1979: First jump from the NRGB by Burton Ervin.
1980: The idea of "Bridge Day" was formulated by Glenn Lukacs (Member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce) and Doug Mattie (Executive Director of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce). The Chamber of Commerce was looking for a way to increase awareness of the outdoor recreation available in the area. Glenn was part-owner of a raft company, and stated that many people actually stopped on the Bridge to look over the edge. The idea was to close half the bridge down and allow people to walk on the bridge for a day. They anticipated 8000 people that first year, and were surprised when more than 40,000 attended.
Dennis Wood, Miguel Fernandez, Ken Hamilton, Andy Macintyre, and Bob Wolf are the first five jumpers to legally jump the bridge on Saturday, November 8, 1980. Earlier in the day, Ken and Miguel had parachuted from a Cessna 206 and landed on the bridge surface. Ken suffered serious injuries when jumping from the bridge after experiencing deployment problems and landing in the rocks (he later recovered). Then Governor Jay Rockefeller was unable to attend the event and he subsequently sent DOH Commissioner Charles Miller to tell the crowd that Bridge Day would be an annual event. Over 5000 certificates were handed out to people who completed the 3030' walk across the New River Gorge Bridge. From 1981-1982, there were only 10-15 jumpers due to a well-kept secret.
1981: Rappelling, shuttle bus tours of the gorge, and mini-whitewater trips were added to the original fare of entertainment. Bridge Day 1981 took place on October 17.
1982: Rain fell on the Bridge Day 1982 festival, but jumpers and spectators were not deterred. WCIR radio held the first "Miss New River Gorgeous" selection.
1983: Carl Boenish published an article in Skydiving Magazine in 1983 openly telling of how the Fayetteville locals invited them back each year for legal jumps from the NRGB and over 200 jumpers showed up. There was mass chaos with bungee jumpers, rappellers, increased crowds, and numerous injuries including a BASE drowning due to no river rescue (Michael Glenn Williams).
1984: River rescue was standard by 1984 due to the requests of Fayetteville locals. 248 jumpers made 563 jumps in six hours. An estimated 100,000 spectators attended Bridge Day 1984 held on October 13. Two Englishmen, Martin Lyster and Mark Chamberlin, bungee jumped from the bridge while wearing tuxedos.
1985: Increased crowds of over 100,000 brought traffic problems that the Sheriff's department reported they were understaffed to handle. 250+ jumpers made 650 jumps with only a few broken ankles. Astronaut Jon McBride was a special guest for the celebration. Kat-Mandu had hoped to perform a death-defying escape from a locked wooden box set aflame and held over the gorge via a crane, but miscommunication caused the stunt to be cancelled. BASE jumpers were hampered by high winds, but jumping continued.
1986: Over 400 jumps were made in windy conditions, but the crowds were down from last year (perhaps due to the traffic problems).
1987: Beautiful weather and a great crowd made Bridge Day 1987 one of the best to date. However, Steve Grysting was killed when he towed a smaller than normal pilot chute into the river and was killed. The fatality halted jumping for 45 minutes.
1988: 295 jumpers from more than five countries attended one of the safest Bridge Days ever.
1989: Bad weather and very high water affected the event so much that Jean Boenish didn't accept the NPS permit. The NPS made a deal with the jumpers so that they could land on the road leading out of the gorge. A handful of jumpers lept from the bridge and a surprising number of them were able to land safely, since the NPS landing zone was under water.
1991: Jean Boenish's last year heading Bridge Day. She charged $30 per jumper.
The following is according to Nick D: 265 jumpers made 550 jumps, and there are 150,000 spectators. It's the year the National Park Service demanded a list containing the names and addresses of all registered jumpers or they'd pull the permit to land on Park property. Jean Boenish very politely told them, "no". The Park Service, their bluff called, dropped the demand just hours before the event began. (Next year's Bridge Day organizer, Andy Calistrat, gave up the list). The best video of Bridge Day 1991 is shot by the NPS. They had a uniformed Ranger on the bridge video taping everyone and another in the landing area. The hot piece of gear in 1991 is pin-type (or ZOO type) toggles to cure the problem of hard or impossible brake line releases under line-over conditions. There is also a very vocal outcry among experienced BASE jumpers because small skydiving pilot chutes and short bridles are still being allowed at Bridge
Day.
1992: Andy Calistrat takes Jean's job and has to raise fees to $35 per jumper. The Bridge Day Commission started charging the $10 per jumper fee. A bungee jumper makes a single leap from the bridge.
1993: The jump times were 10am-4pm and this would be the last year for jumpers having to climb a small set of steps in order to stand on the railing to jump (ramps became standard in 1994). While halting all BASE jumping for over an hour, seven people in the same basket simultaneously bungee jump from the bridge (one suffers spleen damage when a release rope smashes him into the side of the basket). Needless to say, this is the last Bridge Day bungee jump. Andy Calistrat is the BASE coordinator for his 2nd year
1994: The first year for multiple exit ramps making it much easier to launch. The weather was great this year. Andy Calistrat is the BASE coordinator for his 3rd year.
1995: Andy Calistrat is the BASE coordinator for his 4th year. A jumper crashes through the canopy of a female jumper, slightly injuring himself and badly damaging the female's canopy. She lands safely in the water. Weather was overcast, but normal for this time of year.
1996: Andy Calistrat is the BASE coordinator for his 5th and final year. Weather was very windy and turbulent. Jumping should have been halted at times, but many still make the leap.
1997: The Bridge Day Association is the BASE coordinator for their 1st year. Nice weather and normal jumping.
1998: The Bridge Day Association is the BASE coordinator for their 2nd year.
1999: The Bridge Day Association is the BASE coordinator for their 3rd year.
2000: The Bridge Day Association is the BASE coordinator for their 4th year.
2001: The Bridge Day Association is selected as the BASE coordinator, however, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 end up cancelling Bridge Day 2001 in early October. The first vote by the BDC regarding cancellation of Bridge Day was a NO. A second vote not long after some additional terrorist threats ended up cancelling the event. Fayetteville has a "Taste of Bridge Day" event in downtown Fayetteville to replace the traditional Bridge Day. Bridge Day is sadly missed by many, many BASE jumpers.
2002:
- 745 jumps are made by 394 jumpers and 28 staff members over a swollen New River.
- Only two minor jumper injuries (20 stitches and a sprained ankle), none requiring overnight hospitalization.
- Jason Bell (Vertical Visions LLC), Bill Bird, and Jim Guyer help Go Fast Sports with the organization of event.
- This was the safest Bridge Day in many years, with the worst injury sustained by a rappeller.
- The high line was first used to allow climbers and spectators to decend from the catwalk to the road approximately 400' below.
- Go Fast Sports, Inc. is selected as the BASE coordinator and they provide a 12' tall bus to jump from.
- A jump slot sold for $60.
2003:
- Beautiful sunny weather allows nearly 400 jumpers the opportunity to make a record 836 jumps from the bridge.
- Average jumper had 67 base jumps and 1147 skydives
- Females accounted for 12% of registered jumpers
- 36 was average age of new jumpers
- First jumper of the day was Mike Mathers.
- A 16' commercial diving board designed by Jason made its first appearance for experienced jumpers, along with the traditional wooden ramps and leaps from the bridge railing.
- Four jumpers were transported to the hospital with minor injuries (leg break, back injuries, etc.) and all were released later that night.
- Approximately 90 jumpers made their first BASE jump at Bridge Day.
- 1st Annual BASE Videofest Winners were: 1st Place - Jeb Corliss for his documentary "A Year in the Life"; 2nd Place - Tony DiCola (Donk) for his Norway wingsuit videos from the summer; 3rd Place - Johnny Utah for his "Huge" video showing the TF 19-way jump and Moscow tower leaps.
- Vertical Visions (owned by West Virginia BASE jumper Jason Bell) is the BASE Jumping Coordinator. Bill Bird and Jennifer Bell are co-coordinators.
- Jump ticket price was $70 (included jumps, transportation, water rescue, T-shirt, party, beer, pizza, goodie bag, seminars, etc.)
2004:
- Over 442 jumpers (390 jumpers and 52 staff members) showed up and made 645 jumps in another amazing Bridge Day.
- The weather was cold and rainy, but we fought our way through it to make a lot of jumps even with weather holds and a train that decided to park under the bridge.
- Females accounted for 11% of registered jumpers
- The average Bridge Day jumper had 64 base jumps and 1199 skydives.
- 35 was average age of new jumpers
- Four jumpers were transported to the hospital, but only one of them broke something (foot). The other three jumpers had sprains or sore backs, but zero injuries.
- A major storm that included hail and 40-50 mph winds hit at 1:30pm and the rangers said to me "I guess we're gonna call it". I told them with the wonderfully large 6 hour window they give us each year, that we will never "call it" until it's past 3pm. We commenced jumping at approximately 2:00pm! Never give up!
- Highlights: Russel Metlitsky's solo paraplegic jump with a 3 second delay (although he did nip his toe on the steel after swinging a bit too much on the bar), Red Bull's giant rope swing jump, my scissor lift (man-lift) jump from 20' above the road deck, the Triax guys doing a 2-way from the boom truck basket, and the guy who hit the Live TV truck mast and transmitter in the LZ shortly before we went LIVE (it was later repaired).
- The BASE Videofest was a very successfull event with hundreds of jumpers, 2 big screen TV's, and 15 entries!!!
- The Saturday night party was the best I've seen that included a guy on stilts with a monkey mask, streakers, and 11 kegs of beer. Also, the Continuum II premiere was standing room only!
- I knew we made major progress this year when jumpers told me they went back to the hotel after the storm and watched us jump on live TV until 3pm.
- 2nd Annual BASE Videofest Winners were: 1st Place - Triax Productions for the time lapse packing sequence in their latest film "Continuum II"; 2nd Place - Adrenaline Exploits (Jay Epstein) Mexico BASE Video that included the Cave of the Swallows and El Gigante; 3rd Place - Robert Pecnik (Phoenix Fly) and his amazing BASE wingsuit and track pants footage.
- Accuracy contest winners were: 1st Place - Brian Daniska; 2nd Place - Todd Griswald from Arkansas; 3rd Place - Anthony White from Canada.
- Vertical Visions (owned by West Virginia BASE jumper Jason Bell) is the BASE Jumping Coordinator. Bill Bird and Jennifer Bell are co-coordinators.
- Jump ticket price was $70 (included jumps, transportation, water rescue, T-shirt, party, beer, pizza, goodie bag, seminars, etc.)
2005:
- At least 384 jumpers showed up out of 450 registered in a sightly windy, but beautiful day of jumping at Bridge Day.
- More than 829 jumps were made in front of an estimated 175,000 spectators (according to the Bridge Day Commission).
- The average Bridge Day jumper had 49 base jumps and 1226 skydives.
- At least two dozen countries were represented including India, Peru, Norway, Australia, Belgium, Canada, and USA.
- Females accounted for 12% of registered jumpers
- 32 was the average age for all jumpers, which is typical.
- There were 184 water rescues and 97 shore assists.
- Five jumpers took ambulance rides (a refractured c2/c3 and a minor femur fracture were the worst ones, none were life threatening). The femur injury actually rode the bus to the top to make another jump and couldn't stand the pain anymore while waiting in line. Most injuries were attributed to high winds.
- There was one gear check save (an experienced jumper had yellow cutaway cable through white loop and then stowed through riser grommet). One other jumper had his legstraps twisted.
- There was one landing collision between two jumpers and one accidental landing in a raft.
- 6 hours 10 minutes of jumping time, but there was no jumping for more than 1:35 of it mainly due to 11 train holds.
- 21 minutes of downtime due to tree landings, injuries in LZ.
- If you didn't get enough jumps, we had no line from 3:00-3:15pm and we pleaded for someone to jump from 3:20-3:30pm.
- Rappellers didn't ascend the rope with an American flag fast enough and jumping didn't start until 9:15am. Co-organizer Bill Bird then asked Governor Manchin to extend BD to 3:30pm, and Calvin Hite (Superintendent of New River Gorge National River) couldn't say no to the Governor. Ironically, rappellers made jokes several months earlier when I asked what their "plan B' was if they hadn't ascended the rope by 9am (I wanted them to rappel down immediately). Fortunately, our Governor saved the day with the jumping extension.
- Over three hours of live TV coverage was shown to over 1 million households in WV, KY, and OH on Bridge Day.
- Bill Bird jumped first with Jon Dragan's ashes (Jon ran water rescue for over 20 years for us and brought whitewater rafting to WV in 1968).
- On Thursday, Jason Bell, Ivan Betts, and Jevto Dedijer spent 1.5 hours teaching local high school students (Oak Hill High School) about BASE jumping and parachutes. Later, students were allowed to try on rigs and get a feel for the sport. This was great PR and the local papers/TV covered it. The Bridge Day Commission later thanked us for this.
- 3rd Annual BASE Videofest Winners were: 1st Place - "As the Rush Comes" by BC Productions (Ray & Bridgette Murphy); 2nd Place - "Thread the Needle" by Nate Varns; 3rd Place - "Mucho BASE" by James Boole.
- Accuracy contest winners were: 1st Place - Brian Rapoza (12cm); 2nd Place - Craig Cushing (14cm); 3rd Place - Johnny Woody (45cm).
- Vertical Visions (owned by West Virginia BASE jumper Jason Bell) is the BASE Jumping Coordinator. Bill Bird and Jennifer Bell are co-coordinators.
- Jump ticket price was $75 (included jumps, transportation, water rescue, T-shirt, party, beer, pizza, goodie bag, seminars, etc.)
2006:
- 388 jumpers showed up out of 450+ registered
- Average jumper had 59 base jumps and 1242 skydives
- Approximately 128 first time BASE jumpers attended
- More than a dozen countries represented including Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Virgin Islands, USA.
- Beautiful sunny day, temperatures in the 60's.
- 12% female
- 804 jumps made
- 84 jumper pick-ups by boat and over 100 shore assists (rope throws to jumper) reported by water rescue.
- Brian Lee Schubert was killed at approximately 11:30am due to a late parachute deployment. It is not apparent whether Brian released the pilot chute or if it was extracted from his grip at the 7 second point. Brian's parachute began to deploy, but the slider had just started down the lines when impact occurred at 8.5 seconds. This was the third Bridge Day fatality in 27 years and the first fatality in the last 19 years. Brian was a pioneer and icon in the sport of BASE jumping with his July 24, 1966 El Capitan jump in Yosemite National Park (along with jumping partner Mike Pelkey). He will be greatly missed by all.
- 32 was average age of new jumpers
- 145,000 spectators per the Bridge Day Commission
- 3 ambulance rides (birdman late pull resulting in broken L7 - he's up and walking around with a brace and full recovery expected, injured coccyx, and injured arm).
- 1 gear check save (jumper routed yellow cutaway cable incorrectly with reverse risers, gear inspector was able to pull risers off harness manually). One other jumper had legstraps twisted.
- Event was on live TV (Weather Channel, CNN, Headline News, Pentagon News Channel, etc.).
- 5 jumpers traveled from China (they won 1st and 2nd place in our accuracy contest).
- 9 kegs of beer were consumed at the post-jump party at the Holiday Inn Oak Hill.
- 4th Annual BASE Videofest Winners were: 1st Place - "Journey to the Center" by Jeb Corliss; 2nd Place - "Down with Society" by Jimmy Halliday; 3rd Place - "The Free World" by Richard Alexander; 4th Place - "When Good Times go Bad" by Sam Gouws.
- Accuracy contest winners were: 1st Place - Wang Yong, China (7cm); 2nd Place - Zhang Yang Mei, China (7cm); 3rd Place - Rich Webb, USA (11cm).
- First jump made by Bruce Kramer. Last jump made by Joe Weber and Bruce Kramer (2-way).
- Vertical Visions (owned by West Virginia BASE jumper Jason Bell) is the BASE Jumping Coordinator. Bill Bird and Jennifer Bell are co-coordinators.
- Jump ticket price was $75 (included jumps, transportation, water rescue, T-shirt, party, beer, pizza, goodie bag, seminars, etc.)
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