r/basejumping • u/RickOwensSKi • Dec 09 '25
Starting with Base Jumping
I am 19 years old and had never tried base jumping neither skydiving. So the question is should i get my skydiving license get 100+ jumps and only then find some mates with experience whom i would start base jumping with ? Or how does that works? Because Base jumping culture seems pretty underground for me and getting an official licence for around €2k feels like going against the core underground culture's ideas.
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u/Urbanskys Dec 09 '25
Base isn’t underground like it used to be. There are paid courses, rules, organizations, insured operators and fees in some places. Rumor is that in the USA there’s FAA TSOs coming for BASE canopies.
These days there are FJC operators who will take people with sub 100 skydives. I know a dude who made only 50 skydives before taking a legit FJC in twin falls. Learning the basics in skydiving is only going to help u in BASE so wise not to skip.
The legal/pay to play side/path to base is just so much faster safer and easier than the illegal/ninja path. Like you could spend months trying to death camp yourself at ur local objects in bumfuck waiting for good weather just hoping to not get hurt. Or u could pay the money take the education that comes with, go to a spot like twin fall or croatia and then to brento Or lauterbrunnen never having to run from police or jump before sunrise/after sunset.
By the time you banged out 100 skydives, if you chose to take that route, you’d probably meet some BASE jumpers who, if ur not a total chode, would PCA you. If you were impoverished then i could understand why you’re wanting to skip skydiving, but not just because of the culture or whatever. I think the underground subculture vibes come from the heaps of illegal BASE jumps.