Fear is the obvious feeling to experience as you prepare to jump hundreds of feet off a bridge,
but that was not my experience.
I felt nothing but anticipation. Dave Helton tightened the harness around me, explaining
everything as he did so. He sat me on a bench at the Visitor’s Center and verbally explained the
process from beginning to end. We ran through the landing process three times. Grab the
harness. Lift the legs. Brace for landing.
Once I had signed my contract, he led me over to the Perrine Bridge, where we did a short
interview and took some photos with the Snake River Canyon behind me. With my family
following us, cameras at the ready, we followed the steps onto the bridge and out to nearly the
midpoint.
I looked over the railing at the Snake River stretching below, and the “landing zone” off to the
side of it. The people paddling along in neon kayaks were barely recognizable from the height.
“Are you scared yet?” my husband asked. I smiled and shook my head at his slightly pale face.
Dave set up his jumping contraption, “The Beast”, which allows a direct jump from above the
railing, as opposed to an awkward climbing-over-the-railing-while-attached-to-another-person
situation. (It also makes the jump a few feet higher, so the initial drop lasts longer!)
Again, he ran me through the whole process and explained everything as he checked all the
safety mechanisms. We climbed up the steps of The Beast and Dave did one more check to
ensure everything was securely in place and ready for jumping.
This whole time I was faced away from the railing with Dave behind me. When the time finally
came, we slowly turned 180 degrees.
That was the moment I felt fear.
I was suddenly staring into the endless empty air between me and the canyon floor. There was
no railing, no barrier, and hundreds and hundreds of feet to the ground.
Dave told me to put my toes over the edge and bend my knees, and even though my mind was
completely blank, I somehow managed to do so.
Because Dave is smart and knew that we were at the point of no return, he didn’t give me much
time to think. He asked if I was ready and began to count down and we leaned forward and my
feet left the platform and then we were falling.
I don’t really remember screaming or kicking my legs, but according to the video, that is what I
did. For approximately four seconds the thrill of freefall grasped me, and then the parachute
released and we were flying.
We glided above the river in one of the most surreal moments of my life. I’ve been to the canyon
hundreds of times, but it took on a whole new perspective from that point of view. For the next
minute of our landing, I was in complete awe.
Once we landed and unhooked from our harnesses, we made the hike back up the canyon. I
couldn’t stop smiling the entire way back. The combination of adrenaline and pride in my
accomplishment had me feeling like I could take on the world.
I can’t wait for the next time I Base Jump the Bridge.
…
Not only is Dave Helton with Base Jump The Bridge a funny, awesome guy, but he really went
out of his way to make sure that I (and my panicked husband and parents) felt comfortable and
confident in my safety. He has a lot of background with the sport and I never questioned that he
was totally in control of the situation the entire time. I could not have asked for a better base
jumping experience!
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