Welcome back to BASE week! Today we’re going to hear from one of the most visible characters in BASE jumping.

If you’rve heard of BASE, you’ve heard of this guy. That’s right kids, it’s Miles Daisher!

*Photo credit unavailable as I borrowed this from his Facebook page. Hope that’s alright. But this is one wicked picture!

I feel so honored to have the chance to chat with Miles and find out more about what makes him tick. So let’s have at it shall we?

SDC: So let’s dive right in with the standard first question: how and when did you get your start in skydiving? Tell us your story…

MD: I became addicted to skydiving September 6, 1995.  I’d always wanted to try it and when my roommate Frank “The Gambler” Gambalie (skydiver, BASE jumper and hero) told me where to go, I booked an AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) course at Skydance Skydiving center in Davis, California. Three days of classroom and coached jumping while passing all of my 7 level jumps to begin hucking my monkey from scareplanes on my own.  Since then I’ve quit all previous jobs I’ve had (a variety of all types) and focused on keeping myself in the parachuting world.

SDC: That’s pretty incredible! I’m a huge believer in following your passions and doing what you love, all the time. Your story is a great example of that. I’m sure a lot of people out there envy that – and I’m sure you hear that all the time

SDC: So when and how did you transition to BASE?

MD: Watching Frank’s BASE videos was always really cool.  When I saw one in particular of a jump from the Troll Spire on the Great Troll wall in Norway where Frank jumped and tracked away from the wall for 26 second before pulling his pilot chute to open his parachute.  He was flying his body away from the wall and this sparked my interest to get involved with fixed object parachuting.  From the EARTH!  I’ve lived my dream and have had the opportunity to jump the Troll wall from Frank’s exit point, the Troll Spire.  This was one of the pinnacle jumps that I’ve ever done!

I started on bridges that were the safest things to jump in case your opening faces a direction other than the heading that you choose.  If you have a 180 degree off heading opening on a cliff or a building you will have only an instant to correct the direction your parachute is flying before you strike or hit the object you jumped from.  With a 20 MPH forward speed on these canopies we fly, things can happen fast and usually do.  Bridges are the safest way to start.  I take baby steps with every goal I have so I may enjoy the ride to conquer each challenge as safe as possible.

SDC: Do you frequently get to skydive these days or are you all BASE all the time?

MD: I still Skydive quite a bit.  I LOVE it.  Compared to BASE jumping, Skydiving is a fun time, walk in the park where you get to dance in the sky with your friends.  Also you can train to do many things for BASE jumping while having a safe amount of time in the air as well as more time to dial in tricks and ways to fly your body more proficiently while skydiving.  I also perform Demonstration jumps with the Red Bull Air Force from aircraft.  I’ve even started a new sport called Skyaking (see picture above) that involves skydiving while in a kayak.  The freefall can be tricky but I think I’ve got a good handle on this now and the landings are really fun.  Swooping into a lake, river or even a ditch while strapped in a Skayak is always a great time!

SDC: That’s incredible – I’ve seen some of the videos of this and you can’t help but smile while watching you having a blast up there, in a kayak! Where do you do most of your skydiving these days – where do you consider your “home DZ” I suppose?

MD: I’ve had a few different home DZs.  I started in Skydance Skydiving then moved to Lodi for years.  Then I learned to do tandems and packed a bunch at Skydive Lake Tahoe when I became a professional parachutist. It is hard for me to call one place my home DZ.  Nowadays I’ll call the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls Idaho my home DZ as I do more BASE jumps than anything else.  Or anyone else, because I can here in this BASE jumping friendly environment.  At 2,669 BASE jumps I’m catching up to the 3,100 skydives I’ve done. Last spring I’d call Sebastian Florida my home DZ.  I must say that I’ve been SUPER fortunate to be able to call Lauterbrunnen Switzerland my home DZ last summer as we’ve (Red Bull Air Force) been shooting a 3D movie called Human Flight for a few months.  Check out humanflight3dmovie.com to see some of what we were up to.  Mostly big wall proximity flying with squirrel suits. I’d have to say it is tough to point a finger at one DZ to call home when I love to visit them all.

SDC: We’ve all seen at least one Miles D video and there’s always one common denominator – you are very high energy! What’s your secret?

MD: The secret to the high energy I have while skydiving and BASE jumping is this . . . When you do things you are passionate about, you do them 115%, or put everything into them.  When you love what you do, you get excited about it.  For me and this instance, I find it really easy to get excited about flying parachutes and my body through the air.  It is super sensory overload for me.  I love it!  Then there is the rest of my life where my mom would always tell me to settle down and stay still which I’m still not truly understanding why and what she really means by this.  As well as the fact that I love the Red Bull energy drink that keeps my vitamin B levels up to where I enjoy them.  Caffeine is good for you too if you like to get after stuff.  I guess the ADD in me is a good thing and I’ve harnessed the power of it and sustained for life with some help drinking the right stuff.

SDC: What is one of the most memorable experiences you’ve had in this sport?

MD: I’ve had many super memorable moments in the air with my friends.  One that really let’s me feel that I can conquer anything and do anything if I put my mind to it as well as enjoy each moment to the fullest, is when I did a 2 way with Shane McConkey (my best friend and BASE partner) from the Troll wall in our squirrel suits to actually live the dream and experience the reason I’ve been driving so hard and learning so much to safely get to where I am today.  We jumped together at sunset after our Norwegian friends showed us the way to the top and flew for what seemed like forever.  Shane shot video of me and I just looked around and soaked it all in.  I didn’t even fly well and wasn’t really trying to.  I was enjoying the moment the entire day!  Shane was yelling at me to Go man Go! and was buzzing around me like a bee trying to get me to fly faster but I just smiled and thought about The Gambler and the good times we’ve all had together.  Then after we landed in a field by the road, I hid behind a hay stack because the jump we did wasn’t exactly legal.  Shane made fun of me and did the most hilarious John Belushi impersonation while in the wide open field, running side to side and diving on the ground to hide.  Then he’d get up again and run side to side and dive on the ground to make fun of how stupidly paranoid I was of getting caught. We laughed for hours on this while we had pizza in the landing area with our Norwegian BASE tour guides toasting a few beers as the sun disappeared on us.

Ahhhhhh the stuff dreams are made of. That’s for sure.

SDC: That sounds amazing. That’s one thing about parachuting I’ve come to love the most – experiencing these moments with good friends. There’s nothing quite like it! Aside from Bridge Day, what are some of the must-attend boogies and events in the skydiving and BASE world?

MD: If you ever get a chance to go to Malaysia to jump the KL Tower, DO IT!  To me this event is the funnest.  That is a word too. It’s a multi day BASE boogie with cultural celebrations and all the jumps you can handle off the 1,000 ft tower.  There is an organized multi week tour that travels the country and has demonstration jumps at many different buildings.  I’d like to have enough time to do this someday but the KL Tower is the crowned jewel of the trip from what I hear.  I’m trying to get myself organized up on this adventure again this year.

SDC: Malaysia has always been a place I’ve wanted to visit. Maybe now there’s another reason…What’s the best piece of advice (related to skydiving/BASE jumping or not) that you’ve ever been given?

MD: The best advice I’ve gotten in my life is “Pay Attention!”  You can learn a lot by observing.  Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.  Unless you have a question of course.  Many people want to get into BASE and start hucking flips and do cool tricks right away.  Best thing you can do is to get your FUNdamentals dialed in and perfected before starting to get rad.  When you do want to learn something new, break it down into pieces and practice each part so that your motor muscle memory can save you when your brain doesn’t.  Baby steps take longer to do but will get you to your goals safer than going full tilt taking chances and missing out on the Journey that is ever so important and a big part of the whole big picture.

SDC: With the amount you have on your plate you must have a very supportive family?

MD: I gotta give huge props to my wife Nikki and children.  I don’t know where I’d be without their support and trust and faith in me and what I do.  My lifestyle is kinda crazy in the (not so) real world of normalcy.  I have a crazy schedule that is subject to change at a few days notice.  Hard to make every soccer game, gymnastics meet and even birthday party.  We all support each other like a team.  I’m super blessed to have such an understanding and helpful family who has my back no matter what.  The same thing said for me to them.  I don’t take unnecessary risks even when I’m doing the “crazy” stuff I do. There is a method to my madness. I plan on sticking around for years and years to be able to brag up the good times with great friends and give my kids as much grief as possible unless they remain the almost perfect angels that they are for the rest of their lives.  I try to surround myself with good people and abide by the great words of Bill and Ted on their adventures “Be excellent to each other.”  This would be the one moment where my wife would not support me in my cheesiness as she thinks I’m a dork sometimes.  The thing is, she is right and I’m glad she can keep it real too.  I can handle it when I’m right and she can’t seem to appreciate the goodness of a quality movie I believe in.

SDC: So for all those aspiring BASE jumpers out there here’s one you’ll appreciate: If you could give one piece of advice to newbie BASE jumpers, what would it be?

MD: If you would like to learn to BASE jump, come check me out at Miles D’s BASE Camp and learn a safe approach to a dangerous sport. Or at least take your time while you PAY ATTENTION to the do’s more than the don’ts of the sport.  Know what can go wrong and be ready for anything but plant the super positive seed in your head to ready yourself for the perfect outcome of every jump.  Not false confidence but know what you have to do to make the perfect landing happen every time you step off the Earth.  The biggest thing is to know your gear, it’s tendencies and how to make it do the right thing . . . land safe.

Blue skies!  Rock On!

Thanks Miles! This was a treat!

I highly recommend checking out any and all of Miles’ videos – it’s some good stuff.

Blue ones!

Ashley