Category: Earth

American West – highlight of wingsuiting by Daniel Ristow

American West – highlight of wingsuiting by Daniel Ristow

Here’s a highlight of wingsuiting in the American West throughout 2019. Locations vary from Moab UT, Northern Cascades WA, and Eastern Sierra CA.

Moab is an increasingly popular destination for BASE jumpers and those rigging highlining, who are allowed to practice their sport in the area. About 16 miles (26 km) south of Moab is the “Hole N’ The Rock”, a 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) 14-room home carved into a rock wall which National Geographic has ranked as one of the top 10 roadside attractions in the United States. Moab’s population swells temporarily in the spring and summer months with the arrival of numerous people employed seasonally in the outdoor recreation and tourism industries.

American West - Moab

In recent years, Moab has experienced a surge of second-home owners. The relatively mild winters and enjoyable summers have attracted many people to build such homes throughout the area. In a situation mirroring that of other resort towns in the American West, controversy has arisen over these new residents and their houses, which in many cases remain unoccupied for most of the year. Many Moab citizens are concerned that the town is seeing changes similar to those experienced in Vail and Aspen in neighboring Colorado: skyrocketing property values, a rising cost of living, and corresponding effects on local low- and middle-income workers.

The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Cascade Mountains. The portion in Canada is known to Americans as the Canadian Cascades, a designation that also includes the mountains above the east bank of the Fraser Canyon as far north as the town of Lytton, at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers.

The North Cascades are often referred as the “American Alps” by hikers, climbers and mountaineers because of the sea of steep, jagged peaks that span across the range. This range’s rugged approaches and exceptional alpine terrain make it a premiere training ground for mountain climbers.

The Eastern Sierra is a region in California comprising the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, which includes Mono and Inyo Counties. The main thoroughfare is U.S. Route 395, which passes through Bridgeport, Lee Vining, Bishop, Big Pine, Independence, Lone Pine, and Olancha, with Bishop being the largest city in the area. It is sparsely populated but well known for its scenery; major points of interest include Mono Lake, Bodie, Mammoth Lakes, Manzanar, and parts of Yosemite National Park and Death Valley National Park.

BASE Jumps In South Africa

BASE Jumps In South Africa

The Red Bull Air Force takes the skies and head wingsuit flying down Sentinel and the Eastern Buttress in South Africa. On their journey, they attempt to base jump and wingsuit fly various iconic locations around the country.

The Drakensberg mountain range stretches over 1000 km across South Africa and Lesotho, with its highest peak at 11, 424 feet. This highest portion of the Great Escarpment is known by the local Zulu community as uKhahlamba, Barrier of Spears. The place is renowned for its dramatic peaks, pinnacles and valleys. Experience the Red Bull Air Force soar through this mythical wilderness and watch the backstory behind the first-ever wingsuit flight from two of its most alluring landmarks.

The high slopes are hard to reach so the environment is fairly undamaged. However, tourism in the Drakensberg is developing, with a variety of hiking trails, hotels and resorts appearing on the slopes. Most of the higher South African parts of the range have been designated as game reserves or wilderness areas. Of these the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park was listed by UNESCO in 2000 as a World Heritage site. The park is also in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (under the Ramsar Convention). The Royal Natal National Park, which contains some of the higher peaks, is part of this large park complex. Adjacent to the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site is the 1900 ha Allendale Mountain Reserve which is the largest private reserve adjoining the World Heritage Site and is found in the accessible Kamberg area, the heart of the historic San (Bushman) painting region of the Ukhahlamba.

BASE Jumping Alone with Neil Amonson

BASE Jumping Alone with Neil Amonson

GoPro Athlete, Neil Amonson, travels to Italy to find solitude in his craft. Amonson says, “To actually experience all the things I’m feeling, I have to do it alone.” Get a look into the incredible experience Neil goes through as he sets out to accomplish this solo BASE jump.

Neil Amonson in one minute or less about himself

I spent my first four years out of high school in the Air Force Special Forces. I deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq and finished my enlistment as a decorated combat veteran. My next move was from the east coast where I was raised out to Utah where I could more easily access the things that give me joy, spending time outside and in the air. Two years after moving to Utah I received my Bachelors of Science in Professional Aeronautics, as well as being an air traffic controller and commercial pilot.
Neil Amonson
Since then I have been working for GoPro assisting with marketing, content creation, and product testing. Along the way I have aligned myself with a few other companies who have similiar values to myself and we work together to help make their company great. I have also worked for Google as a contractor working with such projects as Google Glass and Project Loon. I enjoy being challenged, being part of a team, and working in space that allows a lot of creativity and freedom. I take pride in being able to tell a good story though images, weather that be still photos or video. I’m on here looking to expand my network and find other companies who value integrity, hard work, and creativity. Let’s make magic happen.

Miles Daisher – The Lost City of Petra

Miles Daisher – The Lost City of Petra

Watch Miles Daisher BASE jump from the top of the Treasury in Petra, Jordan. Miles BASE jumped from the top of the Treasury in the depth of the Lost City of Petra and landed directly in front of it, in less than 15 seconds, going 20 miles per hour, in a canyon that is 100 feet wide. The challenge was in the short length and altitude of the jump and the incredibly small and tight space that left Miles with little room to be able to escape the walls of the limestone mountains.

About Miles Daisher

Miles Daisher is an accomplished canopy pilot with more than 7,200 skydives and 4,000 BASE jumps, which is more known BASE jumps than anyone on the planet. In 2005, he set a BASE jumping record by launching 57-times in a single day, climbing a total of nearly 29,000 vertical feet and performed a record setting 737 BASE jumps in one year. Miles also created two new sports skyayking and rope swing BASE jumps.

Miles Daisher

Miles has been a professional parachutist since falling in love with canopies in 1995. He is a member of the Red Bull Air Force, a specialized team of expert pilots. Miles is experienced in demonstration jumps, Hollywood stunts, coaching, motivational speaking and aerial camera work.

Twin Falls Idaho home of the I.B. Perrine Bridge has been his home for the past decade where he coaches Miles D’s BASE camp, trains for stunts and jumps for fun. “It’s a magical thing when you fly in the sky” says Miles Daisher.

The Lost City of Petra

Petra originally known to the Nabataeans as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. The city is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved. Petra is one of the New7Wonders of the World.

Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Arab Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan’s most-visited tourist attraction. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who took advantage of Petra’s proximity to regional trade routes to establish it as a major trading hub. The Nabataeans are also known for their great ability in constructing efficient water-collecting methods in the barren deserts and their talent in carving structures into solid rocks. Petra lies on the slope of Jebel al-Madhbah (identified by some as the biblical Mount Hor) in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as “a rose-red city half as old as time” in a Newdigate Prize-winning poem by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage”. Petra was named amongst the New7Wonders of the World in 2007 and was also chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the “28 Places to See Before You Die”.