MyWestworld

The Fraser Valley: Skydiving Newbie

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by Sonu Purhar in BC, teaser

No “bucket list” is complete without a 200-kilometre-per-hour free fall

by Sonu Purhar

The morning of the jump, I’m peering through the windshield at scudding storm clouds, wondering if I’ll be devastated – or relieved – if we have to cancel, though there’s plenty of time to mull over both possibilities as we navigate the seemingly endless hectares of the Fraser Valley’s rural heart. Two weeks ago, I resolved to start my own “bucket list” – now-or-never goals to accomplish before kicking the bucket, so to speak – à la Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman’s 2007 film of the same name. Swan-diving from a plane seemed a good place to start. But after persuading a friend to accompany me and booking with Skydive Vancouver, all I can see clearly now are clusters of moody cows.

We’re greeted at Skydive’s Abbotsford office by instructor Gerald Harper, a leather-skinned Aussie with an impressive 14,000-plus jump record and several New Zealand and Canadian skydiving championships. With 32 years in the jump business, he assures us, Skydive’s safety record is equally impressive.

___________________________

What Harper doesn’t reveal, however,

is that two to three skydivers die each

year in Canada.

___________________________

The preliminaries taken care of, he then ushers us into a barn-like hangar hung with world flags and daunting equipment, where, as if signing on for a suicide mission, I shakily scrawl my name across a death waiver.

Just weeks ago, the now-vacant skies droned with the military and civilian aircraft of Abbotsford’s annual July air show, performing aerobatics alongside the 100-plus skydivers who jump daily in summer. The sport isn’t exactly booming, but in 2007 more than 40,000 first-timers took the plunge in B.C., some as old as 85 – no doubt crossing items off their own bucket lists. Today there’s only one other newbie, and once she’s down we’re up.

My friend Carla and I trek to the middle of the field on which we’ll soon be landing and eagerly scan the skies. A plane shoots out of the clouds; minutes later, something drops and falls like a brick before an enormous pink parachute unfurls and the snapping wind weaves our predecessor through the clouds like an erratic Mary Poppins. We’re enthralled, rooted to the spot. But Harper hauls us back to the hangar for “training”: a two-minute demo of awkward poses practised belly-down on a battered wooden vaulting horse, followed by “suiting up” in bubblegum-pink overalls – tighter than a disco jumpsuit – with matching cap and goggles. Within the hour, Harper and fellow staffer – and son – Jess, a gold-medal-winning New Zealand skydiver, are herding us across the sodden grass to a rickety-looking Cessna. I squeeze into the cramped hull; the others crowd round like stacks of cargo as the plane taxis for takeoff.

First jumps are always completed in tandem with an instructor, but I’m still caught off-guard when, after just 14 minutes of flying, Harper clips the front straps of his jumpsuit to those on my back. There’s no time to dwell on this abrupt intimacy, however. My new free-fall mate manoeuvres me to the ratty curtain that serves as a makeshift door and pushes it aside. I freeze: cold wind whips my face as I gape at endless kilometres of slate-grey sky. Far in the distance, the earth stretches like a strip of carpet.

Arms crossed tightly over my chest, I crouch on my knees, ankles crossed, as if in rapturous prayer (which maybe I should be). Sprawled 12,000 feet below, Abbotsford’s agricultural expanse appears hazily through accumulating clouds, the airfield just another postage-stamp speck in a checkerboard of green. A screaming wind fills the tiny Cessna, echoing my jumbled thoughts, one more frantic than the rest: Am I really going to jump? For one infinite moment, I hang suspended over the door jamb, staring into a vast gulf of cloud; then we plunge down.

Earth and sky fuse. I’m jerked in 10 different directions, free-falling at 200 kilometres an hour. Air floods my lungs, the wind a giant boot crushing my face. Just before I can panic about death by suffocation: a body-wrenching jolt as the parachute abruptly snaps taut – and suddenly we’re drifting peacefully, the dazzling metropolis of Vancouver sprawled wondrously before us. Harper spins us in a slow circle, pointing out the sights: the white dome of B.C. Place, Vancouver Island’s bumpy ridges and, far in the distance, the hulking mass of Washington’s Mount Baker.

Giddy with exhilaration, I mentally scratch “skydiving” off the list. Next up: bungee jumping!

TAKE ACTION

• Skydive Vancouver: Tandem and advanced skydiving; also offers solo courses for those ready to go it alone. $272. Abbotsford, B.C.; 1-888-738-5867
• Pacific Skydivers: Perfect for newbies (half-hour of ground preparation). $239. Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 604-465-7311
• Whistler Skydiving: Soar over snow-covered peaks. $270. Pemberton/Whistler, B.C.; 604-698-7120
• Victoria Skydiving Adventures Inc.: Bonus: ask about the Exhibition Jumps, which raise money for local charities. $375. Victoria, B.C.; 250-655-4434

Lead image courtesy Sonu Purhar

Tags: Bucket Lists, Fraser Valley, Skydiving