Word: boenish
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...BASE jump is a parachuted jump from a fixed object - a mountain, a building, anything that rises high into the air. The term is an acronym for the types of structures off of which jumpers fling themselves: Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges) and Earth (rocks). Carl Boenish, a cinematographer who had been filming freefall parachuting for several years, coined the term in 1981 as a way to categorize various jumps...
Norway has become a popular vacation destination for thrill seekers because it still permits BASE jumpers on many of its fjords. But it, too, is a dangerous place: in 1984, Boenish died from a failed jump off Trollveggen, the tallest vertical rock face in Europe. He had just set the record for tallest BASE jump a few days before - Trollveggen is 3,600 feet (1,100 m) tall - when his parachute failed to open. After 11 accidents and another three deaths, BASE jumping was banned at the site...
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