Miles Daisher can’t sit still. If he isn’t jumping out of an airplane, he’s strapped into a pair of skis or a snowboard, paddling a kayak, pedaling a mountain bike, flying a paraglider, or wielding a belt sander somewhere in his new house. He’s most well known as a BASE jumper, though, thanks in part to his unique accomplishments within the sport, like the jump tally he racked up in 2006. Daisher stepped, flipped, and spun into thin air a total of 737 times last year, motivated primarily by a bet with Red Bull teammate, pro skier, and fellow BASE-jumping addict Shane McConkey. The payoff? Two bucks. It’s obviously not about the Benjamins for this guy; it’s about the experience, it’s about the rush, and it’s about the flight. In Daisher’s own words, he’s living the dream falling.
How did the bet with McConkey come about?
We’d always try to get an average of one jump a day, to hit 365 for the year. I was just poppin’ off to him one day, saying that it’d be easy to jump two a day. He says, “Easy, huh? Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?” We always bet two dollars, because we’re not rich men (laughs). It’s more about this two-dollar bill that Shane had hanging in his room; one day I bet him that two dollars and ended up winning. Since then, we’ve been betting on all kinds of things, and that two-dollar bill’s been passed back and forth between us.
How many jumps did you make in 2005?
457.
So was it easy to hit 730?
It could have been easy, but I had work to do, places to go. We sold our old house and bought a new one, and I’ve been doing a serious renovation project on it. It’s turning into that movie The Money Pit, except we don’t have a big crew; it’s just me and my bleeding fingers and knuckles. We also had a baby girl last year, so I really had to fix up the upstairs so it was livable for a baby. I had to give up a month to work on it. Shane was giving me a bunch of grief; he was already counting his two dollars!
How do you find places to jump from?
You just look up (laughs).
How do you train for new jump styles?
I go to the pool to train off of the diving board for tricks. I’m basically practicing the timing of the rotations. Once you get your timing dialed in, you practice the motions of throwing your pilot chute before you hit the water. Then you take it to the air. Once you have a good mental game going, a good sense of balance and spatial awareness, then it’s pretty easy.
Do you have a pre-jump ritual?
I do a pre-jump gear check every time. Even if I’m doing twenty jumps in a row one day, I’ll check the winds before every jump, and always have a game plan in my head as to what my landing pattern is going to be.
Do you have a favorite place to jump?
Polar Sun Spire on Baffin Island in northeastern Canada on the Sam Ford Fjord. I went up there on a trip with Shane, Charles Bryan, Mike Vail, and Felix Baumgartner. We went up with Inuit guides; it took us two days to get out to the fjord, and we spent a little over two weeks out there. It was unreal; just to be there and look at it would blow you away. We jumped off of all kinds of different cliffs, and Polar Sun Spire was the biggest. I wasn’t doing a bunch of tricks on that one, I just flew out and soaked it all in. It was amazing. I got on my knees and prayed afterward, thanking God and all of my friends for teaching me how to BASE jump. It was a religious experience for me.
What’s the best part of the jump?
When you’ve just leaned past the point of no return—you’ve committed, but you haven’t pushed off yet. I always want to be there. There’s also that freefall, just after you’ve pushed off and the wind hasn’t picked up yet. You don’t feel any forces acting on your body.
Is the threat of legal consequence part of the rush?
Some people BASE jump just for that, the whole hiding and running around part of it. That doesn’t really do it for me. I’m more into the experience of jumping off of something very tall, making it look smooth and having fun with it, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness, and flying and landing. I hate running from the law; that takes away from what’s really going on with the jump itself.
What’s been your scariest jump experience?
It was Bridge Day, 2004 [a one-day mass jump from West Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge]. I was ropeswinging off McConkey. We put a hundred-foot rope between us and went off the bridge, and everything was going smoothly, but Shane kind of went left, which would put me out over the trees instead of over the river. I cut my canopy away, went into free fall and the rope caught me, swinging me under Shane. I knew I was low but that I still had just enough time to open, so I cut away [from the rope] and pitched immediately. My chute opened up and I went right into a treetop. I ended up hanging out up there for like an hour. That was a scary situation; I was a hundred feet up. I was unhurt, though; I had a little scrape on my leg. I was really lucky.
After making so many jumps, does the rush diminish?
Not so much. Of course, my first jump was overwhelming, and I was freaking out, not knowing what to expect. Now I know what to expect, but we’re pushing it, trying to figure out different tricks. It never gets boring. If you don’t appreciate it every time, then you’re going to get spanked. You have to treat the sport with respect. I love it; it’s the coolest thing you could possibly ever do.
Describe your first BASE jump.
I went to this bridge in California with my buddies; it had been about two and a half years coming. I had been studying and I was all fired up. I was going to do a flying squirrel, three-second delay, throw out my pilot chute and open up on heading. I climbed over the rail, and I quit breathing entirely and started getting dizzy. I had to climb back over the rail to catch my breath. I was freaking out, because all I could hear in my head was, “You could die, you could die, you could die…” I had been bungee jumping for years, so I started thinking, “Just get a nice bungee exit,” but a good bungee exit when you have ankle harnesses on is head low. So instead of doing my flying squirrel, I jumped off in a head-down position and just saw canopy and my feet up in the air. Then I was flying and everything was smooth from there. I was freaking out up to that point, though.
Are you afraid of anything?
I’m afraid of widths. I could be up on a million-foot cliff standing on a 50-foot ledge, no problem, but get me up ten or twelve feet on a 2-by-4 at a construction site and I get a little nervous.
Do you find it hard to get excited about things if you’re not jumping?
I get excited about accomplishments, conquering goals. Like with this house, if I ever get finished with it I’ll be really stoked. When I did 57 jumps in a day here in Twin Falls, hiking out of them all, I did a lot of strength and endurance training. So when I was getting my times lower when I was running and adding stacks to the weight bar, I’d get excited about that. I get fired up on bettering myself, not just physically but mentally.
How will you top 2006?
I’m probably going to just chill out around the 400-jump level. I’m not taking any bets right now because I have this house project. This year, I’ll tackle my 2,000th jump. We’re going to do something spectacular to commemorate it, but I don’t know where or when yet. I want to get an ultralight, and skydive a lot more. There’s a world-record-attempt free-flying skydive formation this year, and I really want to get involved with that. I’ll have to go to tryouts and try to make the cut.
What do you do when you’re not BASE jumping?
I love to ski, skydive, snowboard, mountain bike, run, hike, go camping, kayaking, paragliding… I’ve started getting as good at skateboarding as I was when I was a kid. Just exercising in general, anything outdoors, being physical. I’m starting to get back into gymnastics again, because I’ve been taking my daughter to classes. Oh, and I really love fireworks! Like Roman Candle wars; you have to wear eye protection and not be afraid to burn your clothes a little bit. It’s cool when you have the helmet cam on to document it.
I have a feeling your kids really like hanging out with their dad…
I’m already the guy who can’t say no to anything. My daughter Dorothy will say, “Momma, I want to do this,” and Nikki says, “No, you can’t,” so she comes running over to me, and next thing you know, she’s doing it and I’m getting yelled at (laughs).
What’s going to happen if your kids want to BASE jump?
Wait until you’re 18; don’t tell mom and let’s go!
