Free Fallin

On Saturday, my wife and I decided to jump out of an airplane. As a friend said on her blog "can't describe it. just do it." But I will make a stab at it.

We drove up to Mile-Hi Skydiving in Longmont with our friends John, Steph, and Tonia. Steph and John have both been skydiving before, but they wanted to go again. We sat in the hangar for a couple of nervous hours and waited for our turn. Our instructors/tandem partners, recently returned from a jump, then went over some brief instructions. We put on our suits and harnesses, and headed off for the plane. The nervousness didn't truly set in until I was seated in the plane and we were taking off. Tonia, who was seating across from me in the plane, had a look of wide eyed terror on her face. But she still did it. When we hit 8,000 feet above ground level, a green light turned on in the back of the plane cabin. All of a sudden, the solo divers started jumping out of the plane. It was nuts! Did I really just watch someone jump out of the plane?

The airplane kept climbing up to 12,000 feet (17,500 ft asl). My instructor, Travis, connected my harness to his, and made some strap adjustments. You do get pretty close and intimate with your instructor, but when you are putting your life into his or her hands, you really aren't concerned with any of that. When the plane leveled out at 12,000, the green light turned on again. Cherilyn was the first of our group to go. Out the door she went. Did I really just watch my wife jump out of a plane?!? As I was closest to the cockpit, I was the last one out of the plane.

Travis asked, "Do you want to do some somersaults when we jump out?"

I said, "I don't know. Do I?"

"You do." was his reply.

"Cool."

It was totally surreal, standing at the edge of the door, looking down at the earth below. Half of your brain is totally stoked about jumping, while the other half is saying, "Stop, what the f* are you doing!" So, we pushed out of the plane and did what seemed like 5 or 6 somersaults. It was such a sensory overload, the cold air on your face, the wind rushing by your ears, and all you see are earth, sky, earth, sky, earth, sky. Travis then stabilized us and we were in your standard freefall. It was wild. After about a minute and a few spins, he yelled, "Pull." I reached back, grabbed the golf ball, pulled, and out came the chute. When you go from travelling 120 miles per hour during freefall to 10 mph when the chute opens, it actually feels like you are being pulled upwards.

We then coasted down to the ground, making a few big swooping turns here and there. The landing was surprisingly easy. Since I was taller than Travis, we just landed on out butts.

It was an experience that I will never forget. There is truly no way to describe the sheer exhilaration and adrenaline rush. That night, I went to the Great American Beer Fest (something else everyone should experience once in their life). It was fun drinking a bunch of beer with my friends, but I still was thinking about the skydiving the whole time.