Sunshine Superman-film about the origins of BASE on CNN

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BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 16, 2016 - 05:15pm PT

It will be on CNN tomorrow night (1-17-16) at 9:00pm eastern. I've heard that it is a great film, and there will be some people most of us know in it. Largo's voice is in it, I know that.

It is mainly about Carl and Jean Boenish, who started BASE along with Phil Smith, Phil Mayfield, and a handful of others, like the Harrison twins. They are getting up there in years (it was around 1980-1984 after all), but it will be great to see old mentors.

I guided Phil Smith up the East Butt of El Cap once and we jumped off. He barely knew how to climb and belay, but did great. Then he made me wait until broad daylight to jump. Out of those photos, one went to Patagonia and more recently ended up in their coffee table book of Patagonia pic through the years. So I guess it was worth it, although I was freaked about doing it in broad daylight. The bust factor was high, but we had a good plan that worked.

Anyway, I was lucky to learn from these folks. Carl died the year before I began, but I got to know Jean fairly well. We used to hang out at her house in Hawthorne and used her trampoline to practice aerials and stuff.

The film got great reviews, was picked up by Magnolia Pictures, and then further picked up by CNN films.

It is mainly about Carl and Jean. Like I said, I missed meeting Carl by a year, but got to know Jean well. The number of hardcore jumpers back then couldn't have been more than 25.

Carl was THE best freefall cameraman of his time using 18mm gun cameras mounted on big Bell helmets. He put them all over everyone and got some incredible footage of the very first building and other jumps.

So turn on your TV for an hour and check it out. Largo is in it because he was filming Carl in Norway, including his last jump, when he died. Carl was goofy as hell. Jean was a little more down to earth, but also similarly motivated. It really was a cool time. Just a few people started BASE in a short period of time. Within a couple of years, people were jumping off of everything that they could get away with. And some that they got busted on.

thebravecowboy

climber

The Good Places

Jan 17, 2016 - 09:43am PT

this looks good. confrontation with self-imposed limits being good and all.

climber

Cardiff by the sea

Jan 17, 2016 - 11:39am PT

Nice! Thank you for the heads up BASE104. I wanted to see this film when it premiered a few months ago but couldn't get it together. I have my TV programed to record this evening, can't wait to view it.

johntp

Trad climber

socal

Jan 17, 2016 - 11:52am PT

Got it on record. Looking forward to it.

Rob Roy Ramey

Trad climber

Colorado

Jan 17, 2016 - 01:27pm PT

Charlie Row and I were on the 5th ascent of the Mescalito Wall in August 1978. From the belay, Charlie noticed someone on a ladder or frame hanging over the edge of El Cap, a thousand feet above. From my position, I could not see it. My only warning was the incredible whooshing sound as the first jumper went past. That day we witnessed the birth of BASE jumping as Carl's team fell past us, tracking away from the wall, and pulled their chutes.

Charlie's recollection: "Rob, those are the guys. I later met 2 of them briefly a couple days after topping out. My memory, and it's still very sharp, we were at our last hammock bivy, 2-1/2 pitches below the Bizmark Tower & you had the lead! They did shoot us as well from the top & the meadow. Cool stuff."

BLUEBLOCR

Social climber

joshua tree

Jan 17, 2016 - 05:44pm PT

^^^ Nice pics & post!!

been lookin forward to it Base104! It's been advertised a zillion times on cnn. i just wonder why they are showing it?

anyway, Woot Woot!

Tom

Big Wall climber

San Luis Obispo CA

Jan 17, 2016 - 05:58pm PT

My only warning was the incredible whooshing sound as the first jumper went past.

Yeah, that'll get your attention. Big rocks don't have the same flapping sound as clothing, but it's still unnerving as hell if the jumpers are coming right at you.

zBrown

Ice climber

Jan 17, 2016 - 06:14pm PT

Almost forgot, thanks.

John M

climber

Jan 17, 2016 - 07:56pm PT

Thoroughly enjoyed that.

Batrock

Trad climber

Burbank

Jan 17, 2016 - 08:40pm PT

All the El Cap footage was backward or reversed. Took me a second to figure out why it looked so off.

BLUEBLOCR

Social climber

joshua tree

Jan 17, 2016 - 11:13pm PT

Wow that is a Great film!
Really really well done.

climber

Cardiff by the sea

Jan 18, 2016 - 08:53am PT

Yes great film. How infectious was Carls enthusiasm towards his movement with BASE?

And I did trip on how some of the footage of El Cap was backwards

throwpie

Trad climber

Berkeley

Jan 18, 2016 - 08:54am PT

Does anyone know the details of Rick Sylvesters el cap ski jump in the 70s? (70s?) It was an instant legend but I've never heard about from anyone who was involved.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 18, 2016 - 09:31am PT

Without Carl, BASE would have taken much longer to develop. There were no go pros back then. There weren't even video cameras. You had to use his 16mm gun cameras, which weighed a ton and had a big battery pack on your belly. He spread those early BASE videos to every DZ in the world. It didn't take long to explode.

Wow. That was great. I got to see some of my old friends again in the film. I never met Carl, though. In 1983, Tom Cosgriff jumped right over Duane Raleigh and me on Mescalito. It looked unreal. I HAD to do that. The next year we trained for and spent the summer in the alps. In 1985 I started BASE jumping.

Now I feel like I met Carl. I had already seen almost all of the jumping related stuff before, but not the personal stuff.

I got to know Jean after his death. We used to jump LA all night and jump on her trampoline during the day. She was like a mother hen to us. We were second generation jumpers.

Her reflective part near the end was great. She never talked about it with us back then.

I still keep in touch with some of the others.

Anyway, great film. Very accurate and not testosterone driven baloney.

zBrown

Ice climber

Jan 18, 2016 - 09:38am PT

tPie

There's some info here. Ask mfm.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2468630/James-Bond-Stunt-Rick-Sylvester-Off-the-Ledge-Mt-Asgard

Gunkie

climber

Jan 18, 2016 - 10:05am PT

Also a reversed shot of half dome from Glacier point. Weirdness on those reversals; almost like a different place. Carl Boenish was certainly a visionary.

The thing I noticed about BASE jumpers is the huge noise they make when ripping by. I was jugging our fixed line fro Camp 4 to the base of the great roof in the very early morning trying to get a jump on the day and two BASE jumpers went by. I first thought my anchor was failing. Scared the crap outta me. I've never BASE jumped, but do the jumpers hear the same noise as climbers do?