Watch that first step . . .
You wear a parachute . . . duh.
Or rather, in my case, you strap yourself to someone wearing a parachute.
Yes indeed, I went skydiving during my recent trip to Portland (that's why I've been sort of MIA, if you had noticed). Other details from that trip will be forthcoming, but for now I'll focus on the experience that was probably the highlight of my trip.
The first order of business once we got there was signing the waivers-there was about 15 pages to go through, covering every liability and situation that could possibly occur (including the possible presence of poisonous snakes in the drop zone, which I found by far to be the funniest thing on the waivers). Then a ten-minute mini-lesson on basic skydiving safety, as well as forming the 'arch' body shape that you take during freefall. (For the record, I did the arch shape perfectly on the first try without any correction. :P )
But enough of the boring stuff . . . let's get on with the 13,000 foot altitude already! After waiting for an hour or so for the clouds to burn off enough, we got called in the second plane load up. I met with Dave, the dude who would be videotaping/photographing my jump (he's a pretty cool dude), then Kim, my tandem instructor (she was cool too). I put on a sweet looking jumpsuit and a dorky looking helmet and goggles, then the harness, and I was good to go!
We boarded the plane-a small Cessna with a sliding side door to enter/exit the plane. We got strapped in and took off. We were all sitting on these two benches facing the back of the plane, and it's a weird sensation to take off and not be facing the front of the plane. It took about 15 minutes to get up to 13,000 feet-the altitude we jumped from, and along the way I had a clear view of every major mountain in the Pacific Northwest-Adams, Baker, Jefferson, the Three Sisters, Rainier, St. Helens, and of course Hood.
Let me tell you, 13,000 feet is hard to conceptualize until you're in the plane looking out the window and thinking 'wow, this is pretty high up.' Not that I was scared, mind you. Once we reached altitude they opened the door, so I could really see how high up we were. Two solo jumpers went first, and we were the first tandem pair to go. Dave climbed on the outside of the plane and hung on so he could get some good shots of us exiting (and he did a great job, I must say). Kim told me to sit with my legs dangling out of the plane (kind of an unnerving feeling) and my arms crossed. I turned to give Dave a good smile, and then before I knew it, we were out of the plane.
The first second or so was just sensory overload. I had no idea what jumping out of a plane would feel like, so I just tried to take it all in. It was very windy, but the wind felt like it was pushing you up (which makes sense, it's just an odd sensation) and it was loud. It wouldn't have mattered if I was screaming my lungs out (which I wasn't), it wouldn't have been heard. Kim tapped my shoulder, indicating we were going into the arch, and then Dave was right there in front of us taking video. I vividly remember smiling-no, grinning is a better word-the entire time. I gave Dave a couple waves and a thumbs up or two. I couldn't really look around because my head was arched up.
After about a 70 second freefall Kim deployed the chute, and it opened without a hitch. I distinctly remember the the pull on the harness when the chute opened didn't feel like I thought it would. I thought it would hurt, like a jolt, but instead it just felt like sitting in a chair, sort of. Kim did some checks, readjusted the harness and we were good to go.
Once the chute was deployed, the first thing I remember thinking was 'wow, my ears hurt.' The pressure had of course done a number on them, and I immediately tried to pop them. (It ended up taking me a few hours to get my hearing completely back to normal). Once I had popped my ears a couple times, I took the opportunity to look around, and wow. It was a beautifully clear day, and I could again see every mountain there was to see-but this time, from outside the plane. Kim steered the parachute so that we spun and I could see in all directions, and pointed out a few of the mountains to me by name. She then let me help steer the chute for a while, which was cool.
As we got close to the landing zone, Kim took over steering. It was an odd sensation as we got closer to the ground-I could make out the figures of people, as well as some of the people we had jumped with that had already landed, but from my vantage point it looked like I was just going to squash them with my foot. It was an odd perspective, to be sure.
Kim did a great landing (at least as far as I could tell), which I then proceeded to botch. Well, not really botch, but when I put my feet down I forgot about momentum and didn't keep them moving so I tripped and fell forward a bit. But, it wasn't awful, and I'm certainly not the only person to do that on their first jump.
So that was my first experience with skydiving, and I have a funny feeling that it won't be my last. Sorry if this entry was kind of lengthy, but this was as much for me to write down everything while it's still relatively fresh as it is for others to read.
And I highly recommend the experience to anyone who had even the slightest desire to try it. It's quite the rush, and an awesome experience.