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Skis are Wings
by: Jesse Hall
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The first time I ski base jumped Jackson was in 2006 with my good friend Tyler. We were new to the sport and super stoked! I had only been base jumping for about a year at that point and had done around 150 jumps so, we knew everything, of course (ha ha ha).
A few days before, we had ski base jumped Jamie Pierre‘s 250 foot cliff which was the tallest cliff ever skied off of without a parachute but of course..... we had our parachutes because..... we’re not crazy or anything!
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On the short drive over to Jackson, we saw the huge cliff from the road and knew it would be a lot more exciting then the 250 foot cliff....
This thing was big....... at least 500 feet with time for a flip or two before we had to open our parachutes! The jumps we made that day were so epic and memorable, we have returned almost every year since to make the jump again.
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This years trip, 14 years later, was just as exciting as my first slide off the cliff! We assembled the crew in Salt Lake and left early in hopes of jumping that day.
We caught one of the first few trams to the top of the mountain and headed into the back country with a lot of anticipation. When we arrived at the top of the cliff, we realized we were going to have a lot of work building the jump we needed. This season, the wind was strong and scoured the snow away from the top of the cliff.
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Without hesitation, everyone pulled out shovels and started working hard and by the end of the day the jump was built!
By that time it had started to snow, and the light was getting low.... along with everyone’s energy. Everyone else in the crew was going to make their first ever ski base jumps so, I thought it was the right call to get some rest and come back the next morning. Just before we left, I looked at the jump and had a really good feeling about it.
So, I put my parachute on and decided to send it!
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