Highest altitude you've been?

[MooMoo2]

Originally Posted by Oddball

I once climbed up a peak that was a little over 14,000 feet (4270 meters), but I only stayed there for a few minutes.

Any other experiences? No, altitudes achieved by aircraft don't count.

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

So, Joe Kittinger's work does not count?

I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane a few days ago at an altitude of ~14,000 feet above sea level / ~12,700 feet above ground level. This is the highest unpressurized altitude I've ever been without doing any acclimation. I really appreciated the quick plane ride up this time, now that I've done a tough day hike to reach the summit of Mt. Whitney (~14,500'). The vertical gain of that climb was only half of the ~12,700' height above ground level that the plane reached, and my ~15 lb hiking day pack was lighter than my ~20 lb main parachute and reserve.

You have two main options if you're a new skydiver - tandem and AFF (there's also an option for doing a static line jump, but that's less common unless you're in the military). The tandem option is the one I did a few years ago where you're strapped to someone and don't have much training or responsibilities. But I wanted the excitement and satisfaction of pulling my own parachute and flying it solo to the ground, so I went for the AFF option this time. It's sort of like the difference between being a passenger on a racecar and driving the racecar yourself.

Now this was one intense experience. Things went from really bad to really good, which was way better than going from really good to really bad

I didn't arch properly on the plane exit, tumbled a few times, and flailed around for awhile. But my instructor helped me to get stable, and I did the practice pulls, maintained altitude awareness, pulled the chute on my own at the right altitude, steered the canopy to the landing area, and landed safely. You can check out the wild ride over here:



BTW, I turned on the radio when I got back to my car, and you know what was the first song I heard? Fallin' by Alicia Keys.

Go figure.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by MooMoo2

I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane a few days ago at an altitude of ~14,000 feet above sea level / ~12,700 feet above ground level.

AWESOME!!!

I so have to do this sometime soon!

[MooMoo2]

Originally Posted by chalsall

AWESOME!!!

I so have to do this sometime soon!

Thanks! If you're feeling extra adventurous, there are some places that will take you all the way up to 18,000' and give you supplemental oxygen:
https://www.skydivetecumseh.com/2017...00-18000-feet/