Last time I wrote about the scary pathway called El Caminito del Ray. Later that day I found myself watching base jump videos in YouTube. Few years ago I was riding bike with my friend in Wengen, Switzerland and we rode to the base jumping “take off”-place (or what ever it is called) above Lauterbrunnen. I wanted to see videos in which they jump from that particular cliff above the beautiful Lauterbrunnen village.

I have been interested in base jumping although I don’t do it. Years ago I did skydive but I never had the balls to try base jumping.

As I enjoyed watching base jumping, I continued searching really cool base jumping videos. I found this very interesting document of Jeb Corliss, one of the icons of the sport. Jeb is known as a heavy duty skydiver who takes it to the limit and beyond. Jeb is connected (as shown in the video) to Dwain Weston who died 2003 when performing a challenging jump with Jeb Corliss. Dwain was known as “next to God” in base jumping and Jeb probably learned very much from him during those years.

Jeb Corliss is an interesting person. First of all he openly talks about his problematic childhood and suicidal thoughts which is something most of us would not do. As a base jumper Jeb does something most of us consider pretty crazy, but he is not doing it uncontrolled. Just like Shane McConkey, Miles Daisher and other pro athletes Jeb Corliss carefully plans carefully all his projects, and calculates the risks.

Jeb seems to be an interesting person who enjoys his life 110%. I appreciate the level of dedication.

See the first jump in this second part of the document. It is from Lauterbrunnen. I’ve been on that spot. It’s a nasty place, scary. We left our bikes few meters above and walked to the edge of the cliff. It is located about 400 meters above the ground and it is surrounded with one of the highest mountain peaks of Switzerland and a number of long waterfalls. It is a beautiful place.

My friend was working in a restaurant close to the landing area of base jumpers. He told me that only few days before I arrived they saw someone hitting the ground. In fact he did not see it happen, but as he heard a helicopter landing he realized what was going on. Later that day he heard the news that a base jumper had hit the wall and fallen to death.

It is interesting to hear how Jeb Corliss describes the feeling after his first jump. For sure I have never felt like that, but I associate with that feeling a little bit because for myself the most staggering feeling in my life has been my very first parachute jump. It was not as amazing as Jeb describes, but for sure it was really shaking and mind-blowing. In fact, my second jump was even worse because during the first jump you don’t know what is coming, but in the second jump you know exactly what is waiting for you…

In this third video you can hear Dwain Weston talking few times. Notice his black humor as he says “Yeah, it’s a good day to die, blah, blah, blah..”.

Yeah, it’s a sad story. Seeing Dwain hitting the bridge makes me feel bad. It is sad to see people dying, but these guys know the risks.

I must say I respect the attitude of these guys. I could never do the same, but in fact I wouldn’t even want to. I am happy with my not-so-super-exiting-life at the moment. I have three kids and one more on his way, so watching skydiving on Youtube is enough action for me right now. May be not tomorrow…