Near misses in the mountains.
People frequently ask whether I’ve experienced any near misses while BASE jumping. It’s a valid question every jump operates on an edge where seconds and meters can dictate success or disaster, so potentially I would say every jump brings us precariously close to a disaster. Nevertheless, there have been a few standout moments that have imparted crucial lessons, particularly regarding speed and energy management when navigating close to terrain—where, paradoxically, speed can be your ally.
Altitude dreams
If the goal is easy to achieve, is it worth setting in the first place? If you know the outcome is inevitable, is it still a challenge?
Algerian Jumping.
Algeria has just opened its doors to visa on arrival. This gave us the perfect opportunity to explore the desert in the South. Although the check-in counter at Geneva airport had never heard of our type of visa we had no trouble making it to our final destination of Djanet. The internal flight across the desert was 4 hours long, which really gave us the scale of this huge country. Algeria is 90% desert and is the largest country in Africa.
First wingsuit flight from Aconcagua
Below the tip of my toes is a 300-metre drop onto the glacier below. My foot is curled over the edge of the rock. Gaining maximum purchase as I push off at a perfect angle, pre-determined by a thousand other jumps. Ingrained into my muscle memory. Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, but it does make permanent so I’ve made sure to practice perfectly.
The Fault Line
Some times I think to myself why the fuck do we do this. I sat in the helicopter swooping around the sharp valley ridges. The pilot would drop me in Saas fee so I could pick up my car and drive to the hospital. Although everything was now ok, this is when the flood of thoughts and emotions hit.
From Infantry to Alpinism
Soldering and alpinism overlapped by a few years for me. Even during training, a gruelling 32 week course (the longest basic military training in the world), I would spend long weekends in Italy climbing big walls. Short on money, I would use my excess field rations saved up from training exercises, my issued sleeping bag and thermals, mixed amongst my loud yellow t-shirts and assorted scrounged gear.
Arctic persistence
We sat on top of our sleds waiting for our train, which was now 5 hours late. Staring across the tracks at the landscape. A man-made mountain of spoil. Kiruna is a mining town and everything here revolves around the iron ore mines. This was the reason for our late train. A mining carriage took priority of the single track and we had been waiting for it to pass, slowly watching the sun set over the black artificial mountain. It was -10 and we were well within the arctic circle – an imaginary line that shows the extent of 24 hour sun and 24 hour darkness.
Read moreTaking flight in Persia
Dawn is just breaking in over the horizon. Zohre is perched on a limestone ledge, hanging out over the abyss, tethered to the wall with an anchor. As I take a photo she is painting her nails. It’s not a vain plight for the instagram followers but a sign of liberty. Out in the mountains she can show her personality. The mountains for most offer freedom, but for Zohre it’s freedom in the most literal sense. The mountains are a place where she can dance, put on her lipstick and wear the clothes that express herself as an individual, such things would be frowned upon in the cities.
Live to fail another day. Matterhorn North face.
Attempt 1
On route to the Dolomites we took a short detour to the Italian side of the Matterhorn. The weather and conditions gave us slight hope of a quick ascent and even quicker descent with our wingsuits. Covid restrictions meant that the hut was now booked at full capacity even this late in the season. We started from the valley floor and went for the summit in one continuous push.
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