Arco

Arco is as amazing as ever, even in winter. Our good friend Leo Houlding came from England, to join us for jumping at Brento and climbing in Arco. Two days ago, it was too windy to jump, but clear and sunny. We were able to climb at Massone, a beautiful sport climbing crag, in shorts in the sun.

I’m always amazed at the sheer volume of spectacular limestone climbing in Europe, and in Arco in particular. And you can’t ask for nicer coffee shops, restaurants, and company at the cliffs. The Italians are so friendly and cheerful, and there are climbers from all over Europe at every crag.

Yesterday, the temperatures dropped so cold that our water bottles are freezing up in the shade, but a big base jumping crew arrived from Slovenia, Austria, and Croatia. I made my first terminal BASE jump off Brento, one of the best BASE jumping destinations in the world. First you do a very nice one hour hike up through a beautiful forest, and then you are standing at the edge of a steep, massive limestone cliff. And then you jump off it

For me, having only done short, subterminal BASE jumps so far, the free fall part was wonderful. But it was very intimidating to be flying my parachute for so long after I deployed, hoping I would make it over the trees and over to the landing meadow next to a vineyard–and not IN the vineyard, which is full of frightening concrete spikes and wire and gnarled vines. But it is an incredible feeling to take a few steps off the edge of the cliff, and then find myself actually flying through the air, in a tracking position, looking at the walls and the ground below me, with time to make decisions and think before I deploy my parachute. Now I can see why terminal BASE jumps are so much fun, though I still love the wonderful short jumps in Moab….. As with every addictive sport, there are so many different forms, all of which demand other skill sets. It’s fascinating to taste the various disciplines, and see how different they all are.

Today was another cold, cold day, but perfect conditions for jumping. All the jumpers meet up at a coffee bar in the morning, which is conveniently located across the road from the landing field, and pool together to hire a van to drive us the forty minutes to the trail to the top of Mount Brento. The hour hike uphill is a blessing when it’s this cold!

We had about twelve jumpers in the group today, many of them flying wingsuits.

Robert Pecnik, the man behind Phoenix Fly wingsuits, is here from Slovenia. He made my Vampire, personally! It’s amazing to watch him fly a wingsuit off this cliff. Dean is in a Vampire, Leo wearing a tracking suit, and me tracking in regular clothes (I don’t have a tracking suit yet, and am toying with the idea of using my old, small wingsuit after a few more jumps, if things keep going well. Robert says, “go for it, why not?!” Hmmmmmm……)

Thank goodness for BASE jumping, because in the last two days, it has been far too cold to climb. Diversifying these cliff-centered sports is so practical!