Just finishing up our annual base jumping trip to Norway. Once again it was mind blowing. Traveling with base jumper friends JT Holmes and Cliff Ryder (yes that is his real name) and our Norwegian buddy Tom Erik Heimen. Norway is stunningly beautiful. I highly recommend a visit there sometime. We made 18 base jumps in 16 days and hiked up a total of around 16,000 meters. We only didn’t hike 2 days and that was due to needing to drive to the next town. Tons of fun charging up mountains with Norwegian base jumpers. They are all in very good shape. It is common to see old men and women 1,000 meters up in the mountains in places you would NEVER see Americans hiking let alone old ones. The Norwegians were always joking about the typical fat, lazy American. They decided that because their country is so rich they are going to take over The U.S. by buying McDonalds and then giving away free hamburgers all day every day and then watch us eat ourselves to death.

We did some very cool flights in Voss and in Stryn. One really great canyon flight and then ended the trip in the Romsdalen area where base jumping has some deep roots and a lot of history. Here we entered the World Base Race which is basically a wing suit speed flying competition to see who is the fastest flying human in the world. Very very cool and exciting competition. It is head to head, duel format heats. First guy across the vertical finish line wins and moves on to the next round. Amazingly I placed 2nd and won 1,000 Euros! So for 1 year I can claim to be the 2nd fastest flying human in the world!

JT and Cliff also entered and flew very well but everyone who weren’t flying Vampire suits didn’t stand a chance against them. The Vampire wing suit is incredibly fast. They were jumping the S-Fly Expert suit which is a very easy, fun and great suit for proximity flying. We stayed with some Norwegian friends in Romsdalen who’s kids became our cheering section and fan club. Very cute little girls! When we were in the town of Stryn we were able to rent a very cheap car from a friend of a  friend of a friend. Everyone said that it suited our loud American style.

It was another great trip and an incredible learning experience. Norway will be on the schedule for years to come now!

-Shane McConkey

Shane McConkey spent the fourth of July flying over Norway.

Yesterday, Shane McConkey, J.T. Holmes, Miles Daisher and Jesse Hall jumped off the roof of the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, Nevada. Skiing off a ramp, they launched into the air, throwing flips and smacking skis to asphalt in the parking lot below. Sometimes, wind would blow the jumpers backward on landing, toppling them over if they weren’t grabbed by friends in time. Each jumper made two jumps, with one sketchy situation between them. On the second flip of his second jump, Jesse Hall’s ski got caught in his parachute. He slammed down two blocks from the parking lot, hurting his knee, but walking away.
Check out my photos here >>

My friend, Grant Kaye, shared this article about the psychology of base jumpers. It mentions that base jumpers and other risk-takers tend to have lower levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, and that risk-taking activities help boost these levels. This seems to be a characteristic of the Type T personality. My website development company is named after this risk-taking personality type and you can read a little more about that on the home page of my website >>