Bridge Day

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BASE jumpers jumping off the bridge Bridge day 2013 216.jpg
BASE jumpers jumping off the bridge
BASE jumpers landing Bridge day 2013 669.jpg
BASE jumpers landing
Crowds enjoying the festivities Bridge day 2013 305.jpg
Crowds enjoying the festivities
BASE jumpers shoot out of a catapult Bridge day 2013 410.jpg
BASE jumpers shoot out of a catapult
Base jumper in wheelchair Bridge day 2013 420.jpg
Base jumper in wheelchair
Base jumpers and repellers Bridge day 2013 468.jpg
Base jumpers and repellers

Bridge Day is an annual one-day festival in Fayetteville, Fayette County, West Virginia, United States [1] The event is coordinated by the New River Gorge Bridge Day Commission, and is sponsored by numerous companies of both local and international significance. [2] The event, held on the third Saturday every October, commemorates the 1977 completion of the New River Gorge Bridge. [3] On this day, all four lanes of the bridge are closed to automobiles and opened to pedestrians. Estimates have 100,000 people attending the overall event. [3]

Contents

The first Bridge Day was held in 1980 and drew a crowd of roughly 40,000. It has been held every year since except for those years: 2001, when it was cancelled because of recent events of 9/11 and the possibility of terrorist attacks; it was also cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

History

United States Army veteran Burton Ervin, considered the father of Bridge Day, jumped from the New River Gorge Bridge on August 17, 1979 at 10:20 p.m. with over 200 spectators in attendance. [4] There is a plaque at the bridge commemorating the event. [5]

BASE jumping

Bridge Day is the only day of the year people are allowed to BASE jump [1] [6] off the bridge into the New River Gorge 876 feet (267 meters) below, one of the few exceptions to a general ban on BASE jumping within the U.S. National Park System. People are also allowed to rappel from the span on Bridge Day. [1] About four hundred BASE jumpers participate in each year's festival. In 2015 the BASE jumping community boycotted the event.[ citation needed ][ why? ]

There have been three deaths and a wingsuit accident during Bridge Day involving BASE jumpers:

Rappelling

Rappelling off the bottom of the bridge has been part of the Bridge Day festivities since 1981.

Bungee jumping

The first confirmed bungee jumper was stunt performer Skip Stanley also known as "Blue Bandit" who leapt from the bridge during the 1985 Bridge Day. [13] In 1992, New Zealander Chris Allum, bungee jumped 823 ft (251 m) from the bridge to set a world's record for the longest bungee jump from a fixed structure, stopping about 40 feet above the river. Also in 1992 a GMC Jimmy SUV was dropped on a bungee for a commercial. [14] In 1993, Chris Allum bungee with six friends in a basket setting a world record for most people in a single bungee jump. However, considerable amount of time required for a bungee jumpers to be reel back up, in which time BASE jumpers are not allowed to jump, prompted the banning of bungee jumping at Bridge Day since 1994. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BASE jumping</span> Sport of jumping from fixed objects using a parachute

BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). Participants exit from a fixed object such as a cliff, and after an optional freefall delay, deploy a parachute to slow their descent and land. A popular form of BASE jumping is wingsuit BASE jumping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bungee jumping</span> Jumping while connected to an elastic cord

Bungee jumping, also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a bridge across a deep ravine, or on a natural geographic feature such as a cliff. It is also possible to jump from a type of aircraft that has the ability to hover above the ground, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter. The thrill comes from the free-falling and the rebound. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the kinetic energy is dissipated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parachute</span> Device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere

A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who can exit from an aircraft at height and descend safely to earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New River Gorge Bridge</span> Bridge in West Virginia, U.S.

The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge 3,030 feet (924 m) long over the New River Gorge near Fayetteville, West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. With an arch 1,700 feet (518 m) long, the New River Gorge Bridge was the world's longest single-span arch bridge for 26 years; it is now the fifth longest; the longest outside of China. Part of U.S. Route 19, its construction marked the completion of Corridor L of the Appalachian Development Highway System. An average of 16,200 motor vehicles cross the bridge each day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smokejumper</span> Skydiving wildland firefighters

Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters who provide an initial attack response on remote wildfires. They are inserted at the site of the fire by parachute. This allows firefighters to access remote fires in their early stages without needing to hike long distances carrying equipment and supplies. Traditional terrestrial crews can use only what they can carry and often require hours and days to reach fire on foot. The benefits of smokejumping include the speed at which firefighters can reach a burn site, the broad range of fires a single crew can reach by aircraft, and the larger equipment payloads that can be delivered to a fire compared to pedestrian crews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wingsuit flying</span> Variant of skydiving

Wingsuit flying is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just free falling. The modern wingsuit, first developed in the late 1990s, uses a pair of fabric membranes stretched flat between the arms and flanks/thighs to imitate an airfoil, and often also between the legs to function as a tail and allow some aerial steering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New River Gorge National Park and Preserve</span> American national park and nature preserve

The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is a unit of the United States National Park Service (NPS) designed to protect and maintain the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains. Established in 1978 as a national river and redesignated in 2020, the park and preserve stretches for 53 miles (85 km) from just downstream of Hinton to Hawks Nest State Park near Ansted.

The Dangerous Sports Club was a group of adventurers and extreme sports pioneers based in Oxford and London, England. They were active from the late 1970s for about ten years, during which they developed modern bungee jumping and experimented with a variety of other innovative sporting activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perrine Bridge</span> Bridge over Snake River in Jerome and Twin Falls counties in Idaho, United States

The I. B. Perrine Bridge is a four-lane truss arch span over the Snake River in the western United States. Located in southern Idaho just north of the city of Twin Falls, it carries U.S. Highway 93 over the Snake River Canyon, connecting Twin Falls County with Interstate 84 in Jerome County.

Michael Pelkey is considered one of the first individuals to influence the mass practice of BASE jumping as a sport, together with fellow skydiver Brian Schubert. Pelkey and Schubert's first jump was made on July 24, 1966, from the summit of El Capitan mountain. Pelkey made his second jump on October 15, 2005, at the 26th annual Bridge Day event where he and Shubert were attending as guest speakers. Pelkey's planned third jump at the 27th annual Bridge Day in 2006 was unperformed due to the death of Schubert, from a parachute malfunction, moments before Pelkey's jump.

Jeb Corliss is an American professional skydiver and BASE jumper. He has jumped from sites including Paris's Eiffel Tower, Seattle's Space Needle, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. He lives in Venice, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skydive Hibaldstow</span>

Skydive Hibaldstow is a parachuting and skydiving drop zone centre in Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire, England. Skydive Hibaldstow is affiliated with the skydiving company British Skydiving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parachuting</span> Action sport of exiting an aircraft and returning to Earth using a parachute

Parachuting and skydiving is a method of transiting from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ueli Gegenschatz</span> Swiss skydiver (1971–2009)

Ueli "The Sputnik" Gegenschatz was a Swiss BASE jumper, paraglider and skydiver who made over 1,500 jumps in his career. Ueli Gegenschatz was known for his expert paragliding, skydiving and BASE jumping and Wingsuit flying, and was considered an idol of the Swiss BASE jumping scene.

Dwain Weston was an Australian skydiver, BASE jumper and wingsuiter. On 5 October 2003, at the end of the inaugural Go Fast Games, Weston died while attempting to fly over the Royal Gorge Bridge near Cañon City, Colorado, United States.

Gary Connery is a British skydiver, BASE jumper, and professional stuntman. Connery has performed stunt-work in numerous films. He has also acted as the stunt-double for Gary Oldman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rowan Atkinson, and John Hurt. He is acknowledged as the first skydiver to land after a wingsuit jump without using a parachute. He made his first parachute jump at age 23, as part of his army training.

H. Truesdell Smith—known variously as "H. T. Smith", "Henry Truesdell Smith", "Harold Truesdell Smith", or "Daredevil Smitty" but best known as "Smitty the Jumper"—was an American exhibition parachutist and skydiver of the 1920s and 1930s. He made periodic returns to skydiving starting in the late 1950s, jumping in every subsequent decade until his death, becoming widely known as "the oldest living skydiver", a title he claimed until his death in 1995 at the age of 96.

Luke Aikins is an American professional skydiver, BASE jumper, pilot, and aerial photographer. He is the first person to intentionally dive from mid-tropospheric altitude and land safely without a parachute or a wingsuit and the second skydiver to intentionally jump and safely land without using a parachute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ski-BASE jumping</span> Base jumping with skis

Ski-BASE jumping is the recreational sport of skiing at a high speed off of a cliff or mountain and free-falling through the air, using a parachute to descend to the ground, therefore combining the two sports of skiing and BASE jumping. Participants often perform tricks or manoeuvres during the freefall and remove their skis mid-air in order to safely deploy the parachute and land.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Green, Diana Kyle (October 2011). "Fayette County High". Wonderful West Virginia: 4–7.
  2. "Archived Document". Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2012-10-01."Official Bridge Day website sponsorship page, ret. 2012-10-01
  3. 1 2 Sullivan 82
  4. Rodriguez Jr., Ismael. "The Father of Bride Day", VFW Magazine , Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Kansas City, Missouri, volume 110, number 5, February 2023, page 32.
  5. Keenan, Steve. "BASE jumping pioneer recognized in Fayette County", The Fayette Tribune online, July 30, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  6. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
  7. 1 2 Complete Bridge Day History
  8. BASE Jumping Fatality List Archived August 31, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Thousands watch as parachute fails during W.Va. Bridge Day event" Associated Press Newswires, 21 October 2006 19:15
  10. "BASE jumper killed during Bridge Day festival". Associated Press. 21 October 2006. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  11. "Death-Defying BASE Jumper, Christopher Brewer, Survives 900 Foot Fall (VIDEO)" Huffpost, 20 October 2011 04:25
  12. "Death-Defying BASE Jumper, Christopher Brewer, Survives 900 Foot Fall (VIDEO)". Huffpost. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  13. 1 2 Young, Jay (Fall 2020). "A Brief History of Bungee". Highland Outdoors.
  14. "GMC Truck Bungee Jumping". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 17 April 2021.

Sullivan, Ken, ed. West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council: Charleston, West Virginia, 2006.

38°4.1′N81°5.0′W / 38.0683°N 81.0833°W / 38.0683; -81.0833