The following review is of a jump off of Smellvegen in Norway, as shown in the below video…
“When faced with some gnar, do what thy must”
Charlie Andrew
#Facts:
At roughly 9 pm I radioed the club employee in the fjord below gaining clearance to jump. He said the conditions were good and to jump when I was ready. I had a clean exit and an uneventful flight back towards town. I deployed at roughly 500 ft and was thrown into two solid line twists. The heading of the opening was off 45 degrees to the right. When the canopy achieved full inflation it was heading right for a waterfall that was cascading off the fjord wall.
When the spinning had finally come to a halt I had to move fast to get my canopy turned around. I unzipped my arm wings, emancipating my arms to work on the task at hand. Climbing the risers was attempted briefly to no avail. The landing area had a cloud over it and the risers had gotten damp from the moisture, making them incredibly slippery. After the failed attempt at climbing the risers I estimate that I had 8 to 10 seconds before I was going to strike the wall itself directly. If this wasn’t perilous enough, I had about 5 seconds until my canopy would be subject to the turbulence of the waterfall.
I had 8 to 10 seconds before I was going to strike the wall… and about 5 seconds until my canopy would be subject to the turbulence of the waterfall
A canopy collapse while turning a canopy away from the wall could result in a fatal collision with the ground. With all of this going on in the head, I opted to turn the canopy the only other way I knew how, given the time constraint. I pulled down my left brake to the deep brake setting, turning it away from the wall. When the canopy was heading the opposite direction of the cliff I pulled the right brake down to the deep brake setting to stop the turn and level out the canopy. Once this was achieved I kicked out of my line twists, gained control of my wing and landed her on the beach.
#Learning Points
This incident is one of the many extreme situations you could be faced with while involving yourself in a sport like BASE jumping or skydiving. But with the hindsight achieved from what went down a few key lessons can be learned:-
##1. Deployment
The first link that broke in this chain of events relates directly to where the parachute was deployed. If I had flown away from the cliff wall more deliberately and deployed into a “cleaner” area those two twists would have been far less extreme. This in conjunction with deploying a few hundred feet higher I would have given myself a much more solid chance of success.
##2. Twist procedures
Secondly when it comes to line twists in the BASE environment: the general consensus within the community for object avoidance with line twists is to turn your canopy by either climbing your risers and manipulating the control lines, or accessing them by twisting the risers to work the twist down to the risers freeing up the lines.
##3. Visualize imaginary scenarios
Lastly, visualize. If you imagine how you will react in a given situation before it happens in real life. You will spend much less time being surprised and more time reacting. My reaction to the situation was not textbook. But was one I had pondered beforehand, and ultimately was the one that kept me from playing humpty dumpty on the great wall.
##Summary
If you use a ram-air device to save your life after you huck from things: know how it works. And how much your life depends upon it working properly. Good judgment is fostered by learning all you can about the factors surrounding your sport and their gear. And by listening to those who know more than you. The best jumper is the one who lives the longest.
The best jumper is the one who lives the longest
