7/11/26 BASE Jumping by the Lysefjord

Before you get excited, Nico and I have not taken up a new sport. I just thought it might grab some attention. We did, however, have a couple of amazing nights in the town of Lysebotn at the head of the Lysefjord near Stavanger. Nico had been there a month earlier when he was by himself, and he wanted me to see it. The town was created for the workers who built a large nearby hydroelectric project in the early 1950s, but now it is a base for tourists and the home for SBK BASE, an outdoor company specializing in BASE jumping.

We had a lovely motor down the fjord on a sunny day, passing waterfalls and majestic cliffs. It was our 44th anniversary, so we made reservations at a local establishment. I had bought beautiful salmon roe in Kristiansand, flatbread, and cream cheese, along with a split of champagne to enjoy beforehand. 

The next morning, we joined a few jumpers in the shuttle van that brings them to the top. We asked if we could tag along and watch. The BASE company manager appraised us and asked if we were strong hikers. We assured him we are, and the next thing we knew, we were clambering up rocks on a back route to the cliffs. By the time we were halfway there, I was gasping, and two of the young men dropped out ( too much pot the night before). That left Sajid, the manager, and Daniel, a regular who hailed from France. They showed us their special suits (not batwings), but loose tough material, helmets, and GoPro cameras. They shook hands, joked, took deep breaths, and ran together off the 3,000-foot cliff. Nico lay down and watched them drop the whole way down. Between 500 and 1,000 feet above the ground, they deployed their chutes, whooping with glee and gently landing on a tiny piece of grass by the water. 

Nico and I continued to a famous rock that is wedged between the cliffs. It is a major tourist draw, and I don't know why more people don't fall off. I was taking a picture of a young couple in front of it. The next thing I saw was Nico leap onto the rock and then off again, totally photobombing their picture! 

Sajid stopped by the boat, and we invited him for dinner. One of the great things about cruising is meeting so many people from around the world. Sajid is a forty-two-year-old entrepreneur from Mumbai. He is tall with a wonderful bushy beard from which shines a glittering smile. He runs the outfit in Lysebotn in the summer and works out of Mumbai when he isn't jumping off cliffs, towers, buildings, and antennas around the world. He is a sponsored jumper with a major web presence. His mother says that if he dies BASE jumping, she is going to kill him.

Crusing down Lysefjord

Our anniversary celebration

The road to the top

 

Getting ready for the jump

This is the suit - with a tiny parachute in back

Daniel showed us the amount of material in the suit. It has scoops to catch air while they are going down, causing the suit to inflate.

Checking the route down

A joke and a handshake...

A running jump and into thin air!

Nico watching them as they go down

A short video of the jump

Preikestolen, a famous boulder, is 1,982 feet above the water

Nico's accidental photobomb

The sky was amazing that day. The barren plateau stretched for miles and was littered with glacial erratics.

There was the sound of bells as we hiked along

The view of the town and Far and Away from the top.

And the view from the sauna at the bottom. So welcome after a big hike!

Evening by the fjord (10:00 PM)

Heading out the next day, looking up at the spot where they jumped and landed at the bottom

Looking back at the town...

And forward, down the 26-mile fjord.

We stopped to do the tradition of touching the waterfall. Even though it was still 150 feet deep at 25 feet from the wall, we were too chicken to bring our trusty boat so close to the rocks.

If you want to see the movie Sajid took on the way down the cliff with his GoPro, try copying this link:

https://www.facebook.com/502721718/videos/1042518808465542/