BASE WEEK with Miles Daisher

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

What kind of skydiver are you?

So we all know the obvious answer to this – if you’re a belly flyer or free flyer, swooper or camera flyer – but what I’m referring to here is more about your involvement in the sport.

Sure, the great majority of us would prefer to have the ability to make a skydive anytime the urge hits us – which, let’s be honest here, is practically every hour of every day – but due to things like careers, obligations or even just personal choice, we become a certain type of skydiver.

Based on my experiences at a number of different dropzones are the country, I came up with a list of categories. Of course, this is intended to be a fun list of very subjective classifications based on my observations as a fairly new skydiver, so please take it as such. I’m interested to see where people think they fall!

Some of these overlap a little, and there is a possibility to be in more than one category in some instances (in my case, I fall into two of these classifications). If there’s anything I’m overlooking or you have a category you’d like to add, please chime in with a comment! Now onto the list!

The Careerist – these are the DZOs, the tandem instructors, the full-time videographers and riggers of the world – the people who have made skydiving their career. I’ve seen this in a number of lights: some do it to make $ to jump more and then fun jumps become few and far between, others make it work for themselves and they still take time to fun jump with their pals and of course there are variations in between. But either way, most of your time is spent at the DZ, if you’re not living there

The Frequenter – these are the people who have the ability to carve out lots of time (and money) for skydiving. Whether they have unusual work schedules, own their own businesses, or they’re the type you always wonder exactly what it is they do, they’re always up for a jump, no matter when or where. These are the go-tos when it comes to organizing mid-week jumps – you can always count them in for a random day of skydiving.

The Organizer – these are the people who frequently organize the jumping days. There could be sub-categories here, like the travelers who are always organizing groups to go to a bigger DZ or boogies, the mid-week jumpers who are trying to fill loads so they can get up, or even the dirt dive kings of the world who decide exactly what point will be turned on the next skydive. Regardless of how, these people get things done, they get people to jump.

The Weekend Warrior - most often these are the people with day jobs who work pretty typical hours and are available to skydive on the weekends. This is me in a nutshell. I can get the occasional day or afternoon off to make a few jumps, but for the most part weekends are committed to skydiving so long as long as the weather plays nice. I’m also one of those people who doesn’t quite know what to do when it rains on a Saturday afternoon.

The Weekday Warrior – reverse of the Weekend Warrior, these are people who tend to work more on weekends and have random week days free. They’re also usually the organizers of the mid-week jumps.

The Traveler – the person who doesn’t necessarily have a “home” dropzone and spends lots of time traveling to other DZ, events and boogies. This also includes those jumpers who fly their personal aircraft into whatever DZ they feel like jumping at that weekend (oh to be a pilot, I’d love to take advantage of that!). I definitely consider myself a traveler, I love visiting new DZs, jumping new aircraft and meeting lots of great skydivers along the way.

(Still from one of David Schwartz’s videos last weekend at Skydive Carolina – freefly with Rick and Justin)

The Occasionalist - from my experience, these are the people who busy day jobs, families and lots of personal obligations on the table. They are busy people, juggling lots of activities. They make it to the dropzone when they can, but it’s not the top priority. Someone with a life outside of skydiving…you’ve gotta respect that!

The Groupie - at first this term sounds negative, but I promise it’s not. These are the people who really fit in at the dropzone, the people you look forward to seeing when you’re skydiving, but that may not jump that often, if at all, for one reason or another. These are the jumpers that make the after-hours bonfire  just that much more fun! They get the sport, they’ve jumped, but they’re mostly there for the community and/or to support someone who falls into one of the above categories. It takes a very patient and understanding soul to be able to put up with all the type As at a dropzone

So, that’s what I’ve got. What’ve I missed? Any categories you’d like to add?

Taking words from my interview with Norman Kent, no matter which group(s) you fall into, embrace it!

As a pretty typical Weekend Warrior, I’ll be the first to admit that I had higher expectations for myself than is actually possible, but then again I’m the type of person who thinks she can do it all and punishes herself (and sometimes those around her) when she can’t.* I’d love to be able to set my own schedule and make jumps at my leisure, but of course, who wouldn’t? Sure, I envy those jumpers who can head out on a sunny day mid-week to make some jumps together, but then again, I’m blessed to have enough vacation time to travel to different dropzones and meet some great people along the way. And during the week, I do have a day job I enjoy, so really, how can I complain too much?

In the end, it balances out. That’s the take-away message here. Be proud of the type of skydiver you are! In the end, we’re all skydivers who enjoy the time we spend together in the air and on the ground, and that’s what really matters.

Blue skies!

Ashley

*this is my way of publicly apologizing for being a douche. Sometimes my words get the best of me – I’m only human.

The small victories

(This is the one where I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m full of myself…take note, this post goes beyond just me, to my partner and fellow freeflyers. These past couple weeks have been incredible for everyone!)

I’ve been saying it for months, and it’s so true – skydiving is all about the little victories. Some of the best jumps I’ve had are those where we come down talking about the small improvements we’re seeing.

The past couple weeks I’ve really seen improvement with me and my freefly partner. We’ve been lucky enough to jump with some incredible freeflyers on random skydives that were not only incredibly fun, but very helpful to the learning curve!

We’ve been working for months on our relativity and forward movement / side sliding in sit. Our last few skydives have shown incredible improvement in this. It’s like, all of a sudden, something clicked!

There’s something to be said for jumping in groups of 3, 4 and 5, where there’s always someone to dock on. You’re also forced to make it to the low man or you’re going to be watching that skydive from the outside. Now who wants that?!

(Fun three-way with Susie. I bailed out of the dock because I had too much forward speed.)

(This 5-way campfire turned into a couple of two-ways, but there was a lot of penetration going on up there! – Now would be a good time to remove your head from the gutter. Thanks ).

This weekend at Skydive PA I finally nailed a controlled stand to make it down to the group. What an incredible feeling! Standing had always been my weakness, but as a smaller jumper it’s a critical skill in freefly. So I’m pumped for this success.

Wishing I had the video to share from that 4-way freefly, but my camera died so you’ll just have to take my word for it .

On top of that, you can’t forget about the head downs, transitions, forward and side movement that were accomplished in the sky this weekend. Not only does it feel great to have these successes yourself, but when you’re able to witness someone else’s victories, it’s just as rewarding!

(Rick showing us what it’s all about! We had some fun under canopy. I’m loving the Sabre 1)

This is one thing I truly love about the sport – there’s so much to learn and there are always new ways to improve. It’s the ultimate self-improvement activity! And in the end, you have plenty of reasons to celebrate around the bonfire with a cold beer.

What areas have you seen yourself progressing lately – in and out of skydiving?

Blue skies!

Ashley

Off landings

Today I want to visit one aspect of the sport of skydiving that I’m no stranger to: off landings.

Upon making Canton Air Sports my home when I was still on student status, I quickly gained a reputation for landing off. At the time, we attributed most of it to the fact that I was flying student gear and huge canopies (read: 292 square feet – and for someone who tops out at 135 lbs exit weight, that’s a whole lot of canopy over my head to take me where it wants to).

Since then I’ve managed to land off at almost every DZ I’ve visited: in a soy bean field at Start skydiving (when they were in Lebanon), earning me my current nickname; frequent landings at the end of the runway and in surrounding fields at CAS; finding a pumpkin patch and cow-filled fields with bad spots at Skydive Pennsylvania…I’ll save my ego and stop here.

This weekend of winter jumping was no exception. The winds aloft were tamer than they have been, so when I landed on target during jump #1 at Skydive PA I anticipated a smooth day of canopy piloting.

The spot was a little long, so on the next jump we asked the pilot to adjust and drop us right above the runway. Well, for any of you who are familiar with this DZ, we were dropped PAST the runway over the outlet malls. On top of that my foot got caught on the step as I was exiting, so I was 2-3 seconds late in coming off the plane. My jump was basically a solo sitfly.

Before dumping, I did my best to track back toward the DZ, subsequently losing more altitude and pulling lower than I would have liked. It was those first moments under canopy, as I’m collapsing my slider, where I realized there was no way in hell I was going to make it back.

Luckily, the long runway is lined on both sides with narrow strips of grass, perfect for landing. The only problem was, if I wanted to land in an ideal patch, I was going to have to do so downwind. Yikes!

These are not my favorite types of landings, but I came in slower and softer than anticipated and slid out the landing safely.

The walk back SUCKED…but I guess that’s what I get for pulling low, knowing where I was positioned.

The video below will give you a glimpse at just how far we were away. The DZ is at the opposite end of the runway….I landed in the green patch on the left, just past the hangars…You’ll also get to see part of the train the my freefly partner did with our buddy Tom who’s a newbie freeflyer. Hi first 2-man train. You owe BEER for this one, bud!

(Video by Richard Simenc)

Lesson learned: if you’re off target, pull a little higher to either scout out a new landing area or try to make it back with the wind. This is what my fellow jumpers did, and they all made it back.

But, it’s not a complete day of winter skydiving at Grove without an off landing, right?

Let’s just hope this trend doesn’t continue while on my Florida trip… I can deal with a field full of cows, alligators not so much!

On that note, I should mention that this will be my last post for a while – about 2 weeks to be exact. I’ll do my best to keep everyone posted on what is going on in Florida at the Everglades boogie, at Deland and more on my Twitter feed: @theskydivechick. Follow me for updates!

Until next time…

Blue skies!

Ashley

Post-Christmas Skydive

There’s nothing quite like a sunset jump on Dec. 26th to make your holiday spirits even brighter!

As I mentioned last week, one of the weekend’s goals was to head out to the DZ to share in some beers and laughs with the crew. Well, lucky for us, the skies were blue and the winds on the ground were tame enough to allow a jump!

We were surprised to find out that there were only two sport jumpers packed and ready to go – Rick and me. But, the DZO was feeling the Christmas spirit and took us up anyhow. You rock, Cecil!

The winds aloft were moving at a good clip, and we were prepared to get out above the water tower – about a mile past the DZ.

Well, on this sunset load, we were having a rather difficult time spotting. Needless to say, we got out a mile from the DZ – but a mile in the wrong direction.

The skydive was a simple belly fly with one point and some fun spins before we attempted to link back up. My Dytter went off early so, you’ll notice, I waved before we could link back up.

As I tracked away I realized the dropzone was no where in sight. So I stopped tracking and pulled.

Turns out we were incredibly far north. When I turned into the wind I wasn’t penetrating well. I did my best to follow Rick down, but ended up landing in a field 1/4 mile or so down the road. If you look carefully in the video, you can see the square field I landed in as Rick is doing a 360 to lose some altitude.

Thankfully, I was close to the road and the first passerby put on his brakes and backed up to give me a lift back to my home base. From there I jumped in a car with the pilot and drove around in attempt to find Rick. Little did I know that he’d hitchhiked back as well and was driving around in search of me.

Needless to say we found our way back and had a beer in hand in no time.

There’s something quite invigorating about winter jumps. It clears your head in more ways than one. Aside from not being able to feel my hands, and the subsequent pain when the feeling returned, it was a great jump.

New lesson learned: in the winter, when winds are squirly at altitude, jump with a cell phone!

Blue skies!

Ashley

Tips for Winter Skydiving

If you’re anything like me, as the season came to an end you were determined not to let the colder weather stop you from jumping when there are blue skies.

But the first time that bitter chill hits your exposed skin on the ground, you think twice about heading up to altitude in those conditions – sunny or not.

Of course, on a sunny mid-December day it didn’t take much coaxing to get me up in the air. It’d been two weeks since my last skydive and I was starting to twitch with the earliest signs of withdrawal. I was starting to feel like I needed a support group.

“Hi, I’m Ashley, and I’m a skydiver. It’s been 14 days since my last freefall…”

Alright, enough of that.

So as I mentioned on Monday, we headed down to Grove City for a couple jumps out of the C-182. Jeff, our pilot and recent past DZO consistently took us up past 11 grand – gotta love that kind of altitude out of a tiny Cessna.

The ride to altitude was surprisingly mild, but around 9,000 feet, we all started gearing up appropriately. As soon as the door opened, signaling the beginning of our jump run, we were thankful to have donned so many layers.

Given that this is the firs…um, err… the only winter so far that I’ve gone skydiving, there were plenty of lessons learned moments.

So, for those of you who are thinking about making a jump in the snow this winter, or are traveling to colder climates and want to skydive, I’ve come up with a short list of recommendations for walking away from a fun day of jumping, sans frost bite.

If I’ve missed anything, please chime in down there in the comments.

1.) Make sure you have a good pair of gloves.

-This is one I haven’t fully figured out yet, as my gloves just didn’t cut it. Gloves need to be thin enough so you can still find and grab your hackey to pull out your pilot chute, but thick enough that you’ll be able to feel your hands enough to do so.With incredible wind chill that you experience in freefall, it’s important to have gloves that will not only keep your hands toasty and comfortable, but that will cut the wind. The Nike ACG gloves that I was sporting did little to protect my fingers from stinging and turning bright red post jump. Even with latex gloves underneath, I wasn’t satisfied. Skydiving glove recommendations for this freeze baby are welcome and encouraged.

2.) Wear a full face helmet, if you have access to one.

-My buddy Don wore his new Cookie full face that he loves and it worked well for him. Helmets like that make me feel a little claustrophobic so I’ve stuck with my Bonehead Pimp Daddy that I love. But, by simply adding a balaclava I was totally fine. My face stayed nice and toasty. If you choose this route, do know that your goggles will fog up almost instantly in the plane, but once you’re out there are no fogging issues – even under canopy.

3.) Doing RW? Use your booties!

-As a girl who doesn’t do much RW these days, I find that booties help me stabilize and move more precisely. They also work wonders with keeping my tootsies warm. They help deflect the wind away and protect your feet and ankles (that would have been exposed while wearing my freefly pants).

4.) Check the winds aloft forecast.

-Though it may be fairly calm on the ground, the winds at altitude the last couple times I’ve jumped have been stronger than normal. This leads me to my next point…

5.) Check your SPOT!

-We take for granted that our pilots have GPS and the spots are usually good. Well, when winds at altitude are strong, you want to double check where you’re getting out. This will prevent you from an off landing and waiting in the cold for someone to come pick your ass up.

6.) Carry Chapstick in your pocket.

-Even if the wind isn’t directly hitting your lips, they will feel dry. Some good, protective moisture never hurt anyone.

7.) How about a breath mint?

-You know how your mouth tends to get dry just before leaping out the jump door? Well talk about cotton mouth – it’s worse in the winter. With the dry air at altitude, your skydiving partners will thank you for popping a mint before getting in that cramped little plane.

Hope you found these few little hints helpful. But tell me fellow skydivers, what am I missing when it comes to tips for winter skydiving?

Blue skies!

Ashley

It’s a good thing I like physics

For a girl who’s not much for math, I always gravitated toward physics in high school. Maybe, subconsciously I knew that one day I’d be involved in a sport where a solid background in physics would come in so handy.

At first, it sounds a little funny, but when you think about it, every aspect of a successful skydive can be calculated. After all, physics is the study of matter and its motion through spacetime and all that derives from these, such as energy and force.

In the instance of skydiving, the human is the matter and the fall through the air – both free fall and under canopy – is the motion. The energy and force are elements such as human muscle and wind.

Of course, this is just a very basic overview, but I’ll spare you the details. I’m just learning myself, and what I find out every day is that there is way more to this sport than I ever imagined – even the pros never top learning.

I’m excited for the endless challenge of skydiving and hope you are too!

Blue Skies!

Ashley