I stumbled into BASE in 1982, when I was 19 years old and living in Paris.
It was my American friend, Scott Elder, who had much more guts than I did, who really got me interested in the first place.
He was the first person to bail off the 650 ft building, Tour Montparnasse in down town Paris,
and he did it alone...
I took up skydiving in Sweden
when I was 17 but I quickly realized that I was in need of larger and more powerful adrenaline doses. In the span of 18 months,
I had to rest for 4 months after a BASE injury, I made 15 BASE jumps. This sounds ridiculously low compared to today’s
standards but planning and making one BASE jump almost 25 years ago was like
mounting an expedition to a far away and dangerous place. During my short but very intensive BASE jumping stint I jumped from
the following objects:
- Kochertal Bridge
(600ft) – Germany
- Hörby Antenna (1000ft) – Sweden
- Trollveggen (1800ft) –
Norway
- Tour Montparnasse (650ft) – France
- New River Gorge
Bridge (900ft) - USA
I quit BASE jumping in 1984 after one last jump form the Kochertal bridge in Germany and
went on to other exciting things in life. Early on I decided that I wasn’t going to become a career BASE jumper because
there were so many interesting things I wanted to see and experience on our planet. I just felt that the risks outweighed
the rewards.
Today I live in Québec City, Canada with my Parisian wife Yolaine (who is nice…), my son Damien and daughter
Chloé. How do I cope with the adrenalin withdrawal you might wonder? I have developed a great fascination for the wilderness
and I love hiking deep into the woods, pitch my tent, open a bottle of wine and listen to the wolves howl.
