him about his greatest achievement in life, the focus shifts from BASE to helping people. “Facilitating change in people’s lives is my achievement. I have gotten thanks for this many times.” Tracy enjoys teaching about life as much, if not more than he enjoys teaching about BASE.

He is a student of life who as a child devoured whole encyclopedias in his thirst for answers. He tells me that he hasn’t achieved his childhood dreams as he is “still in my childhood and I just keep dreaming”. Continuing on he explains how BASE has contributed to his personal growth, “it brought me around the world. It matured me in the social sense that I realized that the US of A did not have everything and the US of A is not the land of the free unless you count “free to do as you are told”.

Tracy and his family currently reside in Munich, Germany where he competes annually in the Munich Chili Cook Off. This year Tracy landed 2nd place, alongside, Spiciest for his Chili Con Carne; “Being it was so spicy is probably why I didn’t take 1st place, I had a cocktail of chili’s to add but it just was getting too spicy so I aborted the chipotle. Winning Chef’s prize for his veggie chili, “which I think is morally wrong, but actually it was ass-kicking. Three trips to the podium, I am eating cheese and no chili for 10 months now.” He named his recipes as only Space would, “Global Warming” was the name of the Carne and “Cow Friendly” was the veggie. “I was going to call it “Greenhouse Gas”, but it did not sound too appetizing.”

Recently added to his list of hobbies of “Foot-bag, Rubik’s cube, card tricks” is Foosball. You can find Tracy online discussing, practicing or playing Foosball at all hours of the day. He is determined to master the game so much so, that his wife presented him with a Foosball table for his most recent birthday.

In speaking with Tracy you must learn to keep your eye on the ball so to speak. The conversation moves in beats as steadily as it does in transitioning topics; suddenly you find yourself being quizzed on numerous philosophical viewpoints. Emperor Joseph II is quoted in the movie Amadeus, as saying to Mozart: “My dear young man, don’t take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It’s quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that’s all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect”. To which Mozart replied, “Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?” During the next round of questions, I found myself feeling as if some notes went missing, but later realized it is part of Tracy’s charm to be as short in his responses as he can be elaborate and generous with his words in other instances.

What is your jump philosophy? “To ask one’s self “Is it worth it?” , What is your biggest fear? “Heights”, Is there anything you wouldn’t try or do in life?“There are some things, but mostly the reason is time or money constraints”, What is your fitness regime? “Live actively”, What is your weakness in jumping? “Tracking”, What is your strength in jumping? “Tracking”, Is there a time you see yourself retiring from jumping? “No”, How do you mentally prepare for a jump? “I let my fear and logic fight it out and go with the winner”,Did you attend a First Jump Course? “No”, How many skydives did you have prior to your first BASE jump? “500+”, How many BASE jumps did it take before you earned your BASE number? “62″, Did you have a mentor? “No”, Do you prefer solo or group jumps? “mostly solos but a multi-way is great every now and then”, What is it about BASE jumping that you enjoy the most? “Kickin’ out a bitchin’ track”, What is it about BASE jumping that you least enjoy? “Pilot chute hesitations”.

Finally, I cornered him between chilli batches to answer, “In your opinion, what is the biggest mistake a new jumper makes? and “What piece of advice would you offer to a new jumper?”

“Biting off more than one can chew and being too excited to train to get the experience to do the jump as safe as possible. In the END, it is up to the individual, to insure the safety of one’s self. That means YOU. Make your own decision on what you are capable of. If one is told what to do all of the time and adheres to that, then the decision process goes away. If I instruct my student to follow my rules, the student will never be better than I. If I instruct my student to evaluate the situation and make his own rules, then the likelihood that he will progress beyond my abilities is greater which is what I consider the true instructors dream. On a side note, the student has a higher chance of becoming a statistic.”

Lastly, (huge sigh from Tracy) I asked the man who is always on the go with this project or that project,”Do you have a personal goal for yourself right now?” His response is classic Tracy, “I really dislike personal goals. It screws me up. I tend to just go for it. The problem with personal goals is that one gets tunnel-vision. It’s like concentrating on your altimeter when you have a malfunction skydiving out of a plane instead of dealing with the situation. Freefall video is a prime example of this. Been there and done that. Almost died but the subject was in frame. Another couple of friends did die, but it was framed in the video we recovered. One must really be hard to have a goal and not give up safety to achieve it.”

In the end, after months, yes months, of bobbing and weaving, receiving bits and pieces at a time in trying to complete a portrait of “Space”, the Yoda, the BASE Guru, I “nagged” him into sharing two of his stories. I only wish this was an audio tape so that you could all get the full effect of a “Spacey Tracy” BASE story. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of spending time with Tracy knows how blessed I am as a writer to be given the opportunity to learn from him about BASE, life and “not sweating the small stuff, because it’s all small stuff”. Period. Take Care, Space.

List 5 Random Facts or Habits about yourself that would be classified as weird, strange, or different.

1. Being 46 yrs old and still playing

2. BASE jumping

3. Sewing foot bags (2-62 panel)

4. Weather forecasting

5. Playing with divining rods



Tracy “Space” Walker Statistics:

Age: 46

Marital Status: Married

Location: Munich, Germany

Children: Daughter 9yrs and Son 4yrs

Education: High School

Hometown: Deep South

Year of first B.A.S.E jump: 1988

Container is: Perigee/Gargoyle

Canopy is: Mojo/Troll MDV

Your profession: Research Technician

B.A.S.E number:283

Nickname: Space, Spacey Tracy





Osaka, Japan

A 170m building in Osaka, Japan kinda stands out. I scoped it out on a Monday to sort out the security detail and decided I had a good chance to pull it off as there were only 4 security officers on the observation platform. Unfortunately there were 20 Security officers present on jump day Thursday. The weakness in the security was still there though. It meant that I would have less time to stand up and jump from the handrail 2m out and 1.5m down to the top of the suicide fence, followed by a 3m drop to the roof where I would run to the edge and jump.

I waited until the security guy walked behind me and turned his back, and went for it. As soon as I stood on the handrail, the security guard started yelling, but I made it onto the suicide fence and dropped down to the roof and made for the exit point. One security guy was on my heels yelling Japanese at me. I was thoroughly prepared for this. I had learned how to say in Japanese, A: If you come closer I will jump”. B: “I am very sorry”. C: ”Thank you very much”.

I threw off my day backpack camouflage covering my rig and turned to say “If you come closer I will jump”, but I forgot the words unfortunately. So instead I said “thank you very much” with a big smile on my face. I think the smile on my face freaked him out because he took a step back and I turned and jumped.

I had planned to land near the street but as I unstowed my brakes, I saw there was too many people there on the sidewalk. So I opted for a 180 degree turn back into the inside of the building (The building was 2, 150m office towers, 70m apart capped with another 20m of building bridging them together.).

As I was preparing to flare I saw two security guards running towards me. I flared, stood it up and grabbed two armfuls of canopy and they had me. They escorted me to a meeting room where I waited for about 15minutes until the board meeting convened. I made use of the Japanese that I did know, repeating it over while waving my hands like foreigners do , “I am very sorry”, ”Thank you very much”, and in English, “Beautiful building!”

They made me write on a piece of paper that I would not jump the building again and I asked how many times as I thought this was copy work like when you were bad in school like Bart Simpson. They didn’t understand so I wrote what they asked and they looked it over, discussed it and then handed it back and ask me to write that if I did jump it again it would on my own responsibility. So I did that and signed it with my BASE number.

Then they were escorting me to the door and I asked a question that was translated. The question I asked was “Could you bring me some postcards from the tourist shop?” There was a resounding “No!” in English and they threw me outside. Before I could regain my feet, my canopy was thrown on top of me, along with my day backpack camouflage get up and the door slammed and I could hear the lock slamming closed.

Croatia & The Rocket -Man

I have been involved in quite a few high risk jumps as rigger and consultant. I was in Croatia at a 195m cave when we got weathered out by the Bora wind and associated rainfall. Since it can last 2-3 days, we had to return to Munich with the rental camera gear since we had most of it. Meaning: most of the rental camera gear available in Munich. As I was approaching home via train around midnight, I received a call from Rocket-Man Peter who needed me at the 18m bridge over water in South Germany at 5am, as he was going to flick-it with the rocket deployed canopy (we developed this system) from a motorcycle jumping a ramp over the railing. I made it there on time. My first job was to brief the scuba diver on the different handles on the modified BASE gear and how to finger track to the important ones and other tech stuff. I helped Rocket-Man gear up and noticed that the rocket pocket was modified. It was ok as he was standing there.

He made a dry run past the ramp to get his line then returned for the final gear check, then to the start point. Cameras started rolling and so did he. He nailed the ramp perfectly. Cruised over the railings, look-reach-pull, the rocket fired but did not launch.

Rocket-Man shoved off the motorcycle just a couple of meters before impacting the water at 90kph (yes, we had calculated this before the jump). He hit knees first which tipped him forward to take a full body slam against the surface. Rocket-Man and the bike disappeared under the surface of the lake. Plastic mudguards from the bike floated up….

Then Peter floated up but facedown. The scuba diver froze in shock. Germany Eddie (BASEr/cinematographer) who was filming from up top near my perch on the bridge, stripped down, jumped the 18m down and turned over Peter and swam him to the pickup boat (saving Peter’s life). Peter was unconscious but had started breathing again. During all of this, my mind was going “WTF?” I was reviewing the gear check, and could not perceive how I could have missed something. The deployment chain was totally clean.

I got a ride to the hospital as they would not let me go in the ambulance with Peter. When I got to see him, he was asking me what happened. I explained about the rocket not clearing the pocket. He didn’t have memory of the event at all. Actually, he was definitely missing some weeks of memory.

I got the gear and inspected it and nothing was amiss. But in the 6 intervening hours, so many emotions went through my mind.

The aftermath: Unfortunately due to the bulk of the 2 neoprene suits, the pocket flexed as he cleared the railing, leaned over and pulled the deployment handle trapping the rocket in the launch pocket. Peter regained a lot of his memory and successfully jumped his modified rocket deployed rig/ramp/motorcycle at a quarry (31m I think) for the Discovery Channel show “Stunt Junkies”.

Two days later, I was on my way back to the cave in Croatia.

The cave jump was successful.

Cynthia Lynn asked:




Bill Waterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was introduce to the public in 1985, a year prior Matthew “Calvin” Hecker made his debut on this planet. Now a strong argument can be made that Calvin19, as he is known on the forum, was mistakenly left here by the Mothership and they will be returning soon to claim him. Adding to this argument are fellow BASE jumpers commenting, “That dude does some crazy shit”; a statement that lures you into thinking “this is someone that I have to meet.”

“Live your life for yourself and not based on popular opinion. Individuals can’t be categorized, they are far too diverse to label. Be not an adventurer, daredevil, or sportsman, be an explorer of all things in life”. Calvin is an explorer of life, embracing every moment of every day with every fiber of his being. He will go ten rounds with despair, he aches with desire, and he is filled with passion to swallow life whole before the universe renders him to ash.

When he isn’t doing, creating or directing an adventure, he is capturing it on film. Thousands upon thousands of photographs freezing his friends and family in the moment within a moment of time- preserved to rekindle the flames of imagination. Boulder, Colorado has provided the scenery for his life, this work of art he is living and breathing. “I love this town, young open minded college women, glorious mountains in my backyard, huge towers, 2000 foot high cliffs, rivers, my family and friends”, he exclaims.

This type of living in the moment is reflected in his jump philosophy as well, “everything you do can only be new to you once. My life is a series of moments. I have a soundtrack. Every time I fly I try to live up to that beautiful music in my head and make the visuals worth the time it took my imagination to compose the ideas. You could compare it to movies; I never was a good judge of movies because I could not see the whole thing in its final value. I kept getting lost in every single moment, every feeling that could be taken from the beauty of the visual and audible sensations. Flying does this for me, I can produce the feelings before I feel them, and I have to follow it in flight. Seeing the line in an airplane or a wingsuit and then riding hard for that hole in the sky.”

“I live the way I do, with flight, and risk, and dreams, and reality, just so that maybe I can live up to the musical score in my head. I cannot write music, or paint landscapes, but I can fly. I can move my body with foils as my tools to make the most amazing feelings and transfer these epic visions of grandeur and adventure to whoever may be watching.”

These moments of time weigh heavily on Calvin’s mind. Lost time steals opportunities to scratch off goals fulfilled on his long list. Oh, yes there is a list titled “Things to Do Before I Die” and reads as such:

1-Break “the” record. (Classified Information) 2-Build a Powered Aircraft 3-Build a Submarine. 4-Sail south, far away.

A rather ambitious list of goals for anyone, then again, Calvin isn’t just anyone, as proven by his list of activities: Wingsuit pilot, Rope Flying and Jumping, Sewing, BASE jumping, Skiing and Ski Flying, Rigging, Sailing, Rafting, Mountaineering, Speed Flying, U.E., Photography, Travel, Aviation, Granite Surfing, Aerobatics, Paragliding, Hang Gliding, H.A.B. crewing/jumping, Kites, Editing, Cinematography, Scuba Diving, ZAGI racing, Slack Lining, and Red Shifting.

He is currently working on his degree in “Flying Stuff” at Utah Valley University via online courses, allowing him to accelerate the process. He was sail plane flying at 13, hang gliding at 16 and earned his FAA pilot’s license at the age of 18. Only to end up currently grounded due to an accident and consequent refusal of the FAA to clear his medical for another 3 years. Calvin sums the situation as an “epic fail” on the FAA’s part and it doesn’t stop him from “bitching” about it in public.

That being said, he has reconciled that the most boneheaded thing he ever did was “fly a paraglide into a rotor leaving me in a coma with a ¾ of million dollars worth a hospital stay, a painful walk and 6 months of my life unaccounted for.” This in turned allowed the FAA to ground him for the time being due to medical. Although those 6 months can be tallied as time spent in a coma, it was wasted time for a man who has places to go, things to do, people to meet. He has little patience for “lost time”.

Like Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes fame creating the “transmogrifier”, this Calvin has intentions on being an innovator in all that he undertakes. Having no plans to ever retire from doing the things he feels most passionate about in life. “Flying is part of my life”, he states, “The most important thing you have to understand about me is I do not consider BASE jumping separate from my other activities. I fly using aerodynamic foils in so many ways there is no way for me to separate BASE jumping. I use BASE equipment for a multitude of things besides BASE jumping, as well as a multitude of things that are not BASE equipment for BASE jumping. My goal is to innovate; my fear is that I will never help anything from all that I do.”

Calvin lists Damian Doucette, Chris Pope, Jesse Hall, Shane McConkey, JT Holmes, Miles Daisher, Nicholas Kaminski, Max Kuszaj, Kenyon Salo, Mike Steen, Blake, and Brendon as the jumpers he admires. He prepares himself mentally for a jump by, “thinking mostly about what I am about to do and what I am going to do if something goes against what I have planned. Mostly this is just doing a final quick gear check, but the entire climb, hike, or ride beforehand I search for whatever information is available to me. Mostly I am looking for wind and air characteristics. People need to understand that the beauty of BASE jumping and sports similar to it, there is no way to adequately prepare for every jump. Every time you leave an object the conditions are different. My final thoughts are of what I want to accomplish on the jump.” As for the biggest mistakes he believes new jumpers make, “becoming over confident and being ignorant, but this is one of the hopeless things about BASE jumping.”

I pushed him further to explain why he considers BASE jumping to be “hopeless”. “In saying its Hopeless; don’t think that I mean don’t pay attention. I mean that there is no way to please everyone, there is so many different viewpoints it will be impossible to make everyone happy. The important thing to remember is that there are always things to learn, no matter what. Even if what you are learning is how not to act, or what not to do. Thinking about things is a very important part, but you need to get outside perspectives from experienced jumpers to couple with your own thinking.”

Calvin began skydiving in order to get into BASE jumping. He fell in love with all kinds of free falling and flying, but hates the dropzones and skydiver clique’s and clichés At age 19, he was BASE jumping and earned his BASE number in 5 jumps. He was attracted to BASE jumping at the age of 13 years old while watching television with his friend Alex Gilmer. He recounts the day they both discovered BASE, “it was a regular jump from Tombstone, “3…2…1…exit!” Only a 2 second delay, slider down. I remember watching the replay over and over. I looked at Alex and said, “I am going to do that”. We both did not more than 8 years later.”

In talking with Adam Foster, a longtime friend and fellow jumper of Calvin’s, he recounted this story as one of his most memorable “Heckerisms”.

It was Christmas Eve (‘04 I think). There was a little bit of a tailwind and I told Matt that it was his decision (as conditions weren’t great, but not horrible either). I was going to PCA him and freefall after. We got everything ready and I set Matt up for his PCA, he exited and opened fine. Upon landing he flared, hit the ground, and did a wonderful PLF followed by his canopy covering him (we were landing downwind). At this time all I could think was, “I think it might be a little too windy for a downwind landing”. I couldn’t morally send Matt off on his first building jump and not follow after watching his less than optimal landing, so I jumped and crashed just the same. All in all it was an awesome night and an eventful one for Matt, as he obtained his BASE number that. Oh, did I mention it was his fifth BASE jump? Matt is probably one of the more amazing people I have ever met. With all he has been through he has still become one of the more talented BASE jumpers (among other things) I am friends with. I could also elaborate on the time he did his first cliff gainer off of the sketchiest cliff I have ever jumped.

Calvin enjoys the “therapy” of a solo jump, sometimes giving him hours of preparation time allowing him to think about what he is doing without interruptions. However, he is more “satisfied” and in a “better” mood when he partakes in a group jump sharing the experience with others. The jump that stands out in his mind, “my illegal big wall jump with my best friend Jesse Hall, the magic of epic relative motion and the sound of vast. Jesse is pretty much the coolest dude out there, Pro Skier, the most naturally skilled BASE jumper I have ever seen. He brought me to the big illegal wall when I had just turned 20.”

His describes his favorite jump object in this manner: “She is sexy, tall with the perfect dark complexion, very wet at the bottom and perfect in size.” Before you go accusing him of taking up writing erotica, take note of what a romantic he is about flight, “the hopeless feeling of leaving an exit point, followed by the hope filled sensation of aerodynamic control in freefall as speed is reached, the fear is replaced by the feeling of control. BASE to me is a challenge; a therapy in an exercise of emotions, reactions and achieving “awe”. How many people get ‘awe’ more than twice a year on vacation? Not many. I get it every day almost.” That sexy, tall, perfectly sized object is “the illegal big wall in Colorado” that he spoke of earlier.

What does a man who loves flying; adventure and exploring the possibilities take time to stop and watch outside his realm of activities? “I enjoy viewing The Red Bull Air races a lot. I do not have the money or skill to participate. These pilots are the best of the best flying the best of the best. There is no argument.” As for the Red Bull Air Force which some consider a detriment to BASE, he boldly made clear in his opinion, “there is nothing wrong with the actions of the Red Bull Air Force. They are all my heroes. They do amazing things and I wish I was a part of their team. They are athletes that have promoted themselves, their skills and are able to have someone else to pay the bill for the things they love to do. I consider them innovators and explorers.”

“Shane, the Red Bull team and the other amazing athletes out there, are pushing the envelope, they watch it bend every time they fly. After reading posts by Shane and JT, (their blogs) I think they enjoy life, jumping and being in amazing places just as old school jumpers did being bandit jumpers back in the day. Miles and Shane explore places that have never been jumped and opened them for all of us to see and follow. They enjoy and take in everything about the place and people when they jump.”

“The (Anti-Red Bull oldies) always say ‘we are jumping on the shoulders of giants’, referring to the people who started the sport. These days, when I jump with Jesse Hall, when I ski-BASE, I am jumping alongside these modern era giants. These guys are the giants of today, pushing the envelope farther and faster.”

“Shane is a hero of mine. Shane is a Giant. Period.”

For Calvin “jumping” is how he grew up. It didn’t teach him about death, but made him think about it a lot. “It made my mind wander to things that I am afraid of, but not ignorant of. Base jumping ‘redlined’ every emotion a human can have for me.” Growing up jumping has added an interesting dynamic to his responsibilities and relationships with his family. In particular his sisters, whom he constantly jib jabs on their Facebook pages with comments, much like in his childhood, often chasing Anne with a mouthful of spit threatening to launch it in her direction.

“I jump because I want too. Anything my family can think or say to me is of no matter. This is not unique to BASE jumping. I feel that if a loved one is slowing down or stopping someone from doing something they love, then they are not loved ones and being selfish. They say BASE is a selfish sport and it is. I have no delusions of that; I don’t know anyone who does. The only thing more selfish is telling someone not to do it. It is not an addiction to drugs or alcohol. I love BASE jumping. Drug addicts or alcoholics don’t enjoy being addicted; they need it and are being delusional. I love BASE and flying, so I fly and jump. Anyone standing in my way of this is selfish. Anyone with my ‘best interests in mind’ would ground crew for me and takes photos. Not tell me I am being reckless.”

Enter Annibal…a student at Colorado University in BFA Film Production. Anne enjoys many hobbies all in the medium of art and media, “drawing, writing, photography, movies, television, and reading”. In the past she has designed artwork for the Bridge Day and claims this as her final thoughts prior to a jump, “Camera on? Check. Lens cap off? Check. Framing? Check. Focus? Check. Oh shit, it’s in video mode. Okay, now…f*@#! There they go. Oops.” She is upbeat about life, listing winning academy awards, traveling the world and being the first human on Pluto as her future goals. If Calvin is the “romantic” of the family, then Anne is the “jester”, the pepper to his salt. Today Anne has her brother, Calvin’s “best interests” at heart despite the indifference they might have shared in their childhood.

“I ran into a tree”, says Anne when relaying her most bonehead move to date. “Matt will love me for telling this. I was outside our home up in Evergreen, just wasting time the way an 11 year olds does. Then Matt came out of the house. This was during those years where Matt was more likely to spit on me or hit me than anything else, so at the first sign of him building up phlegm I took off in a dead sprint. Which, looking back was pretty retarded, especially since I was looking back at the time, at Matt, instead of forward , and well, trees aren’t quite as fluffy as one would hope. I ended up sprawled out on the ground, dazed and in pain, with Matt standing over me laughing his ass off. He went back inside, just left me there. Such a great brother, I think I just lay there for a good ten minutes before I could move. The whole side of my face was bleeding and I had this great big face-scab for weeks.”

She contributes his “being a tyrant and abusive little shit” to her in their youth to making her stronger, “I can take a lot of pain with no complaint”. Which she points out also made her “weaker, because I never ask for help in anything that matters”.

During this interview Calvin/Matt did comment how awful he now felt at the way he treated his sister in their younger days. As well he should, Anne, being the President of the Matthew “Calvin” Hecker fan club, with youngest sister Emily serving as Vice-President. In reversing the question regarding “family responsibilities”, Anne she spoke candidly about her brother’s BASE jumping.

“When I think about how dangerous it is, or how I might get that call. You know the call I’ve gotten in the past. ‘Your brother’s been in an accident.’ The other day Matt went to jump an ‘A’ a few hours away. It’s kind of gotten to the point where I worry all the time. Whenever the phone rings I have an instinctual reaction to think the worst has happened.”

I love that Matt’s a jumper. He is very dashing as a wool pullover. No, seriously, I love it. He’s always so happy when he’s about to jump, jumping or has just jumped. After flying a plane that’s where I see him the most happy. So, would I ever try to make him stop or wish he would stop just to end my personal worry, giving up a vital part of himself? Hell no. I always wonder about jumpers being deemed selfish by others. But how is it less selfish to try to get the jumper to conform to what you want? If I told Matt to stop jumping because he might die, would I really be worried he would die or am I worried that I would have to deal with his death? Furthermore, one of the reasons I involve myself with jumping, jumpers and the community is to avoid the call. I don’t want Matt to die jumping; I don’t want Matt to die, period. But if he does die jumping, I want to be there with him if possible. I don’t want to get the phone call. I don’t want to have the unanswered questions and second hand stories. That’s my view on the matter. All of which is secondary to how cool it looks and how fun it is to be there, but that is reasoning for me.”

Anne has never BASE jumped but she has one tandem skydive and in 2007 she completed a FRASCA rope jump. She does credit being around her brother and his fellow jumpers with contributing to her personal growth. “Well, it had a direct hand in my decision to transfer from a life of lameness as an English major at Colorado State to a life of a movie maker, which is exactly where I want to be. It brought me from a life of dissatisfaction and boredom at 19 to excitement and personal happiness at 21. I actually thought while watching Continuum, these guys, at least in theory, live as though they might not see tomorrow. They do what they love, they understand mortality. Do I want to live life thinking, “I’ll do that tomorrow?” when the thing I’m putting off is my own happiness, my dreams, my life? So I transferred. I’m now doing what I love. My personal growth comes in the form of a reduction in personal lameness.”

In regards to whether BASE jumping is a sport versus stunt in her unique point of view, “In BASE, you just have your own weakness or fears to conquer. You have an apathetic environment to compete with but it isn’t competing back. Now, yourself, your instincts, your mind, your logic, your heart and everything, they’re fighting all the time. To be able to bring your entire body of logical reasoning, your physical body, and place your fears in check as to leap from some immense height into the open atmosphere? That’s not a stunt or sport, that’s art.”

Anne’s contribution to BASE comes in the way that she advocates to non-jumpers’ on the issues of trespassing or how little of an impact jumpers would have on National Parks in comparison to rock climbers and hikers. “Don’t rescue workers get paid? Don’t f*%king hikers get lost all the time? I just don’t get the logic in banning jumpers”, she laments. Another contribution is the documentation she does of her brother and fellow jumpers on film, in photos and her artwork. She considers her involvement with the community as a self-serving one. “I want to know these people; I want to be part of it. If I ever contribute something to community of BASE, it’s because I can and it happens, not because I seek it nor need any recognition for it. I’m a taker. Any giving is purely incidental.”

Not to be outdone by her brother she can be just as romantic about describing what she likes best about BASE jumping. “I enjoy the camaraderie. I also enjoy the psychology, the aesthetic, the fashion, the struggle, and the human flight. The vitality of it all. The way it brings me closer to the feeling that there really is a reason to be alive and we are more than just randomly firing synapses and cells struck together to form a little fleshy pod of goo.”

When it comes to posting on the forum Anne doesn’t let the overtone of “what-the-#@!%-are-you-doing-here?” stop her. “I like to think that I contribute something in maybe just a fresh opinion here and there, maybe an outsider’s perspective on things.” As for changes to BASE jumper.com, “I could say I would make people nicer, but I don’t believe in censorship and I feel that even though no one has to post there, limiting by any large degree what people can post is just that. There are members that are annoyingly abrasive, but at the same time, as a non-jumper, I feel like I am overstepping bounds by posting a comment to them. So much of the time, I keep my thoughts to myself.”

She adds, “thank you, BASE jumping community, for letting a band-aid such as I sit on the fringe and pretend to belong. And let me take photos and be weird and awkward.”

“Oh, the awkward”, she jests. Whatever awkwardness she may feel, her brother doesn’t see it. “Anne is brilliant and always creating. I love both my sisters to death”.

Anne

If Anne is the pepper to Calvin’s salt, then the 4’ 10” ball of energy their parents named Emily is the spice in their lives. Emily, a 19 year old, attending University of Colorado, Colorado Springs majoring in Psychology is “retarded happy” as Calvin describes her. He is quick to point out that “Emily is awesome and can fly without wings”, referring to her gymnastic abilities.

Emily explains coming to terms with her brother’s sporting activities. “I didn’t think about him dying or getting injured as much before the accident. I guess I always saw him as being indestructible. I always trusted his judgment and his systems. But after his accident it became more clear to me that you can’t be safe doing the things he does just by being smart about it. It scares me a lot knowing I could at anytime get that call from family saying he died paragliding, or jumping, or one of the many things his does. But, I guess what scares me more is the thought of him not doing those things. He is the flier, the jumper, the adventurer, the pilot. I know him not doing these things would make him unhappy. What he does is beautiful, amazing, and I love the fact that he does them. I am not going to lie in saying that it feels cool and I like telling people how awesome my brother is. ‘Yeah, that’s right; he’s a pilot, a BASE jumper, a paraglide pilot, a skier, Matt Hecker, he’s my brother.’ I like that fact. Quite a bit.”

As a young child she idolized her brother. She recounts playing on his first jump system at their father’s home. “It was a lot of fun. There was this incident where something crazy happened while they were letting me play on it and I bounced all the way around the rope. My brother and his friends thought it was awesome, but apparently it was dangerous, so I didn’t get to play on it anymore”. Like Anne, she has jumped from Calvin’s FRASCA rope jump along side with their mother. She hopes to one day paraglide and figures that he brother might think that’s “cool” of his little sister. He has never encouraged her to participate in any of his sports, although his friends have suggested to her that she needs to at least skydive one day.

Although she doesn’t frequent the BASE jumper forum and due to her living a distance from her brother while attending school, she still feels that he and his BASE jumping friends have contributed to her own personal growth through the years.

“I have an absolute love for flight, adventure, and the beauty of this world. I would say that being around my brother and his friends, being jumpers or not, definitely shaped my views on life. I have become very adventurous and my brother is the cause of that. I would see him leave the front door countless times and watch him come back with amazing stories and photos that made me want to do more in life. Mostly he and other BASE jumpers made it so I truly want to live the fullest and best life I can, no matter how I accomplish that. The one thing I admire most about my brother is that he accomplishes whatever he wants, in life or in a day, he doesn’t hesitate, he just does it. Whatever he sets his heart to do, he always does it.”

Whereas many jumpers have trouble reconciling their love of the freefall with keeping the peace in family, Calvin has managed to do so. Calvin in the comic strip has his faithful companion Hobbes; this Calvin has the love and support of his two “ginger” sisters. “I think it has helped my parents come to grips with my life also. Anne in particular loves coming to BASE events and things like it. The ’support crew’ is awesome and the memories are always better. I had a great childhood compared to a lot of people, but me jumping and doing the things I love doing made me realize the importance of calling my mother, or hugging her, etc.”

Emily

I asked Adam if he felt that Calvin would achieve all the goals on his “Things to Do Before I Die” list. “As long as he doesn’t die first, there’s not much that could stop him. He is damn resilient and very motivated. I just hope I can be there for some of the brilliance that he thinks up.” As mentioned earlier, “that dude does some crazy shit” and is someone we all would be fortunate to meet and share in his brilliance.

Calvin19. Win. Period.



5 Random Facts, Habits or Weirdness about Anne

Annibal, her online persona comes from combining Anne with Hannibal. I have great apprehension towards a full scale zombie or alien attack. I can’t filter noises like a normal person, so I hear everything within the vicinity. I am a pessimist and enjoying be so, as well as a cynic. I am scared of heights and am drawn to jump off.

Calvin19’s Tattoo

Quick questions with Calvin:

Q: Your greatest achievement in life thus far?

A: Ménage à trios

Q: What type of vehicle do you drive?

A: Subaru Outback

Q: What will your epitaph read?

A: “Audacity”

Q: Favorite Book?

A: Contact by Carl Sagan

Q: What makes you unique to jumping?

A: Nothing I jump off stuff just like everyone else.

Q: Changes you would make to Basejumper.com:

A: “Get rid of all the ginger’s”

Q: What is your biggest weakness in jumping?

A: I only have average air awareness.

Q: What do you feel is your contribution to BASE?

A: I help the willing and capable participant.

Q: Who do you chose as the next interviewee?

A: JT Holmes

Calvin’s Statistics:

Age: 24 Marital Status: Single Children: 0 Location: Boulder, Colorado Number of Jumps: 1000 total parachute openings and landings Year of first Jump: 2002 Container: Warlock Canopy: Blackjack 260

Thank you to Adam Foster and Emily Hecker for their contribution to the article.

All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.