Recap: Bridge Day 2009 - Day 2
30 Years in the Making
Saturday, Oct. 17th was Bridge Day’s 30 year anniversary! The event has been commemorating the New River Gorge Bridge’s completion since 1979. I could barely sleep the night before. I knew that I only had a few hours, so I just tried to relax. At 4:00am the alarm went off! I awoke to the blackness of the hotel room. Normally I would want to keep hitting the snooze button for another hour, but on Bridge Day I had too much energy, and too many things to do.
Pancake Breakfast
Dustin and I got everything packed and ready and we were on the road by 5:00am. According to the schedule there was a 5:30am Pancake Breakfast at the Fayetteville American Legion. We wanted to make sure we got there in time to beat the rush of people, and hopefully get some interviews. Well, we got there at exactly 5:30 and no one was around! We walked inside and the men working said that they wouldn’t be ready for at least another 45 minutes!!!
We walked back to the car in the darkness of the early morning. Dustin thought I might have gotten the schedule wrong, but I took another look and sure enough it said Pancake Breakfast 5:30am. Then we turned around and saw a sign that said Pancake Breakfast 6:00am. I guess there was a change. So we went to the gas station to grab 
a few things and then came back.
6:00am: There were still no hungry lines of people. We got our microwaved pancakes and sat down in an empty dining room. The sausage wasn’t bad, and I was hungry so I sucked it all down within a few minutes. We left around 6:30 and still there were only a couple of people coming in to eat. I must have hyped up the breakfast in my mind. Apparently no one gets up at 4am to eat pancakes on Bridge Day :)
On The Bridge
We ended up parking at the New River Gorge Visitor Center and we sat in the car until 8:00am. It was rainy, cold and foggy. We decided there wasn’t much we could do until things cleared up a bit. At about 8:20am we walked out onto the New River Gorge Bridge. We had to pass a security check and wave our media passes. The bridge was basically empty except for a small gathering around the launch point.
We had a short conversation with a couple of US Marshals. They said that in all of the years they worked the event, they had never seen so few people on the bridge at that hour. Normally the bridge was already crawling with people at 8:00am. We figured it would pick up as the day went on and the weather 
improved.
The view of the gorge from the bridge was impressive. You could even see some of the rapids that are so popular with the whitewater rafters. As we approached the jumping platform we could see a line of BASE jumpers gearing up and getting excited. There was a lot of energy and nervous tension building as 9:00am and the first jump were nearing.
Miles Daisher (Red Bull Air Force)
The first jumper that we had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing was Miles Daisher of the Red Bull Air Force. Miles has made over 3000 skydives and over 2400 BASE jumps (unofficially more than anyone else in the world). On Bridge Day he was totally stoked and ready to jump. We had a great little interview that included a lot of “WooHoos” and laughter. Make sure to check 
Miles out in the video episode when it is uploaded in the next couple of weeks!
Later on in the day I got to see Miles make a landing where he nailed the 3ft target circle. Not an easy feat, considering that many jumpers ditched in the water and had hard landings on the rocks. Ouch! Thanks again Miles for your enthusiasm and taking the time to talk.
First Jumps
At 9:00am the first BASE jump of Bridge Day 2009 took place. It was an ash jump by Paul and Lonnie in memory of their friend Dan ‘Danger’ Mathie. For more on their jump read Skydive Chick’s post here. From that point on there was a jump every 
30 seconds to 2 minutes until 3:00pm. It was amazing to see all of the experienced and first time BASE jumpers out there doing their thing.
Some of the jumpers held their little pilot chute and threw it as they jumped. Others free fell 1 to 3 seconds before pulling their chute. I was blown away at how far some of them would fall before opening. A few of the low openers were unable to make it back to the landing zone. They had to ditch in the water, and a few landed in the trees. Luckily there were 4 boats and plenty of rescuers to help recover everyone quickly.
Shuttle to the LZ
After about 45 minutes of shooting jumpers from the top of the Bridge we decided to take the shuttle to the bottom of the gorge and capture some landings and interviews. We walked past all of the fair food and apparel vendors and finally found a shuttle stop several hundred yards from the bridge. We jumped on and took a wild ride down the mountain that lasted 20 to 30 minutes.
Our driver was very experienced and had driven for Bridge Day for several years. Some of the turns on the mountain were so sharp that we actually had to back up several times for the bus to make them. The view was beautiful. At points you could look out of the bus window and see straight down to the water. We finally arrived at the bottom and hopped out in search of the LZ.
Hard Landings
There was a large tarpped area where the jumpers were re-packing their gear. We walked past them down to the landing zone and setup our gear to get some shots of the incoming jumpers.
I was surprised at how many jumpers ditched into the water. I soon realized that many of them were simply avoiding landing on the gravel LZ to save themselves from broken bones. There were at least two people that did break their legs when we were at the bottom. One of the rangers that was working the event told us 
that earlier in the day one of the jumpers went face first into a tree! They had to be taken to the hospital for stitches. Yikes!
There were many other hard landings where the jumpers slid onto their hands and rolled onto their sides. Landing is one of the most dangerous parts of BASE jumping, and one of the reasons that you should have plenty of canopy / landing experience before you attempt one. There were also plenty of soft landings by the more experienced jumpers. They make it look easy, but don’t be fooled!
Interviews
After a little boat ride to get some more shots from the river, Dustin and I made our way back to the packing area. Here we captured some post-jump footage. Then we started to eye up the crowd for some potential interviewees.
Alexander Polli (BASE Jumper)
First up was Alex. He was bouncing around with energy and gave us a nice flash of his ripped pants. We called him over and he was happy to give us a quick interview before he ran off to make his last jump of the day. Alex had been BASE jumping for about 6 months at that point. He said that he had the desire to jump ever since he saw the videos of wing suit jumpers. He couldn’t believe it was real. Alex also said that he had to make a lot of sacrifices to get to where he was, but that he’s living his passion.
Thanks again Alex! Check him out in the coming episode!
Ashley Mead (Skydive Chick)
Ashley has been skydiving since April of 2009. She made her first jump at the end of a vacation and has been hooked ever since. Ashley had about 64 skydives at the time Bridge Day 2009 took place, so she was just scoping things out, enjoying the festivities, and taking photos of her friends. She hopes to make her first BASE jump at next years Bridge Day event, and she plans on landing in the water.
I asked Ashley how she afforded the sport. She said that she temporarily went in debt to get all of the gear and training, but that it was well worth it in the end. Ashley has a blog chronicling her skydiving experience at www.SkydiveChick.com. Check it out!
She got me so excited about making my first skydive that I scheduled the jump for November 8th 2009 at Canton Air Sports. I can’t wait. Thanks again Ashley for a great interview!
Last Jumps of the Day
1:30pm: After mingling with some more jumpers and rappellers, we decided to head back to the top of the bridge and get shots of the last jumpers. We captured 
some great photos and footage. We were even lucky enough to capture Alexander Polli’s last jump of the day. What a jump it was! A double back flip and a low opening. Way to go, man!
The crowds thinned out and the last jumper jumped. Dustin and I grabbed a gyro and ribbon fries on the way out and ate until we were sick. What a great day!
Thank you Bridge Day! Thanks to everyone that participated in the first Traventure. And a special thanks to everyone that did an interview with us! Until next year, happy jumping!
Traventure Man
John Jurko II
