Relaxing at the edge
Fearless Frenchie plots BASE jump off Engineer

Durango’s Matthias Giraud, 25, airs it out during a recent jump off the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho, earlier this year. The bridge stands 486-feet above the Snake River and is one of the only legal BASE jump structures in the nation. Giraud, a local extreme skier, plans to ski the southeast flank of Engineer Mountain off a 300-foot cliff next spring./Courtesy Photo

by Katie Clancy

Outsiders fear it’s a death wish. Insiders call it truly living. Durango’s Matthias Giraud, 25, swears BASE jumping is the most relaxing experience ever.

“It is the balance of being aware of the danger and maintaining a calm confidence,” said Giraud, a pro skier and future stuntman.

The acronym BASE stands for Building, Antenna, Span (bridge) or Earth (cliff). Reverently referred to as the “ultimate extreme stunt” within the extreme sport subculture, it is a task of fearless precision. Thrill seekers have one chance – and one parachute – to pull off a 20-second adrenaline plunge from a 200 to 2,000-foot stationary object.

“BASE jumpers today are taking the lunatic persona and going wild. It’s all about being able to say ‘I was the first to survive this jump.’ It’s about being the first, the biggest, the baddest,” said John Trousdale, a professional videographer and producer of Inside Durango TV.

A relative neophyte to the stunt, Girard is planning to raise the stakes this spring on Engineer Mountain to world record status.

If all goes as planned, a helicopter will drop Giraud off at the 12,968-foot summit sometime between the dates of March 15 and April 15. He will then ski down a line located on the southeast face and BASE jump off a 300-foot cliff face. Maching down at more than 50 mph, Giraud hopes to do a front-flip right as he becomes airborne and deploys his parachute cord.

Weather conditions in early spring are the biggest cause for uncertainty. Depending on the conditions, he will choose one of two lines. As seen from the highway, the ideal path runs down the southeast slope. The alternate involves skiing through an avalanche chute on the south face. If there is not enough snow, Girard risks hitting a rock and plummeting off the cliff. Too much and he could trigger an avalanche and be funneled through the narrow coulior on the southern slope.

Giraud isn’t the only one conscious of breaking records. Since 1987, there have been 111 reported BASE jump fatalities; since 2002, the average has grown to approximately one death per month. 2007 alone holds the record for highest number of BASE jump deaths – 13. While the overall fatality percentage is only .004, the growing number of deaths raises a bigger issue of access and technological advancement.

“Complacency will kill you,” said Adam Buckner, a skydiving instructor. “Usually it is a pilot’s preparation error (how they pack the parachute) – not a malfunction with the gear – that kills people. They rely too much on the equipment and not enough on their own awareness and integrity.”

Although gear, education and technology have advanced considerably in the field since French pioneer Louis Sebastien Lenormand first jumped off the top of the Montpellier observatory with two pieces of fabric tied to his arms in 1783, so, too, has the number of people willing to take the plunge.

Freefalling at an average speed of 100 feet per second, jumpers have mere seconds to deploy their parachutes and land in close quarters. Obstacles like electrical boxes, boulders and rivers are common in the landing zones, and in a sport where one reaches terminal velocity (120 mph) after 1,000 feet, there is little time to reconsider the options.

“You have to be incredibly meticulous both in preparation and execution because BASE jumping is not forgiving,” Buckner said.

Maybe that’s why Giraud, who has been pragmatically plotting and training for the Engineer jump for more than two years, has found such experienced mentors to coach him.

“The first time I saw Engineer Mountain a few years ago, driving up to Purgatory, I knew I wanted to ski it. Everyone said it was impossible,” he said. Although skiing Engineer is not unheard of, Giraud’s particular line is dangerous and nearly impossible without a parachute to navigate the cliff that terminates the line.

“People have lost their lives attempting to ski Engineer. It’s not something you try without serious research and thought,” Trousdale said.

After talking with professionals, watching a Shane McConkey ski BASE jumping video and plotting his plan of action, “it felt like a giant puzzle with all the pieces coming together,” according to Giraud.

Tall and athletic, Giraud is described by his friends and colleagues as effervescent, maniacal and fearless.

“Giraud is the kind of guy who will go for a double back flip off a ski jump without scoping the landing,” Trousdale said of Giraud’s fiery energy.

Today, he has big-name sponsors like Smith, Elan, Osprey and Leki, to name a few. Born in France, he began skiing seriously after being inspired by an extreme sports video, “Pushing the Limit,” when he was young.

“I was always the kid who was going for it,” he said. “Once, during a school camping trip, I jumped off a balcony onto a bed so many times that I broke the bed. I got in trouble for that one, but my dad was secretly proud of my antics.”

At 19, he strapped on his first bungee harness. It was in that moment of suspension that he knew he would pursue BASE jumping. Shortly thereafter, he began working toward his skydiving license (which he didn’t complete due to a severe ski injury and his move to the States).

At the advisement of BASE jump and cliff skiing professionals like Shane McConkey, Jessie Hall and Erik Roner, he enrolled in skydiving school in Texas. Skiing, he claims, helped a lot with getting comfortable with the balance and mid-air flips. He earned his sky-diving license in November, 2006.

People often compare skydiving to BASE jumping, but their similarities don’t go much further than the fact they are both canopy sports. Skydivers watch for air traffic before barreling out of a plane flying at an average altitude of 12,000 feet. One tug of the chord and skydivers float for up to three minutes before landing on well-marked landing strips. The parachutes open relatively slowly, which diminish impact and wind current danger. Always, there is a backup ready in case anything goes wrong.

Ready to drop the extra chute and start BASE jumping, Giraud relied on guidance from experienced BASE jumper Jessie Hall, with whom he had competed in a U.S. Extreme Free Skiing Championship.

If there is an expert BASE jumper, it’s Hall. He has more than 700 recorded jumps and a number of videos on www.youtube.com flying down the side of a cliff at 100 mph wearing a wing suit (think sprawled flying squirrel).

When it was time to order the rig from Morpheus baserigs, Hall vouched for Giraud despite the fact he had only skydived 30 times, which is only a quarter of the recommended number of jumps. “Jessie wouldn’t have recommended me if he wasn’t 100 percent confident I was capable,” Giraud said. Hall has been Giraud’s mentor ever since.

Unless you have a trust fund or loads of sponsors, BASE jumping is no easy habit to support. A recent Fort Lewis graduate and Durango resident for almost five years, Giraud relied on friends and supporters at Ska Brewing and Your Flesh Tattoo to help design T-shirts and spread the word about his Engineer plot.

“I asked the guys down at Your Flesh if they would help me design a logo; and they agreed to help – if I got a tattoo. Good thing I already have several from them!” Giraud said. In addition to working full time, the T-shirt sales earned him the exact amount – $2,000 – to buy a rig.

The hard work paid off in October, when Giraud traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho, to jump a 486-foot bridge (the only bridge in the country that allows access to BASE jumpers legally without a permit).

“I was so pumped up. When the parachute opened, it was like an exploding gun. Then, sheer relaxation,” Giraud said. While most people average two or three jumps at the bridge, Giraud jumped 10 times that day. His last one began with a giant gainer over the bridge at sunset.

“It all comes down to the gut feeling. Before you go over the edge, you have to know in your mind that your parachute will open. Despite the conditions or circumstances, you have to go with your instinct,” Giraud said.

Before March, Giraud hopes to get at least 15 more jumps covered.

“He’s a lunatic, but with his training, network and determination, he’ll pull the stunt off,” Buckner said.

Videos of the wild flying Frenchman are posted on Durangotv.com •