Katie Hansen’s journey began with a static line jump alongside her dad the day before high school graduation. Since then, she’s carved out a career defined by courage, resilience, and quiet strength in the face of serious setbacks. From national podiums to wingsuit BASE, Katie’s path is one of grit, growth, and self-trust.
Where did your skydiving journey begin, and what kept you coming back after your first jumps?
My skydiving journey began in Bremerton, WA at a little cessna DZ called Blue Skies Skydiving in 2003, the day before I walked for my high school graduation. My dad and I signed up for static line jumps. There was a very distinct moment, before I had even jumped, when I realized very clearly “Oooooh, there is nothing wrong with me. I just found my people.” I was hooked before I even jumped. Against their recommendation, I convinced them to give me the practice rip cord on the first jump because my dad was only going to pay for one jump and I wanted it to count towards my progression.
Extremsport Veko, Voss, Norway
Was there a moment when you knew going all in would be your path?
I knew I loved it and thought it would be a part of my life from the very start. I also had a practical side that wanted to set myself up with options down the road. I got my nursing degree from California State University Sacramento. However, I have only had two nursing jobs that I kept for more than a year. My heart has always been in skydiving, as much now as ever. This is my path.
You’ve spoken about self confidence and how it has an impact on skydiving and on life. What role do you think self confidence has played in your career in base and skydiving.
Self confidence was the initial draw to skydiving. As a teenage girl I thought it was so inspiring that skydivers could have so much self confidence they could jump out of a plane and trust themselves completely, with literally their life on the line. Throughout the years self confidence has played a key role in progression and success in skydiving and BASE jumping. As an example, positive self talk on competition runs. Knowing the work has been put in, and trusting myself to do my job in the one minute it matters. It allows me to get into a healthy headspace. When BASE jumping, especially wingsuiting, I think about the plan, the outs, the line, the back ups, etc., but when the time comes to push off the edge, there can’t be any doubt. Self confidence allows me to perform at a higher level, which is safer.
How do you think your personality shows up in the sport?
This question makes me smile to myself because I think outwardly my personality can look a little intense sometimes. I am motivated, passionate, competitive, focused, but above all else cherish the community and hold my tribe close.
You’ve survived some serious injuries in your life. Can you walk us through one of those moments and what you learned from it?
This could be an interview in and of itself. I have been in two major accidents. One was a motorcycle accident in 2012. One was a wingsuit BASE jumping incident in 2022. In a nutshell, we were opening a new exit, it was more committed with sinkier conditions than expected. From the moment I exited, I knew I was in a poor position. I was lower in the gulley and couldn’t get enough speed or lift to gain the altitude I needed to clear the ridgeline on my right that was plan A. I couldn’t get enough altitude to be in a safe position to pull flying straight down the gulley that was plan B. At the beginning of the jump I was optimistic I could figure out how to make it work. As the jump went on and options ran out and the gulley ran flat into the landscape at the bottom, I knew for about 15 real-time seconds that I was about to die.
I didn’t think it was going to help, but I didn’t want to go in without even trying so I threw my pilot chute almost at the same time I impacted the one tree in the rocky area. I crashed head first through the tree, hit a decomposing log on the ground, rolled backwards and stood up. My lines were slack when I stood up, my canopy was in the tree but more or less packed and the slider was still up inside the canopy. I was in disbelief that I was still alive. I asked myself who I am, where I am, when I am and what happened. I thought to myself that it’s good I knew to think of those things – good sign. By the time I stashed my gear it was getting difficult to breathe. Given the mechanism of injury and my education I started to run through a list of things that could be wrong. I told myself very mindfully not to panic. I was a long way from help but it doesn’t get any closer until you start moving, no matter how long it takes. My friends came to help me, I called the closest level one trauma center while one friend got the car and called report on myself. I will never forget the relief I felt when I arrived at the hospital and they put me on a gurney and took me to the trauma bay. In the end I had a pulmonary contusion, a minor concussion and some bruised bones.
There was no denying that I fucked up. All the way. That was game over but somehow I didn’t die. It’s easy to blame conditions, people, etc, but I was so resolute never to put myself in a situation like that again that I take complete ownership over any piece of what happened. So what happened? I was forcing it. I wanted that exit. I didn’t listen to my intuition, it didn’t feel right. I wasn’t fluent with laser data which begrudgingly is just industry standard responsible part of WS BASE now. I know these lessons and have abided by them for many years, which is why I have been able to have a long BASE jumping career. It only takes one lapse in judgement to end everything. I dialed it back. I jump like I don’t have anything to prove, even to myself. There are exits I wanted before that I know are within my capability that now are not within my tolerance of risk. My perspective has changed. It took a lot of work to regain my self confidence. I also put a lot of work into understanding and analysing data, which is not of natural interest to me but important to do anyway.
Photo by Katie Hansen
Did you ever question whether you’d return to the sport or who you’d be without it? If so, what did that experience bring to you?
A month after my WS accident I was in Europe on a wingsuit BASE trip, jumping big exits with steep flights, trying to get my head right and my confidence back. With each successful jump I regained a little, but after returning home I had a lot to process. I did not know if I wanted to continue to WS BASE jump, but I did decide that if I was going to quit it wasn’t going to be from a place of fear. I was going to analyze why that accident happened- why I made the decisions I made both emotionally and data collected / not collected / not understood, and then from a healed perspective decide if it was still something that I wanted to pursue or give up.
Is there something people misunderstand about what it really takes to come back after a major setback?
I can only speak for myself, but I didn’t realize the emotional trauma that would come with this type of major accident. I didn’t want to shove aside my feelings and move on. I wanted to turn and face them, and heal. It is uncomfortable to take the time and energy to re-live the accident, analyzing myself through my decisions and being brutally honest. It also rocked my self confidence to the core. At one point, I had to literally just tell myself, and trust what I was saying even though I didn’t feel it – that I was a good wingsuit pilot, but I had made a judgement error. To keep this answer even somewhat concise, I would say it is probably underestimated the time and persistence of mental fortitude to actually heal in a healthy way.
What did those injuries teach you about yourself beyond just your body?
I was definitely more physically injured from my motorcycle accident. I broke C7, T1, T2, T3, T5, T8, T9, L3, my left scapula, separated by left AC joint, fractured a lot of ribs on my left side, collapsed my lung, and tore my left knee open through the joint. My life was wholly consumed by healing and rehab.
Are there particular events, records, or teams that feel especially meaningful to you?
The 164-way head down record was particularly meaningful to me. I was in the hospital after my motorcycle accident in 2012 during the previous 138-way record and I was right at the skill level I might have been cut, but I would have gotten my shot and it potentially would have been my first world record. To have come back from that accident, to have been told I would never skydive again but always had 100 percent confidence I would, then 3 years later to have made that comeback and achieved that specific world record meant a lot to me.
My freefly team, Polaris, will always mean a lot to me as well. I always thought artistic freefly was the most badass event in competition skydiving. Being on a team with Matt Fry and Chad Ross was like taking the e-brake off in a car while you’re driving. Freedom to just push, to train hard with two close friends that shared the same passion, motivation and competitive drive. It was fulfilling to be on a team with those guys, and our first win at US Nationals was a moment that made me really reflect on the fact that I was standing exactly where I used to look up to. It’s actually why our team was named Polaris, it’s the north star.
How do you prepare for a performance or jump where the margin for error is razor-thin?
If it’s a performance like in competition, the first part of preparation is training with intention. When it’s competition time, I only focus on doing my own job, and I trust my teammates to do theirs. I don’t focus on other teams, I just bring my thoughts back, small aperture, just us. I focus on just doing what we trained, the same, consistent, not trying to go big, nothing different. I tell myself that no matter what happens, it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change who I am. I am the same person whether I succeed or fail, and that the things I value remain unchanged – my relationships are the same, my family still loves me. If we have a bad round, compartmentalize it and move on. “You’ve put in the work, this is what you do.”
Skydiving and wingsuiting can be male-dominated. What has your experience been navigating that space?
It can definitely be male dominated. I think personally, I’m deep enough into these sports at this point I don’t really feel like I need to navigate much related to gender. However, I am aware of and empathetic to the challenges that women face. I was fortunate without really knowing it at the time, but I started dating someone for 5.5 years when I was 18. I think it provided a buffer in some ways to some of the pitfalls of being a female learning to skydive. I have felt some discrimination in the past but overwhelmingly have felt accepted within this community. I like competing head to head with everyone. I also realize there definitely are many challenges to being a new female in the sport and hope I can use my experience to be a resource for new and experienced jumpers alike. Women should strengthen and uphold each other. The dynamic between women in the sport is special, no better or worse than with men but it is different and I do love the sisterhood we share
What advice would you give to younger jumpers coming into the sport who want to push hard but stay grounded?
Push hard, get after it, follow your passion and don’t let up. Remember though, nobody cares about skydiving except skydivers, I like to equate it to the “sport” of cup stacking. It helps keep things in perspective. We are all just cup stackers. Seriously though, the same perspective that I use in competition – success doesn’t change who I am any more than failure would. It works both ways. We are all just one mistake away from being injured beyond the capacity to jump anymore. Your identity should be grounded in something more solid and more important than your skill set.
Photo by Chad Ross
How has your relationship with risk changed over time?
I think like most people this is an ongoing and ever evolving relationship – what is acceptable and what is not. How current am I? How meaningful is this to me? What is my mental health like and how does that change what is and isn’t acceptable even if the risk is the same? As I have grown as a person and as a BASE jumper, my tolerance for and relationship with risk has been both averse and embracing at times. I made it through my 20s and my 30s. I like to think that I have made it through the most dangerous times and have a lower overall tolerance to risk in general now.
If the sport remembers you for one thing, what do you hope it is?
I hope the sport remembers me for being kind, bringing up the people around me, and being well rounded.
Sponsors?
UPT, Jyro, Squirrel, Cookie, SSK, L&B, Fuse Lenses
