Tim Howell

[00:00:00] Tim Howell: Hello, and welcome to the modern adventure podcast where explorers and adventurers tell their story coming up. And I saw, I kind of like hit the ground and bounce and I tried to learn nearby her opposite direction. She was kind of kinda my wind sock. I was like, I’m not going to jump on that. I’m not gonna land in that direction.

So I landed fine, ran up to her and she was crying. And normally, like I’ve seen it before she knows a sprained ankle. She wasn’t happy with a flight or something, and she’s a bit upset. I thought it was that I thought it was no issue, maybe sprained ankle at the worst. And I saw blood coming out the zip on her wingsuit.

So I unzipped the leg wing on the wingsuit and her shin, just, just the skin on a shin, just flopped down. So I said, do not look down here, like to start is at the beginning and about you and your sort of journey to how you became this [00:01:00] pioneer or base jumping. I mean, they based on things, quiet a new sport.

So I think if you, I mean, there’s, there’s so many countries that have never been based jumped in and so many cliffs and objects and stuff that had never been jumped. So. I think it potentially can be quite easy to be a pioneer in the sport. But I mean, for me, that’s, that’s kind of, my niche is to, cause I really enjoy the climbing and the mountaineering that goes with it.

So my niche is ready to do, to go out and explore these areas that you know, rarely see climbing, let alone base jumping. So it’s, and that all came from climbing. Like I’ve been climbing for a long time. But I’ve never really gotten that good at climbing. I’ve always stayed within my, within a grade bracket, but I’ve done all different [00:02:00] types of disciplines, you know, from, from big wall to aid climbing, ice climbing.

So that really compliments the base jumping. And the first time I saw a base jumper was when I was climbing in Thailand in Tonsai and that was really the spark that started the idea. You know, you can climb up stuff and jump off at the end. Wow. See, that’s where the sort of initial, because you started your career in the sort of role Marines, did you not?

Yeah, I had, so I finished my air levels and then lived in South Africa for two years. And that definitely started the adventurous lifestyle, you know, living, living in the Bush for two years or the age of 19. So. Yeah, soar and did a lot of things out there. That was, that was pretty cool. And then I started climbing out there as well, and did, did quite a bit of climbing that all kind of fell apart and [00:03:00] for various reasons.

And then I decided, yeah, the next step would be to join the Marines. I knew my dad. When I came back, we’d be like, what you doing for Korea? So I just Marines, I joined the Marines, I suppose, with the Marines, that sort of way you got to that says sort of grounding in this outdoor sort of lifestyle.

Would you say, or was it more with Kenya and you already had it within you? I think I definitely had it within me. My, my dad was in the military as well. So, you know, we would go camping at the weekend, but it wouldn’t be camping. It would be under a bit. Under a sheet under a top, all in for the night and it’s and South Africa was, you know, definitely part of my venturous life.

No, I, I, when I was training in the Royal Marines, I’d be, you know, on century at night listening to an hour. And my most century buddy would think it was a Wolf because he had never been camping in the UK before, or, you know, never been outside, never understood these sort of things. So [00:04:00] I think for some people, training was definitely a huge eye-opener to like the outdoors, but for me, I think it was the, the outdoor sort of lifestyle was already there for sure.

Amazing. So in Thailand, this is where it sort of fit you first discovered it. And from there where you just hooked your sort of intrigued and wanted to learn more and more about the sport in general. Yeah, I had 50 skydives already at that point. Because base jumping into always been sort of an idea, but as soon as I saw, you know, somebody step off a 150 meter cliff, that was just you know, that was now the main focus.

It really became sort of a strong goal of mine. And there’s yeah, everything after that was, you know, how can I make enough skydives to be able to get the experience to then go on a base jumping course and, and learn from my. So [00:05:00] for people listening, who might not know what base jumping is, could you just give a quick sort of idea briefly what it is and what you do?

Yeah. So the difference between base jumping and skydiving is the object to jumping from. So skydiving is always from an aircraft, but the aircraft could be. An airplane. It normally is, or a helicopter, a hot air balloon, a glider paraglider. It’s always a moving object or moving craft while based on things, always from a static object.

So bass is an acronym for building and tenor span, and earth span being a bridge and earth being cliff. But it’s not limited to those four things. So you can get really creative and jump off some pretty crazy objects, but. But my, my passion and my thing is, is normally Cliff’s got amazing. And so with that, you, you did the sort of what do you call it, the training with, [00:06:00] with base jumping and then, and then your idea, because you’ve been sort of pushing, you know, these Klyce or pioneering, you know, different jumps around the world.

I saw, you know, you’ve got Mount Kenya, you’ve got kurgastan. You’ve been sort of pursuing these different countries and sort of focusing on first in, in and around the world with, let’s say Mount Kenya, which you’ve done in the last sort of two or three years, is this the sort of plan is you just S that sort of thrill or finding somewhere climbing up and then seeing a sort of hundred and 50 meter drop vertical drop and being like, this is a.

Yeah. I mean to Mount Kenya was took two trips to pull off and I’m going to go back to try and top what I’ve already done, but it’s not just the flight, you know, it’s the whole package [00:07:00] especially in a wingsuit because in a wingsuit. You obviously fly quite far, you know, I think I flew maybe a kilometer distance, which isn’t that far, but it was, it was limiting.

So it’s figuring out where you’re going to land. The glide ratio is the exit point high enough to exit to then get a glide, to sustain over the terrain. You know, your flight path, I could go left in between these two rock pillars or right. And I could learn here or there, you know, different options. So there’s a lot of calculations that go into it.

And before you, you know, you booked this trip, you know, you’re doing as much research and you can on Google earth and asking locals, there’s a lot that goes into it. And then of course access like that was, that was a big one for Mount Kenya. We had to climb. Cool point, John. So I think it was about six pitches of climbing.

But yeah, there’s, there’s a lot that goes into it rather than just, you know, rocking up and jumping off. I th I think that was, yeah, it’s a whole package that I [00:08:00] enjoy for sure. I think that was one of the interesting things that I, I was really intrigued about with base jumping is the calculation, the control with it.

A lot of people probably sort of see it more of like an adrenaline filled junkies. Where you just jump off, you see, you see a clear thing. You’re like, oh, this looks all right, let’s jump off. But the calculations that go into it, you know, measuring the wind speed, measuring the distance down with a sort of laser, it has so such control within it.

And do, do you feel that takes away this sort of idea of controlled fear that you talk about?

Yeah. I mean, part of it for me is everything I do as a stepping stone to the next thing. So experience can, can really counteract fair. You know, because if there’s something that’s a little [00:09:00] bit more technical or a little bit harder to, to pull off, then I can look back at something that I did.

That’s very similar and say, well, I did that with a huge margin for error. So this one, it might have a smaller margin for error, but it’s still within my, you know, still within with what I’m comfortable with. And there’s almost a tech list. I do like a mental tick list. So when I’m at the exit point about the jump, you know, I, haven’t got a hundred, one things floating around in my head thinking, have you packed it properly?

Is it high enough? Yeah, all these different things, you know, I go through them and say, yeah, I pat my reg it’s, it’s done. I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’ve lasered it. I know where I’m gonna land. It’s done. It’s done. It’s done. And now I just focus on the, on the jump itself from what I need to do.

Do you still get that fear though, from every jump of looking down over it? Or as you say, the sort of control that goes into it, is it more. [00:10:00] It depends on the junk, for sure. Like if I open a new wing suit jump, because there’s so much more than a, than a normal base jump without the wing soon, then there’s always a little bit of a it’s a little bit more, a little bit more fair.

A little bit more anxiety. I think I’d say I wouldn’t say fair. I think if I’m like, you know, petrified, if I’m actually. No fearful of my life, then I wouldn’t jump. And there’ve been plenty of cases where I’ve said, no, I’m not doing this. I’ve I’ve turned around. But in a normal base jump even opening a new exit I can go to the next day.

I’m like, yeah, it’s good to go jump. Like it’s it’s. Comma, I suppose it’s having that experience as well. And sort of almost your gut feeling when you see something, because of that experience, you’ve built up over the years of doing this. You’ll got instincts as well. We’ll always have that sort of [00:11:00] shaky feeling of being like, Hmm, something just feels off with this and then turning around.

Whereas inexperienced people might just look at that and be like, well, I’ve come all the way up. I might as well. For sure. I think gut feelings, you know, when they say six stents, I don’t think that’s a paranormal thing. I think that’s, that’s a manifestation of something that in your subconscious that you’ve picked up on, whether that is a smell or a feeling or something that you’ve seen on the corner of your eye And it’s not, it’s not a gut feeling.

It’s, it’s something you’ve actually sensed telling you not to do it or, you know, everything’s fine. So you get that from experience and I don’t think, yeah, in new guys don’t have that experience to be able to maybe have that sort of same gut feeling. So one of the recent trips that you did was in crisis.

[00:12:00] With that. What was the idea around this trip? So kurgastan was, was a mountaineering trip with my wife, which was really cool to get her into the mountains. And it was, it was a new rooting trip. So first a sense on mostly 4,000 meter peaks. But even I managed to get 5,000 meters. And we were invited by a group of people cause on these big expeditions, it’s, you know, it’s cheaper if you get a group together.

So I think there were nine of us in total and the group did amazing. We did a lot of first ascents and quite a few second ascents as well. But my, my bass, Rick goes everywhere with me. So I’m one of the down days, one of the rest days I managed to shoot off and get one jumped on a. Wow. And I imagine your wife does the same sort of thing.

Is that how you met with. Yeah. So we met very early on in our base jumping careers. [00:13:00] And we met at a sky out a drop zone, a skydiving drop zone. She was an instructor there at the weekends. She was the one allocated with telling me off, cause I need to hit the turtle, the plan. Didn’t really know what I was doing back then.

So I opened my wingsuit too early and the court air, it was a very fast moving plane. They, they normally slow down quite a bit when you accept, but this one, this one. And I was very close to hitting the tail. So she, she came and gave me a stern telling off and that I was love at first sight, pretty much.

What, and see what, throughout the last sort of five years, or say, or six, seven, you’ve sort of been going away with her doing these base jumps and these first the sense. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s Eight and a half years I’ve been jumping now. [00:14:00] And either pretty much the same and it’s been nice as well, because it’s not like I pressured her into the sport or we both were jumping already and we both started learning and progressing together.

So it’s been a really nice sort of journey to, to learn from each other and really. Understand each other’s risk and how we mitigate it and progress together. She’s been really cool. And so in going back to sort of cut kurgastan sorry, you, you are out with this group of people and you were there sort of traveling up the ti was the mountain range.

So the, the areas called the TN . I, yeah. And we were in one of the hundreds of valleys there, but yeah. And you were sort of there with the group. Just what campaign? Not quite the BVI. I imagine. So we had a, a base camp. [00:15:00] It’s a huge four by four Soviet. Truck crosses the river in the morning, dumps us on the other side of the river.

And you’ve got, you know, like a mess 10 with all your food in it. You’ve got your individual tents and you is pretty established base camp. And then from there, it’s about 12 K up the glacier. So every time we wanted to do a climb with we’ll take our small lightweight Alpine tents, go up the glacier set up.

Do the climb come back down and then go back to base camp and kind of the teams would revolve, you know, different objectives and different down days at base camp. So we will have, you know, rest days and stuff. Oh, wow. Yeah. It’s such an amazing place. Kurgastan it’s just got the most incredible scenery.

Yeah. I mean, I was really surprised. Like I I’d wanted to go there for ages. And when [00:16:00] Dan either the leader gave, gave me an opportunity, I was like, yeah, definitely. Like, especially if he’s organizing everything and I can just jump on board. But it’s yeah, just so much untouched, you know, mountains.

Like we were in a valley, I think we did some like seven first sense and maybe four or five second descent. And luckily Eva and I were already a climatize. So day one we went up the valley and we managed to climb a 5,000 meter peak. And that was the first time either of us had been at 5,000 meters and it was a first descent, a new summit.

So it was really cool to do it as a, as a married couple as well. Like it’s there because either hadn’t been mountaineering for that long. So it was, yeah. Really proud of that, forgetting that one. And that’s where, if you, and sort of the ice ax and hiking up, getting the, getting to the top and not base jumping down, that’s just getting to the [00:17:00] top.

Yeah, that was that we graded it. I think it was 80 minus. So it was quite a steep first section, maybe 200 meters of like 50 degree ice and snow. And then we, you, you hit a Ridge line. Think it was the Westbury. And then for a couple of hours, you’re climbing along this at knife point Ridge at some point onto the summit.

So yeah, that was, that was, there was no jumping on that one, unfortunately, but so sometimes, you know, I focus a trip on climbing, but I always take my base rig and then sometimes I focus a trick or a trip on base jumping, but I always take my climbing shoes. Yeah. It’s always, you know, a trip as a focus, but.

I always want to get that extra little climb or jump in. And with that, you would, I have Nate, what I have seen is sometimes you ski down and then off the cliff [00:18:00] I am imagining kurgastan you weren’t really doing that because it was probably less ski touring up. It was more, yeah. Alpine climbing. So there was no skiing.

We had a little bit of snow, but. Some of the faces would be incredible to ski, but yeah, definitely not in condition. So it was yeah, solely, solely just climbing. But yeah, so the, the ski base there was a famous skier called Shane McConkey and he kind of started this ski based idea, even though it was done in the the James Bond film, the spy who loved me But I used to watch, I used to grow up watching these films of shamed conky skin off these cliffs.

And so that was also one of my main goals when I started base jumping, as I wanted to do, do one of these ski base. So my, my 21st base jump was a ski base, which probably [00:19:00] isn’t the progression most people take. But, but yeah, I’ve been. Going back to these places where Shane McConkey did, did his jumps a lot in the Dolomites in Italy and, and repeating them with friends.

So it’s, yeah, it’s pretty cool experience just to, you know, ski off a cliff with 2, 3, 400 meters below you with your skis on and just you get this hang time, you know, where your ski off and you, before you fall, we were just kind of floating and then you start falling. Yes. Yeah. Pretty unique experience.

Yeah, I bet. What’s the sort of feeling then your sort of stomach, is it this sort of sense of nothingness just before you drop? Yeah. Cause it’s with a base jump you’re, you know, you’re pushing out and straightaway. You’re falling, but with skiing, you, you know, you’re hitting that, that exit was speed. So you’re, you’re punching out before you start falling.

So it’s yeah. It’s just like nothing else. That’s. [00:20:00] Yeah. Wow. And it’s incredible. And one of the interesting things I heard about you was the time that you propose to your wife, what was the, what was the story there? So. So we did a Christmas trip to to Cape town, to South Africa because my wife loves the coast as well.

We both love jumping and I like climbing. So Cape town kind of ticked all those boxes. You’ve got a bit of everything. And I proposed as we were gearing up for a wingsuit jump and she said, yes, thank God. We both jumped off. And it’s quite a performance flight. You’ve got to reach this rugby field for the landing.

But we weren’t flying that well. There was a bit of headwind, but we were trying to fly together and we were limiting our speed and glide and performance. So even pulled early [00:21:00] handline twists and had the land in the shrubbery, this, this sort of shrubs and rock. It was, it was a bad landing area and she landed down wins.

So you’re going as fast as the canopy flies, as well as getting pushed by the wind. So you always want to land into wind, so it slows you down. And I saw it kind of like hit the ground and bounce. And I tried to learn nearby her opposite direction. She was kind of kinda my wind sock. I was like, I’m not going to jump that I’m not gonna land in that direction.

So I landed fine, ran up to her and she was crying. And normally, like I’ve seen it before she knows a sprained ankle. She wasn’t happy with the flight or something. And she’s a bit upset. I thought it was that I thought it was, you know, no issue, maybe sprained ankle at the worst. And I saw blood coming out the zip on her wingsuit.

So I unzipped the leg wing on the wingsuit and her shin, just, just the skin on a shin, just [00:22:00] flopped down. So I said, do not look down here, look back up there where Roger proposed and I ripped my shirt and I bandaged the flat light about the size of my hand, flat it back up. And then we spent about two hours shuffling her and the bags back to the car.

Cause she wished she wasn’t bleeding out at all. And she wasn’t in pain. She didn’t know how bad it was though. Like it was, it was pretty horrific. And yeah, so Fireman’s carrying her, put her down, go get the bags, come back to the bags. And then by the time I came back to the bags, she’d be walking off and I was like, you do not know how bad it is.

Just don’t walk anywhere. And then when we got to the first hospital they were like, oh yeah, that, you know, there’s a few hours way, you know, and he’s busy. And then I undid the bandage and they were like, okay, now you can go straight in [00:23:00] like serious. So she was in surgery for the night and yeah, lost the wedding, lost engagement ring while she isn’t under, under the knife.

So I was lost the GoPro, the footage, but but she still says I’m the best holiday yet. So yeah, apart from that, it was a, it was a good one. Well, certainly one that you won’t forget. Yeah. I say it’s amazing that you both have that sort of passion together. It must be so nice. Sort of just picking up your partner and be like, right.

We’re going. Yeah. I mean, I, I don’t think I could do it any other way. He either hasn’t jumped this year at all and we might be doing her first jump back into it this weekend, but But she’s enjoying the mountains, you know, in either way we were just out there in the mountains, but I don’t think I could have a relationship where we didn’t share a passion that consumes all of my free [00:24:00] time.

It’s like, I wouldn’t want to split my free time in between doing something I don’t really want to do just for the sake of, you know, that that’s why she’s my wife, because she’s perfect for me. It works well, I suppose for people listening again, going sort of back to base jumping itself. I, I, I, before the podcast, I was sort of saying, it’s, it sounds like it’s a bit like a sort of shark attack.

You only hear the bad stuff about it. And I think what’s very interesting is how you sort of spoke to. About how sort of controlled it is in a sense, like what planning goes into it, everything down to where it’s just after the accident story. No, no, for sure. I mean, I took my parents to see us base jumping cause they were very much under the same sort of idea that, you know, it’s just carnage is just, [00:25:00] and don’t get me wrong.

There are a lot of people that it is just carnage, you know? And I, I think there’s a difference between a story. You can do base jumps that are stunts, but then you can also do base jumping as sort of a passion as a hobby, as a sport. And that’s definitely the way that I do a lot of my jumps. And my parents came to see us and they thought the same, they thought it was carnage.

People hurt themselves left, right. And center just, yeah, just, you know, going full throttle without any calculation. And we took them and we sat and right on the access point, so they could, so they could see, and they just, they commented on like how careful and how, how much consideration there was. And at the end of the day, how calm it was, you know, the whole process.

So it was, it was really nice for them to see, like it, I think it calm their nerves quite a bit. But you’re right. Like, you know, [00:26:00] the daily mail would there shock headlines. They love buying up videos of, of base jumpers crashing. And and I, I do, you know, I sell some of my footage, but I don’t think I’ve ever sold any footage of like me crashing or carnage footage.

And me saying the footage of my achievements always comes with the caveat. Of you, you need to explain that how much hard work and how much training goes into these into these jumps, because it isn’t just a stunt that you, you know, figure out how the jumping and afternoon you’d go do it the next day it’s years and years of planning.

Yeah. Because I think people will sort of see that the line between jumping and fooling that said. It’s such a drastic difference. There’s no sort of leeway of like, oh, you could injure yourself. It’s really life or [00:27:00] death, but with the sort of control that you have with it, I mean, it just, it makes such a huge difference.

And those who sort of go out and give the sports such a bad name, I imagine for you, it’s just like a real kick in the teeth. Yeah. I mean, it has a lot of knock-on effects, you know? Like events, you know, events get canceled because people have accidents and it becomes, you know, a viral accident and events.

We don’t want base jumpers anymore. Like, you know, and that those events are really good for the community. Ways of some people making a living and bringing a good name to base jumping insurance. You can’t, it’s very hard to get insurance now. And is that because, you know, too many people are making bad decisions, but it, you know, sending these videos does, does have a knock on effect that, you know, people don’t always realize.

Yeah. How big is this the way [00:28:00] it is? How big is this sort of community within base jumping? Cause I know like different sports, different venture in the sort of whole sphere of adventure or the adventure industry base jumping a sort of good little section. And I imagine it’s got a very small tight-knit community that tiny, everyone knows everyone.

They rarely do. Everyone does know everyone is at least just one. You know, stop between knowing the next person. So wherever I traveled in the world, I can find somebody in that country to jump with or find somebody who has jumped there and it will be willing to give me information. You know, it’s, it’s a really, really small community and it definitely is growing.

Like it’s getting bigger and bigger. There are more and more courses each year which has, you know, Part of the problem, but also education is a great, obviously a great thing and knowledge is there to be shared. But you [00:29:00] know, more people in the sport also dilutes the ethics and, and there’s going to be more problems and more accidents.

And that’s, you know, that’s part of a growing sport. Yeah. I think it always happens when the sort of new sports come out because it’s a base jumping. What really only came to mainstream. What, 15, 20 years. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think it reached the peak when everyone wanted to be part of it, you know, you had some really big brands sponsoring it.

And then it got a little bit more popular. There were more accidents, more fatalities, and now a lot of people don’t want to touch it, you know, it’s understandably, but you know, a lot of famous climbers have died base jumping So understandably climbing companies don’t really want to touch base jumping.

Now either red bull used to, you know, promote the most hardcore wingsuit lines and stuff like that. And now they’re not after that, you know, [00:30:00] it’s nice, sustainable way of flying. So it’s thereafter, you know, creative things to, to shoot and to report about that was actually my next question of whether the red bull, because, you know, 10 years ago you would see the sale, a soundtrack to, I can’t remember his name on every video.

What was his name? It was, he was very famous back then Jen called us the one. And so red bull just had their names all over everything, but now you don’t see it so much. No, no. I mean, there’s, there’ve been people who’ve died at events or on shoots for brands, so it’s yeah. It’s not, it’s not a sustainable way of killing your athletes.

Yeah. Go ahead. And so we’ve the sort of first that [00:31:00] you are doing what’s what’s the next one that you haven’t yet?

Also the, the next is taking six or seven years to finally get to finishing this project. I’m not at the moment called a I’m calling a north base. So the idea is to climb all six north faces of the Alps, it’s called the great six north faces or the apps and wingsuit from them. So I. Got laugh.

I’ve got one left. So hopefully that will be done this summer. And then now it’s, it’s so niche and tedious to say, like, you’re the first at doing something like this, but for me, it’s, it’s, it’s something that’s taken so long and a lot of training to be able to climb some of these routes that were way above my limit to begin with.

So to me, it’s, it’s going to be a big tick in a box having that done [00:32:00] Yeah, I’ve just got to wing suit off the metal horn and then there’ll be that project on. So, so nobody’s timed and jumped these, these six little faces before. So that’d be a first while that, but yeah, a few other little countries and, and high Alpine projects and things that I’m looking at, but Yeah, or it depends on conditions and partners and financing and everything.

So we’ll see if it comes together, I suppose, like for you, it’s doing it for the love of the sport, but I know, you know, when it comes to sponsorship and branding brand sort of love like a sort of first or the fastest or this, so it has some sort of media angle. So I imagine that’s probably, although I, the six out north faces.

So have you actually done any so far? Yeah. So I’ve, I’ve done [00:33:00] four, five of them. So it’s only, only the, or son. I haven’t been able to wing suit the same day as I climb them because the climbing conditions in different to the jumping conditions. So I’ve got to wing suit the metal horn and climb the north face of the grand your ass.

But I’ve went to an inclined, all the others. That’s the north face of the Eiger north face at Pittsburgh deal. Wingsuit grand harass, climbed the north face of the Matterhorn and climbed and jumped the north face a tree Sheam so yeah, just, just one more to get more. The wings, you have the metal and the climb of grand your ass.

And so the Dru the the north facing the drew and the, and the wingsuit that last summer yeah. Is a plan to do the Matawan in the summer. Yes. Yeah, it was, it was so annoying. I climbed it. I think it was [00:34:00] October or November. Really, really good condition. And we got to the summit and we were so worn out.

I can’t remember how many hours, something like towers of pretty sustained climbing on the north face, cold, hungry, wet, tired. And we talked out and there was no wind whatsoever, you know, 4,000 meters altitude, no wind, which has perfect conditions for jumping in a wingsuit. So instead of being back down to the valley floor in two minutes, it took like two.

Six hours to get down to the heart and then from the heart, another four hours. So over two days it took 10 hours to get down where, when I could have just flown down in two minutes, but I’ll have to go back up. Sorry. Does someone always take all your stuff down? Because I, the wingsuit is clearly when you’re sort of getting from your climbing gear into your wingsuit they will come down with you all comes down with.

Yeah. [00:35:00] Yeah. W which is, to me also part of the, you know, as, as I was saying with like the the Kenyon, that part of it is a preparation, it’s figuring it all out and, you know, it’d be lovely to have an extra guy who can take stuff down. And sometimes you’ll actually, and you’ve got a partner or you’re climbing is a three.

But normally I climb with a, with a good friend of mine. Who wingsuits as well. So, you know, you make it work. Which means maybe I’m being a little bit more confident of the route. So you can take less gear, less rote, thinner row, less ice screws, less trapped protection. And then yeah, it all goes in the wingsuit.

So we can take 60 meters. Can either wrap it around your stomach or put, put it down the legs. We’ve got special CRA lightweight crampons. The ice ax, you can take the head off and we put it down our shins. So yeah. All comes. God. I did not think that I suddenly just, when you were [00:36:00] sort of saying you went up and then wing, I thought, okay, well there must be someone that sort of take it all down the poor side.

He’s sort of again, ah, crap. I’ve got all this to take. Yeah. I mean, sometimes you’re just stuffing stuff in pockets. Like it gets, there’s definitely been flights that have been hindered because I’ve got stuff poking out of me and a climbing shoe or something, but it’s the normal, you can make it work. Ah, that’s incredible.

Wow. Good. And so yeah, the summer, that should be absolutely amazing. And your, your plan is to film everything and. And send it on. Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s taken six years, so it started with some sketchy or GoPro footage and, and now the food is getting better and better, but I definitely want to cobble something together and yeah, put all together and see, see what I can make on some sort of like mini documentary or just even like a game.

Well, documentary GoPro. [00:37:00] Yeah. Something like that. Wow. That should, that should be absolutely amazing. There’s a part of the show where we ask the same five questions to each guest each week. Sure. Which the first one being what’s the one catch it. You always take with you on these trips. I think that would have to be my 18th birthday.

My my godfather gave me a multi-tiered. And that’s, that’s just coming everywhere. You know, my whole career in the military, it was getting used and, and every expedition it comes with. So that’s, that’s a Mustang. What about your favorite adventure book? So there’s a book that I read a couple of years ago.

I think it’s called war doctor by David not And I don’t use the word inspiring much, but it is. It’s just [00:38:00] incredible. I know, you know, adventure might be the wrong word, but this, this guy has done just some incredible stuff around the world and it is, yeah, like definitely some chapters brought me to tears like this.

It’s insane. The stuff that guy got up to. Wow. Yeah. That’s the most read dukkha and check that out. Why, why are these sort of trips and adventures important to you?

For me? I think it’s important for, for everyone to have a goal, you know, to have, have a challenge to push themselves cause otherwise. Just killing time on you. Life is just killing time and where whatever that goal is, you know, playing an instrument or whatever. But, but my goal and my challenge is to, you know, climb up mountains and jump off.

And so that’s [00:39:00] what keeps me busy. Keeps keeps life interesting. Yeah, for sure. What about your favorite.

So I, I was trying to think of a good quote. Yeah. I couldn’t really the ones that I was trying to search for, cause I had them in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t get the words exact, so I couldn’t find them. But as I was thinking, there’s a, there’s a poem called and Dessie Durata. And it’s every single line is a quote that I would want to live by.

You know, it is a phenomenal poem that you see you can’t either the statements you can’t disagree with. They’re just, it’s a short poem. It’s definitely anybody listened to this. Look it up. Cause it is it’s phenomenal. Dessie Durata yeah, yeah. 101 quotes in there. Wow. I think there’s like 20 lines, [00:40:00] 20 quotes in there, but but they’re all good.

One slipped by. Yeah. And for also for P wait, what’s the one I was going to say, right. For people listening, what’s the one thing that you would recommend for people wanting to get started in base, jumping in base jumping particularly So base jumping is a weird one because you don’t start base jumping by base jumping.

You start base jumping by skydiving. But I think no matter what you want to get into, whether it’s mountain air and hillwalking climbing base jumping, if you really want it, you can find a way, you know, so many people have said to me and my wife, oh, you know, You must have your parents must’ve helped you financially or whatever.

Like, you know, we, we learned skydiving by becoming a [00:41:00] packer, you know, packing rigs for money. So I could pay for my jumps. You know, you find a way and if you want it bad enough, you will find a way. Apart from that, it’s just excuses. You know, like I can’t do it because my time or my money, or like, you know, I changed my lifestyle and.

You know, sleeping in lay buys and cars and eating pastor every day, just so I can go on climbing trips or the weekends and stuff. So but getting into base jumping. Yeah. It means spending a lot of time just sitting around at the drop zone, waiting for a weather window. So it’s, it’s a lot of dedication for sure.

It’s about sort of prioritizing what you really love and if there’s something you really love, you will go. You know, to the top to heaven prioritizing that’s that’s so true. Yeah. It’s definitely about prioritizing. He will literally make everything you’ll sacrifice. You will cut everything [00:42:00] out just to make sure you can do that.

It’s just having that. It’s amazing. You know, I get a lot of people asking me about how to get into base jumping and I teach courses, you know, once or twice a year. And it’s amazing to see when somebody sent me a message four years ago saying I want to go base jumping. And I say, you need to do around 200 skydives first and then come back, you know, two, three years later saying I’ve done them, let’s go base jumping.

And that to me is just awesome. Cause it just shows the level of commitment and dedication. Some, some people have taken to, to achieve their goals, you know? Yeah. And it’s so true. It’s just, you will sacrifice having enough just to make sure that you can do whatever you set your mind to it. Yeah. Yeah. Some healthy, some not, you know, whether you cut off.

That’s true. But Tim, how can people find you and follow [00:43:00] your story? On Instagram and Facebook is as Tim, how adventure and I have a website that I write some blogs and put some pictures up as well which is also Tim Howard venture.com. But yeah, take, take a look. If you’ve got some time, we’ll put a link in the description below.

Thanks for the link to your Instagram and everything. But God, it’s been actually such a pleasure listening to your story and hearing. All about it. Thanks very much. Cheers, man. I appreciate him.