# B.A.S.E jumping: is it always legal why and what is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 16, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600 "2011-04-16T11:01:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f05b48/32.png) [@brk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brk)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/1 "2011-04-16T11:01:48Z")
B.A.S.E jumping: is it always legal why and what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/2 "2011-04-16T11:28:23Z")
Do you mean always illegal? One day a year you can jump off this bridge. They used to allow bungee jumping that day but that was banned in 93. > **[New River Gorge Bridge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_Gorge_Bridge)** > > The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge 3,030 feet (924 m) long over the New River Gorge near Fayetteville, West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. With an arch 1,700 feet (518 m) long, the New River Gorge Bridge was the world's longest single-span arch bridge for 26 years; it is now the fifth longest; the longest outside of China. Part of U.S. Route 19, its construction marked the completion of Corridor L of the Appalachian Development Highway S The... ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/3 "2011-04-16T12:27:42Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Do you mean always illegal? > > One day a year you can jump off this bridge. They used to allow bungee jumping that day but that was banned in 93. > > [New River Gorge Bridge - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_Gorge_Bridge) I’ve always found it funny that the [New River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_%28Kanawha_River%29) is thought to be one of the oldest rivers in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/4 "2011-04-16T19:41:54Z")
NC has part of that New River and another New river down by the coast. We also have 2 little rivers that are in 2 counties right next to each other. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/5 "2011-04-16T20:01:11Z")
Almost everything worth jumping off of is owned by somebody else, and you have to have permission. That seems odd for things like a bridge or cliff, to have to ask to leave the fast way. It’s a liability thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/6 "2011-04-16T20:14:44Z")
For the most part you can’t jump in a US national park. I wonder if any other places have a 1 day festival for jumpers like the New river bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/7 "2011-04-16T20:47:02Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > NC has part of that New River and another New river down by the coast. We also have 2 little rivers that are in 2 counties right next to each other. I didn’t know you were in NC. Whereabouts? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/8 "2011-04-16T21:21:21Z")
I live near Raleigh ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/9 "2011-04-16T21:26:10Z")
I grew up down on the coast, between Morehead City and Swansboro. I went to college in Durham, then moved back to Beaufort for a few years. I’ve been thinking about taking my kids down the Outer Banks on surfari in a year or so. I miss NC on occasion. I live in the Great White North now, so you can imagine in spring I my thoughts always turn south. That is, if spring ever freakin’ comes, it snowed yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/10 "2011-04-16T21:37:16Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I grew up down on the coast, between Morehead City and Swansboro. I went to college in Durham, then moved back to Beaufort for a few years. I’ve been thinking about taking my kids down the Outer Banks on surfari in a year or so. I miss NC on occasion. I live in the Great White North now, so you can imagine in spring I my thoughts always turn south. That is, if spring ever freakin’ comes, it snowed yesterday. Well if you had been here a few years back you would have seen the Stanley Cup 😃 Where in Canada are you? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/11 "2011-04-16T23:17:00Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Well if you had been here a few years back you would have seen the Stanley Cup 😃 Where in Canada are you? Newfoundland, as far east as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-a-s-e-jumping-is-it-always-legal-why-and-what-is-it/578600/12 "2011-04-17T17:28:19Z")
Why is it legal? [It’s quite simple really.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg)