07-17-2020, 06:41 PM
Mike Pelkey and Brian Schubert are two legendary BASE pioneers and can be considered the grandfathers of BASE jumping as they planted a seed in 1966 that has grown into the sport that we now know as BASE jumping.
In the summer of 1966, 26 year old Mike Pelkey (a California skydiver) brought the idea of jumping from El Capitan (a 3,000-foot cliff in Yosemite National Park) to his friend and fellow skydiver Brian Schubert who was also 26 years old. A month later they made the first jumps from El Capitan on July 24, 1966 at 5:30 PM with round parachutes.
Brian was later a Pomona California Police officer (bad neighborhood) and lived in my city a few miles away. The new generation of BASE jumpers pleaded and begged him to get back in the sport at the annual Bridge Day event 40 years after his historic jump. His parachute opened a a few seconds late and he died. He had cancer and some speculate he may have committed suicide.
In the summer of 1966, 26 year old Mike Pelkey (a California skydiver) brought the idea of jumping from El Capitan (a 3,000-foot cliff in Yosemite National Park) to his friend and fellow skydiver Brian Schubert who was also 26 years old. A month later they made the first jumps from El Capitan on July 24, 1966 at 5:30 PM with round parachutes.
Brian was later a Pomona California Police officer (bad neighborhood) and lived in my city a few miles away. The new generation of BASE jumpers pleaded and begged him to get back in the sport at the annual Bridge Day event 40 years after his historic jump. His parachute opened a a few seconds late and he died. He had cancer and some speculate he may have committed suicide.