Over the course of several months, we made repeated runs on our local crane, always under the cover of night. The air was freezing, and every time we touched the cold metal, it burned through our site gloves. Even the smallest knock or bang carried through the quiet streets, alerting late night dog walkers and anyone in nearby houses. We moved carefully, without using any lights 馃槇
Sometimes, the wind or the way the boom was facing meant we landed on the green, which was a trickier angle than the beach, but we always made it down safely. We sessioned this crane for months and with with zero drama 馃馃徏
Cranes are one of my favourite objects to BASE jump from, as they are temporary structures in unique spots and always present a nice challenge. There are various different types of BASE jumping...some jumpers like the mountains, enjoying a long freefall, but I really enjoy urban jumps. Part of the fun for me is working out the access, and then the sneaky peaky of evading security and not getting caught. I find it makes the jump a lot more rewarding.
Accessing sites like this, is 'Civil Trespass', and holds little to no weight here in the UK.
We never damage anything when gaining access. Without going in to the finer details...a telescopic ladder is usually enough, and some decent gloves. If any site managers are reading this, anti climb fences don't really work ;-)
This site did have a security guard, but he was in cabin. The window was open, but as he had the light on, he had little chance of seeing us. Thankfully this site is near a hospital, so it was constant sirens, which meant we could move further up the crane very quickly with all that background noise.
I can't tell you how many times we jumped this crane, but it was a lot. It was just too easy. We had access dialled, and two landing areas. We just had to wait for the right conditions.
What amazes me, is how many people take their dog for a walk at 2am...I mean, I find it bizarre. Almost every time we go to jump off, there is a dog walker, which we have to wait for.
We had to static line jump off this crane due to its height and where it was. A mate did freefall it once by walking to the end of the boom, but it was sketchy, and in my opinion, not worth it.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and enjoy the pics x
