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00:0631 line out in the following order five-way split altis reading minus 90 mill cyprus reading 1017
00:15expert cyprus reading 90 arrow up portable altimeters on and set checkers go on
00:37for as long as humans existed we've been obsessed with flight
00:43the question is why
01:18the first parachute jump happened over 200 years ago in france since then it's evolved one of the
01:26biggest changes was the birth of a completely different kind of jumping sport known as
01:33base jumping and that's going to be the focus of our story hey doc
01:47the best things in life are on the other side of fear
01:51if i feel adrenaline it usually means something is going wrong
01:58a lot of people live their entire lives without really living
02:08always a dream to be able to fly it's a feeling of freedom
02:23if there was a mecca for base jumping it would be here
02:26the purine bridge in idaho one of the few places they can legally jump year round oh there's someone
02:37there
02:38unlike skydiving from an airplane these jumpers leap from fixed objects with no backup parachute
02:44because there's no time to release it they only have four seconds before hitting the ground
02:53base jumping has become so popular that first jump training schools like this one
02:57have popped up around the world the only variable that we're throwing into the mix here is we're
03:03going to have our pilot shooting our hand you can jump and then throw immediately after you jump
03:08just don't throw before you jump scotty a former marine now makes a living out of teaching people
03:14how to base jump safely gear checked when we get to the middle of the bridge guys ready
03:18yeah check it up and have fun laying on the ground safely to get to this point these first-time
03:25base
03:25jumpers needed to have hundreds of skydives give it gas but base jumping is 50 times more likely to
03:32result in death than jumping from a plane
03:38all right gear checks guys you got the drill
03:40good to go solid looks great totally good who's ready me coming out
03:50all right dude good set hands up eyes up square up all right three two one
04:07good
04:08don't throw the paddle shoot in front of you jordan
04:14beautiful
04:19square up eyes up
04:20there's a little too deep in the pocket jake
04:46eyes up
04:53that was a little crazy that one
05:04three two one see ya oh geez
05:15he landed exactly on the target
05:23it seems the hike back up to the bridge is almost as precarious as the jump off
05:27it's better to go that way where he is i'm just trying to challenge myself here
05:34within a matter of minutes the students are back up for the next jump
05:40oh yeah you're in a really good spot you are okay i'm keen to know how they're feeling
05:46yeah
05:48do you ever think about dying all the time dude every day man maybe you can think about it until
05:53the room
05:53starts spinning you know but uh i'm much more terrified of working an office job we're here once
05:59dude if something happened to you though that's tragic i don't know dude you know you talk about quality of
06:06life and the excitement there's life and the excitement therein versus length and
06:09i think that my personal preference after some years of thought is i'd rather
06:14potentially be the one that burns right but half the length
06:21eating these together
06:28you're a young harvard graduate are you chasing adrenaline you get to put yourself in a situation
06:34where you're beyond your comfort and you have to do that emotional control being able to
06:42remain calm and like that is a virtue and that is like that kind of character control
06:46is really really compelling yes
06:50so why do you do this about two years ago a very close friend of mine passed away by suicide
06:57the outcome for them was kind of living in fear and i didn't want to do that so i started
07:04kind of
07:05doing everything that scared me the most so i started skydiving which then led to base jumping which i
07:11said i said i would never do good ow ow we're good you're all right man you're all right first
07:22battle
07:23ending i've had in 10 years yeah it punctuated the moment nikki is one of scotty's newest graduates
07:30she's been base jumping for just over two months it's interesting that in some ways it was the death of
07:36friend that inspired you to live but you're doing something that potentially brings you closer to
07:44death than anything else you could do yeah uh you're right i can't argue that fact what i will say
07:51is
07:51that i think a lot of people live their entire lives without really living
07:58and base jumping is the only time it's acceptable for a girl to spit yeah
08:10at least i know that i really did things i was passionate about and that i loved and felt like
08:15i took every opportunity and this is my opportunity to be able to do something for myself
08:44i'm in idaho trying to understand why people are attracted to base jumping
08:49to help with that i thought i'd get to know a bit more about nikki
08:52we'll get two wristbands yes my tiny wrist so what do you want to go first uh ferris
09:00i think you're not afraid of heights you know i actually am afraid of heights oh god so you
09:04decided to skydive yes skydiving and base jumping is one of the few times in your life that you get
09:12to
09:12be totally present just to what's happening in that moment and that in itself is such a liberating
09:18experience that you kind of crave that experience over and over again you're getting on getting on the
09:24big one it's our turn all right thank you what does base jumping give you a sense of community an
09:35opportunity to challenge myself mentally physically emotionally and in some ways a purpose in life
09:43every time you do it it's and you survive it's a win
09:50have you known anyone who's died in the sport yes only been in the skydiving and base jumping world
09:56for november of 2022 and there's six or seven people i can think of that have died either in
10:04skydiving or base jumping in a way it's it's part of the sport and it sucks yes uh but the
10:11other on the
10:11other hand um you almost feel a duty to continue to do the sport on their behalf what do you
10:22want to
10:22do next you choose what is this star sizzler we could do this oh you want to embarrass me now
10:30three two one
10:33oh come on what's the trick with this this is tragic should we go in this bunny house we got
10:43to get the
10:43sixty dollars for it holy you didn't really come down like face jumping this one really makes you sick
10:54so do you want to do it she's all over it are you all online
11:00oh oh dear sweet baby jesus are we both putting a seatbelt on i think that's how it works okay
11:06ask me a question okay so we're going to the fun house what about community how important is that
11:13face jumping i think it's really important absolutely you know it's one of the most beautiful things about
11:20the sport one of the things that happens a lot when people are on exit is they do these like
11:25fist
11:25bumps or handshakes or hugs telling the people that they're with how much they love them and care
11:30about them which if you think about a predominantly male dominated sport men expressing their emotions
11:37in that way to others and genuinely meaning it is a really incredible moment to be able to witness
11:48what would you do if you were not base jumping probably baking and cooking i did not see that
11:54coming really yeah let's all go at the same time three two one see ya oh god here we are
12:03oh wow you're
12:04really getting some traction okay so what would it take to stop you from base jumping
12:14i'd probably have to injure myself pretty badly or die that's the scary part right like there's a
12:22saying that there's only two ways out of base jumping you quit for real or death so i don't know
12:28i
12:28i don't think i've found my why not yet i know my why's but there hasn't really been a why
12:34not
12:44the next day we get our first why not it doesn't even look bad
12:54good good release
12:57it's amazing everything perfect yeah so all good nothing yeah just flying a parachute man coming in
13:04nice nice flare right there and that was it just caught my just caught it in a root or a
13:12ditch or
13:12something i knew it was pretty wrecked oh wow so it's broken there along there ripped out the ligaments
13:23on the one side i think does it make you question why you do it no but a lot of
13:30people would potentially
13:31turn around now you know not like yeah because when you get in it that's not a you're so cash
13:36yeah so
13:37easy and but that's a serious injury like yeah it's pretty pretty good what about not doing it
13:42again you got to push through you can do anything you put your mind to get your knees in the
13:47breeze dude
13:50if you want me to pack your rig and watch rio oh are you going to help them with rio
13:56yeah i can do
13:57that scotty's wife julia is also a base jumping instructor you got it dude it's yours and it looks
14:03like their son rio is well on his way i can see the jumper in him yeah julia did your
14:11view of jumping
14:12base jumping change when rio was born for sure i think i used to put myself in a lot more
14:18risk than
14:19i do now i'm sure you understand that for people watching it may almost seem incomprehensible yeah the
14:27level of risk you would take not just you but both of you are jumpers yeah yeah i know i
14:33actually i
14:34jumped until uh eight months pregnant so that was even harder for people to see hey bud do you get
14:45nervous watching your wife jump uh not really we've been jumping together for a very long time now is that
14:53mummy mummy real mummy look at real looking intently is that mummy what got you into this in the first
15:11place what's your why i started jumping out airplanes in the military so i didn't really need a why back
15:16then they just kind of told me to do it it turned out i really liked it it was really
15:21really fun
15:26but then why teach it because i know you have a moral dilemma don't you because in some ways
15:34you enable it but you want to enable it safely a lot of it was from years and years of
15:41having
15:41friends getting hurt and seeing people make a lot of the same mistakes over and over and over and over
15:46again and you're just like either i just keep doing this for me for fun and just you know which
15:52after
15:53a long time i kind of just seemed a little selfish but at least this way when we're we're teaching
16:00or
16:00guiding or coaching or feel like we're helping stem that curve a little bit and keep people from
16:06getting hurt and doing the same mistakes super easy so you can grab here and then there's a bar at
16:17the
16:17back yeah on the frame and just up we go three one up oh i'm a fat bastard god lonnie
16:24jeez is that
16:26it's the burgers right now you get a real taste of what it is i ask my friends to do
16:31right lonnie it's
16:32like holy that's a lot of work man yeah 20 years ago lonnie jumped from this bridge step watch grab
16:38that
16:39frame look up cool it left him a paraplegic what they call a solid guy you're a solid guy yes
16:46you are he's
16:46back and i want to know why thank you thanks guys whoo when you look at it now and you
16:58think back 20
16:59years ago what comes to mind oh man you know the the first thing that comes to mind is the
17:07great times
17:08we were having when we were my friends you know all of us together as a kid i had always
17:13dreamt of
17:14flying just stepping out into nothing i was lucky enough to find something that really was a passion
17:26three two one see ya high speed high adrenaline
17:34everything about the sport is so amazing this is what makes me happy uh here we are at the
17:41parion bridge in idaho the day of the accident i had decided that we can do a new canadian record
17:49the year before we had sat in record of six people leaving the object same time and we had seven
17:55here okay have a good one sherry we had some lesser experienced people that were there so i was helping
18:03them climb over and then when i was ready lee i know i was rushed three two one as soon
18:15as i left i was
18:16like oh whoa i'm flipping way too slow so i rushed the deployment i threw the pilot shoot out and
18:23my legs
18:24hadn't finished that last rotation yet and just wrapped around my foot
18:32i hit the water
18:36it was just one massive impact and i was on the bottom oh jesus someone get down there you know
18:42my
18:42body started going into convulsions gasping for air and i just kept saying i can't drown i have to
18:49survive for my boys lonnie spent nearly three minutes underwater before being rescued i was a couple
18:55weeks in intensive care they kept me medically induced when i woke up the first question i had for
19:01the doctor was how long do you think it'll be before i can jump again straight up she said lonnie
19:06listen i'm i'm sorry to tell you you've suffered a spinal cord injury you'll never jump again and i just
19:13looked at her i was like i'm sorry you don't know who you're talking to i will jump again you
19:19know i
19:20always joke you know a smart guy would have quit right you know a lot of people they know they
19:25say
19:25oh base jumpers you know you have a death wish all this garbage and it's the exact opposite right we
19:31have a life wish we wish to live life to the absolute fullest
19:53it's a little farther than we thought exactly right yeah i'm looking at it now yeah we got like a
19:59couple
19:59inches so the concern here is that the wheelchair will not have enough space uh one to rotate three
20:06two one and go but more concerningly is not enough of a push-off so there's a potential of his
20:12pack would
20:12hit on the back of the platform which would be well it'd be disastrous
20:25yeah i'm not gonna say good luck no i'm gonna say enjoy exactly man yeah it would be awesome
20:36god it's always scary this is the altitude that if i mess up the exit then i can be in
20:43a lot of trouble
20:44really fast my feet is off it's super dangerous because as the chair flips you know the chair is
20:55full of snaggy bits that will just chew up a parachute yeah yeah okay we good yeah going in to
21:04the chair
21:11he's up on the platform just looks crazily high from here it's 20 years since his accident and he's
21:21back the same bridge i'm excited for lani to jump and on the other day i feel sort of complicit
21:28and
21:28worried that something bad could happen sure it's always scary yeah buddy but the best things in
21:38life are on the other side of fear let go let him go lovely man love you too brother you
21:45have to face fear
21:51every day go nice he's good when i roll off of the edge like that for those few seconds i'm
22:06me again
22:12there's no more obstacles there's no more restrictions
22:19it's a feeling of freedom just always a dream to to be able to fly i just i need to
22:27do this for me
22:28you can do it yeah yeah yeah
22:34being in a wheelchair is a tough life places aren't accessible there's stairs doors aren't wide enough
22:44but when i roll off at the edge like that right i'm i'm fully i'm fully able there's no more
22:51obstacles you know i'm just me i'm just lani i'm just i'm able to fly my parachute
22:56of course until it comes to time to land right there's like all right here we go again
23:11before i leave the world of base jumping i'm heading to utah to meet pat and hartman
23:16two of the best wingsuit jumpers on the planet which one is it yeah it's right here the biggest
23:21most sheer thing in the middle out there it's about a thousand meters above us two thousand meters away
23:26it takes about a minute to get here from there a minute a minute yeah and where do you land
23:31yeah
23:31we're gonna be landing right over here for context going from base jumping to wingsuit base jumping
23:36is like getting out of a go-kart and into a formula one car now pat oh hns warning oh
23:43yeah you're
23:44wearing sandals yeah of course it could be dangerous on this decline it's hard to find a
23:51landing area that's this nice this is good yeah okay so the flight path right so we'll be jumping
23:57off this middle cliff here there's a ridge that you can see that comes down below the middle cliff
24:02so if you were to watch someone from here they would be in sight for about five seconds and then
24:08they
24:08drop below the tree line before popping out through that little canyon there you make it sound so easy
24:14fly over here and yeah it's clearly not easy but what makes it possible is this
24:24how does one come up with this suit
24:28all the development comes from skydiving by the time we get it the stuff has been fully fully
24:34tested in the skydiving environment we have the vents in the top right here for the arms and then
24:40two more for the legs once you get a little bit of airspeed it's going to go pressurize up the
24:44inlets
24:44in here and make it into one solid wing so you don't have to use that much effort just kind
24:49of puts
24:49itself in the position it wants to be flown in so you're traveling 160 kilometers an hour right yeah so
24:56how do you how do you control it at 160 kilometers an hour so with enough time it really becomes
25:03effortless
25:04where you just think about going that way you'll end up doing a little bit of weight shift a little
25:07bit of change in in body position and it will end up doing it
25:14ah it feels good to see in the sun yeah a little bit of warmth
25:19i mean it's it's totally disarming as if we're going for a sunday stroll just totally chilled
25:29the common belief is that anyone who does this must be an adrenaline junkie someone who's searching
25:35the thrill you don't come across like that to be honest if i feel adrenaline it usually means
25:41something is going wrong i didn't make the right plan there's a mistake that's happening
25:50base jumping is considered the most dangerous sport in the world
25:54but like everything else there are levels to that wingsuit base combined with low proximity flying
26:02has to be the most dangerous sport arguably one of the most dangerous things you could do
26:09sitting here at their launch point it seems almost unfathomable that they would leap from here
26:32so we know exactly what the risks are if the weather conditions are good things should be consistent
26:38you should be able to perform just like you have every other time so after that the bigger risk is
26:44decision making if you step back a little bit and and control your decision making process
26:51then i think you can go keep it safe
26:55all right yeah yeah i'm gonna see you on the bottom all right on the bottom yeah
27:04everyone's ready okay turn gopros on yeah oh yeah pat
27:13yeah okay let's do it okay we're good to go have fun and ready three two one see ya
27:45we all dream of flying to soar to be free to be in the moment
27:51and for an instant totally in control of our destiny
28:02for these base jumpers their greatest fear isn't death it's not living enough
28:12flight has always captivated humans from parachuting to base jumping and now wingsuiting
28:19who knows what will come next
28:24one thing is certain we'll never stop looking to the sky for inspiration
28:40whoohoo
28:42yeah
28:43yeah
28:48nice
28:49Nice.
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