We head to Mount Brento in Italy to meet some of the best base jumpers in the world.
ADVERTISEMENTMount Brento near Lake Garda in northern Italy is one of the most well-known base jumping spots in the world.
Standing at over 1000 metres high, the mountain sees thousands of jumpers every year from all over the world. The surrounding areas, with high mountains and vertical limestone walls, are a haven for base jumping and wingsuiting.
What is base jumping?
The ‘base’ in base jump stands for the four categories of fixed objects encompassed in this sport: buildings, antennae, spans and earth.
It involves exiting the startpoint, engaging in a freefall and then deploying a parachute for landing. Because of the relatively low altitude and proximity to solid surfaces, the act is generally considered one of the most dangerous extreme sports.
We meet some of the base jumpers
"I started with my first base jumps 20 years ago. I liked it more and more and I found myself just doing it all the time, and 6 years ago I decided to make this my job and to open a school where I teach parachutists how to become base jumpers,” Maurizio Di Palma , professional base jumper and owner of the Brento base school, tells us.
What makes it so special?
"You have to think that when you are on the exit point, in the moment of the jump, the beautiful thing is that you enter in a state of flow where it’s only you and the action that you are about to do,” he says. “Each jump is a story in itself.”
Luca Tondelli is a part time base jumper and PE teacher. He agrees with Maurizio, saying,
"It’s a special feeling (before jumping), it’s a very intense feeling, a unique feeling because in a few seconds you live a story, a moment, you live the life. "
Another base jumper, Evelina Overling, describes base jumping as “a very radical thing. The second you step out, [...] everything is gone. The world disappears and you just live this super, super intense experience, you live your life at 10,000 per cent for that short moment. "
Press play on the video above for more.
