My Son Jumped off a Bridge

[haze2]

I've been tolerant of my son's skydiving, but I'm having a very hard time with his decision to BASE jump. BASE is an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span, & Earth. Frank decided to BASE jump off a bridge (Span) into Snake River Canyon. He told me he was going to Roosevelt Lake, here is AZ, for the weekend. He explained that he lied to "protect" me. Ha! These are a few of the pictures he brought back. The jpegs weren't of very good quality but I cleaned them up as best I could.

He said stepping over the rail was the most frightening moment of his life!

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The Launch. Yikes! The guy watching on the left is his doctor!
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He throws the pilot chute.
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Still in freefall. Just 480 feet to impact!
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Main chute finally starting to open. NO reserve chute in BASE jumping!
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It's Open! From here he has to turn right to hit the landing area.
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He made the right turn and is coming back toward the bridge.
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Success! Now for all his trouble he gets to climb back to the top!
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Kids.....you gotta love 'um!

 

[bokehmanedof]

Cool!

 

[Palouse]

Yeah for Idaho!!!!! :biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Philinnz]

not for me, that's for sure, one jump from a plane under a roundie was enough. Looking at the first couple of shots, it does not look an easy climb back

 

[JohnK]

Lucky for them they don't have to climb back up. There is a very nice boat launch maybe 1/2 a mile down stream, they could easily be picked up by boat and drive back to the top...or they could do it the hard way and climb back up, all 486 feet of it!

 

[haze2]

The boat wasn't around on the first jump so he climbed back up with a couple other guys. He said it was brutal. On the second jump he got the boat ride.

 

[Chris101]

I gonna have to go out there to see if I can catch some of that action. Amazing!!

Thanks Haze.

 

[two slow]

This would be fun. I would love to be able to skydive. Maybe someday......

 

[Mart61]

Your son needs a check-up from the neck-up! He has to be insane to do that, surely?

:biggrin:

 

[cajun angel]

Your son needs a check-up from the neck-up! He has to be insane to do that, surely?

:biggrin:

Amen! I hope my kids never try something like that!

 

[jprphotography]

Thats so cool!

 

[Sir Dave of Wessex]

That's great ... not for me and I fancy I'd rather the 'Doctor' was down on the ground than stood up there on the bridge :Curved: :wink:

 

[Phil K]

Cool, and scary!

 

[Leif]

Skip the doctor, invite the priest. And a couple of people with buckets. :redface:

Without meaning to be rude to you or your kid, I think you have to be mad to do that.

 

[spalding12]

awesome series...
wish i had the nerve to do something like that.... I THINK

wonderful series
i bet your son was THRILLED that you were there to "document" this event

 

[DABO]

As a parent, I think maybe I'd want my kid to continue to lie to me until about 10 years later, when they weren't going to do it anymore. Now you have to worry about the next time. I guess you should be proud your son has the courage to take that leap, though.

DAB

 

[doobes]

Not trying to be alarmist or anything, but it's becoming more commonplace for insurance policies to exclude issues resulting from things like skydiving, etc. Our new long term disability plan at work certainly does and it wouldn't surprise me to see health plans start to do so.

If your son is still on your health plan you might want to read it carefully. If not he needs to read his carefully.

Glad it all went well.....

 

[Jeff Mims]

Wow...great shots!
However, I have to tell you will never get any shots of "me", jumping off a perfectly good bridge. :smile:

 

[JohnR]

I definately WON'T be showing my son this thread!

Very cool shots, especially the one where he's starting to go. Crazy stuff, looks fun but it's not for me.

 

[AEDigman]

He ought to try the New River Gorge (Fayetteville, WV) bridge jump during the annual Bridge Day celebration in October. I'm not a jumper, but this event always attracts lots of folks...