Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland sets the stage. A playground for big kids that like to do cool stuff. On a nice summer day, Beni and Barry picked up some great footage flying together. Beni flying Spitfire 6 and Barry his trusty Tony Suit X-Bird.

We’re super psyched about this latest project. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” is a series of interviews with prominent female BASE jumpers, done by author Cynthia Lynn, with gorgeous pictures of gorgeous women doing gorgeous BASE jumps. These women just f-ing rock and we’re so excited to bring you their stories, all thanks to the equally rockin’ Cynthia.

Anniken Binz, the first big girl who doesn't cry

If you have your issue #22 already, you’ve read about the woman who started it all, Anne Helliwell, and Anniken Binz. Next month, get ready for Karen Lewis Dalton. You can read more about the project over at Cynthia’s blog, Cynthia Lynn Chronicles, where she has loads more interviews, stories and approximately 384 ways for you to avoid doing work on a Monday morning.

Huge thanks to Cynthia for letting us have access to the time, work and spirit she’s put into the project, and to the ladies for letting us show the world a bit of what makes them tick, jump and live. We hope you enjoy!

The Jump4Heroes guys have recently returned from a BASE jumping trip in Italy.  They’ve put together this stunning video that we just have to share with you.  They did this all for charity trying to raise awareness for those that serve or have served their country.  If you like it then please share it.  
And if you really like it then please ask your friends to share it so we can help them get the message out there.  

And if you want to see the TV interview then just click THIS AWESOME LINK RIGHT HERE!

A tipster tipped us off to this tidbit of tippery this week.

Loop parachutist falls into the arms of the law
By William Lee Tribune reporter
2:41 p.m. CDT, April 3, 2011

A Chicago police officer must have thought he was seeing things when he spotted a parachute-wearing man early this morning drifting down to a Loop street from a skyscraper construction site.
The alert Central District cop heard a popping noise in the air in the 100 block of West Wacker Drive around 2:40 a.m. Seconds later, he spotted a man slowly falling to the ground by a parachute, according to police spokesman Officer John Mirabelli.
Police said the downtown daredevil appeared to have leaped from the unconstructed shell of the Waterview Tower and Shangri-La Hotel, a high-end condominium/hotel resort at which construction sputtered to a halt in 2009, during the nation’s economic woes. Only about 26 floors of the planned 90-floor project had been completed.
After making sure the 44-year-old man was uninjured, the officer took the man into custody. The parachutist, Shaun Walters, of Ottawa, was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.
Walters was unavailable for comment.

Naughty, naughty, Mr. Walters!

Matt Gerdes has a new book out, “The Great Book of BASE.” Awesome title, and awesome video from him with some of his recent escapades. That’s right, “escapades.” The word just rolls off the tongue so nicely. Much like the drool that comes after watching the video.

God bless a bastion of journalistic excellence like the New York Daily News for leading off their story (note awesomely snarky URL) with that line. And making it seem as if his lawyer’s response to “Will Jeb try to jump any other New York landmarks?” is “He’s going to jump out of a plane and land without a parachute while wearing a squirrel suit.”

"2006_04_empireidiot.jpg" from gothamist.com.

In any case, the verdict is in and Jeb Corliss is not welcome at the Empire State Building. Ever. Again.

AP: Judge bans daredevil Jeb Corliss from ever stepping foot into Empire State Building

BASE jumping.  The activity itself is often shrouded in mystery, especially for the uninitiated.  We skydivers are vaguely aware of them, but the where/when/how is usually not shared and therefore rarely witnessed.
That elusive hour, just when the hint of dawn begins to color the sky, belongs to the BASE jumpers.  At least here in Florida.  As a sub-species of the People of the Sky tribe, I think we can all agree that responsible BASE jumpers are like, totally cool.

Director Marah Strauch of Scissor Kick Films is working on putting together a non-fiction feature film, aiming to capture what it feels like to jump off a building, cliff or a bridge, and walk away alive.  She wants to capture the essence of life, of freedom, of what it feels like to defy gravity for a moment and fly.
This is a huge project and Marah and her team are currently working to raise funds to be able to complete the work – specifically they are launching a fundraiser focused on the restoration and transfer to HD of the Carl Boenish film archive.

Please visit their Kickstarter fundraising page, where you can also get more information about the project.  In Marah’s words, this film is meant to be more than a simple history of BASE, it is to be a film that will inspire BASE jumpers and non-BASE jumpers alike to follow their dreams.  And here is her brand new blog.

Best of luck to the Gravity film team, we look forward to see the final product!

Baffin Island, Canada

The month-long Baffin Island BASE Expedition is on right now! Check out that link for a lot of cool information, including an up-to-date blog, mission info, team member profiles and photos and videos from the last trip to the island in 2008.

The team includes some pretty big names in the BASE world, including the PD Factory Team’s own Jay Moledzki. We were also really psyched to see so many chicks on the team. Yay, chicks!

Good luck to the whole expedition!

Jump 4 Heroes

See the TV interview below and a short edit of the jumps below that.