Difference between revisions of "Aizhai Bridge/Page 4"
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Revision as of 22:19, 30 October 2012
Bertrand comes in for a landing. But where is Lonnie? Image by by Bertrand Cloutier.
It turns out Lonnie landed safely upstream of the landing platform. Image by Bertrand Cloutier.
A rescue team brings him back across the DeHang River. Image by Bertrand Cloutier.
A CCTV news reporter interviews Lonnie. Image by Bertrand Cloutier.
Image by Bertrand Cloutier.
Image by Denise Sanders.
Image by Bertrand Cloutier.
Image by Bertrand Cloutier.
Canadian and Salt Lake City native Suzanne Graham is unique as the world's only female who can do BASE jumping with skis which adds a new dimension of thrills and danger to the sport. She also enjoys skydiving, speedflying, rock climbing and downhill mountain biking. Image by Suzanne Graham.
Image by Lika.
Henry Boger is pumped to jump! Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Lika.
The spectacular 3-way jump with Malachi Templeton, XXXX and Andrey Boldyrev. Image by Kerkko Halme.
Malachi lands on target. Image by Lika.
Andrey Boldyrev made the most dramatic landing of the event with a sharp bank over the crowd before a quick dive down to an open cornfield next to the main platform. Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Can you count the 5 female jumpers? From left to right are Ana (legs), Denise, Lika, Suzanne and XXXX. Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Brice falls backwards. Image by Doug Frutos.
Image by Doug Frutos.
Image by Douggs.
Australian Chris 'Douggs' McDougall is one of the most famous BASE jumpers of all time with more then 2,000 jumps made in every corner of the globe. He is also a skydiving champion, surfer, climber, speed flyer, paraglider, skateboarder, musician and videographer. Douggs has written a great book on his adventures and is currently working on the ultimate BASE film. Check out his website at www.basedreams.com Image by Douggs.
Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Jeremy Brice.
Gary Cunningham prepares to jump in his signature white helmet. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Gary's landing made some noise with his successful stomping of two balloons. Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Image by Jennifer Dembinski.
Image by Ana Ortiz.
Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Jimmy Pouchert blows a kiss to the Chinese viewers. While it was no surprise that such a large event was carried live on China's government owned CCTV, it was the private Hunan Television network that made it one of the most seen BASE events in history. The network that began as just another local provincial station has rapidly grown into what is now the second most seen television network in all of China after CCTV-1. The meteoric rise of Hunan TV was largely due to their successful creation of Western-style reality, talent, dance and game shows that were geared for a younger audience. Producing offbeat shows in a country dominated by bland state-run media was a gamble that paid off. The final live episode of their "Super Girls" knockoff of "Britain's Got Talent" drew an incredible 400 million viewers. In 10 years the network has seen its overall viewership increase from 65 to 880 million viewers and is now available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, France, Mexico, Brazil and Taiwan. Image by Douggs.
Image by Jimmy Pouchert.
BASE couple Jimmy Pouchert and Marta Empinotti are two of the world's most experienced jumpers and instructors. They each have more then 1,000 jumps at places as remote as Angel Falls and Mexico's Cave of the Swallows. Jimmy has also jumped into the Super Bowl as well as performing a rare reverse bungee into a BASE jump at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. On their website you can read about the early years from Jimmy's amazing transformation from a skydiver in the small dropzone of Rifle, Colorado to freeflying expert to BASE gear manufacturer and instructor as well as Marta's progression from a skydiving instructor to becoming the co-founder of Vertigo, one of the first BASE manufactures in the world. They are now co-owners of APEX BASE at https://www.apexbase.com/. Image by Ana Ortiz.
Image by Jennifer Dembinski.
Chinese photographers swarm the landing platform! Image by Jennifer Dembinski.
Mick Knutson takes the leap. Mick is a computer engineer, consultant, designer and developer who created the first BASE jump internet board ever - BLINC. Check it out at http://www.blincmagazine.com/forum/content/ Image by Douggs.
Benjamin and Mick. Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Western blonde women are a rare site for these local rescue workers! Image by Bradley "Patto" Patfield.
Image by Ana Ortiz.
Image by Adele.
Image by Adele.
Jason Bell was one of the few who got to jump from the Sunward bucket. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Douggs.
A view of Jason some 225 feet below the deck. Just 876 feet to go! Image by Adele.
S. Mueller bumps hands with Peter Andexlinger. Mueller was the official technical adviser of the event and has organized several other Chinese BASE gatherings including the 2008 Tiankeng Cave and 2012 Balinghe Bridge events. Image by Peter Andexlinger.
Peter approaches the landing platform. Image by Peter Andexlinger.
Chilean Ramón Alejandro enjoys balloons, beer and babes though not necessarily in that order. Image by Peter Andexlinger.
Vados Pupkin falls backwards from the bucket. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
The entire town of Aizhai fills the background below Vados. Image by Adele.
Mueller was the final jumper to leap from the bridge just past 4pm. Image by Adele.
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Image by Benjamin Souchard.
Image from Denise Sanders.
Image by Lika.
Image by Kerkko Halme.
Image by Ana Ortiz.
"Where is your passport?" Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Michael Greer.
Image by Lika.
Image from Vados Pupkin.
The variety of unusual Chinese beers is no surprise as China surpassed the U.S. in beer consumption in 2012 for the first time ever. Image by Jeremy Brice.
Image by Ana Ortiz.
A group photo of the female BASE jumpers gets everyone's attention! Image by Kerkko Halme.
Image by Ken Miller.
Image by Kerkko Halme.
Image by Vados Pupkin.
The wall of signatures back at the Jishou City Hotel. Image by Lika.
Image by Leander Lacey.
SEPTEMBER 17 - ZHANGJIAJIE NATIONAL PARK!
Image by Denise Sanders.
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Doug Frutos and his friendly flying squirrel. A BASE jumper for more then 10 years, Doug is also a professional bungee rigger who has more then 3,000 bungee jumps from dozens of bridges and other structures in the U.S. - especially in the Pacific Northwest. He has also done BASE jumps in Norway, Switzerland, France, Malaysia and Mexico. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Doug's squirrel takes a flight down one of the spectacular gondola's in Zhangjiajie National Park. Image by Doug Frutos.
Ian Chen with some of the trip volunteers. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
SEPTEMBER 18 - TIANMEN MOUNTAIN PARK!
The amazing gondola ride to the top of Tianmen Mountain. The death-defying descent from the top has been experienced by several BASE jumpers, most notably Jeb Corliss who is one of an elite group of jumpers to attend the first ever Wingsuit Flying Championships that took place just a few weeks after the Aizhai event. Corliss also flew through the famous Tianmen Mountan "Hole" earlier this year. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
You can see images from the 2012 Wingsuit event here: http://english.zhangjiajie.gov.cn/?action_viewnews_itemid_1583_page_1.html
Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
The new Tianmen Mountain Skywalk is the highest of its type in the world allowing guests to walk across glass panels next to a cliff with a vertical drop of 870 feet/265 meters to the talus slope below. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Mueller, Brice and Frutos don some booties to prevent the glass from getting scratched. Image by Jeremy Brice.
Paul Brain floats in space! Image by Peter Andexlinger.
Another cantilever overlook along the edge of Tianmen Mountain. The section of cliffwalk in the background behind us drops over 1,000 vertical feet. Image by S. Mueller.
A complex group of waterwheels along the entrance to the Yellow Dragon Cave. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
A beautiful arch bridge crosses over the boat ride along the cave walkway. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
A multi-media live theater show is housed within this cool-looking building near the cave. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Our final day at the 5-star Pullman Hotel in Zhangjiajie National Park. Image from Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com
Look for a video of the entire 2012 Aizhai Bridge event soon!