Exit Point

In this episode, Matt and Laurent interview Dan Darby.  Dan has been skydiving and BASE jumping for over fifteen years. He's a competitive wingsuit skydiver, BASE jumper, and a member of the US parachute team for wingsuit performance flying. He's also a co-founder of Arcus Flight wingsuit school in DeLand, Florida, and a multidisciplinary skydiving and wind tunnel instructor. In this episode, Dan...

In this episode, Laurent is joined by Scott Palmer.  Scott, also known as Plamer, is a 3rd generation aviator, was a forward air controller with the US Air Force and after serving in Iraq, he went on to pursue a career in skydiving.  With over 15 years in the sport and over 11,000 skydives, Scott traveled the world competing and became one of the world’s most sought-after tunnel coaches. He has mu...

In this episode, Laurent sits down with Yuri Kuznetsov. Yuri made his first skydive when he was 13 years old, his first BASE jump in 1994 with skydiving gear, and has since made thousands of jumps.  He has been active in urban, terminal, wingsuiting, sliderdown, you name it - to say that he is experienced is a massive understatement. We're looking forward to hearing some of his stories from back i...

In this episode, Matt Blank interviews Brian Germain. Brian is a career educator with a master's degree in sports psychology and a groundbreaking parachute engineer and test pilot. Brian has authored numerous critically acclaimed books, including The Parachute and Its Pilot. https://briangermain.company.site/ https://calendly.com/brian-germain-1 http://adventurewisdom.com  . Please support this in...

In this episode, Laurent speaks with Luke Rogers, a professional wingsuit pilot from Australia. He's won multiple national titles, podiumed at various world championships, and was the first person in the world to flare a wingsuit over 100 meters. Luke is constantly training, competing, and coaching at wingsuit events. He's incredibly generous with all his tips and tricks regarding flying wingsuits...

In this episode, Matt Blank talks to Marta Empinotti, a BASE-jumping living legend. She’s not only a skilled and creative stuntperson, but also a pioneer in BASE education and rigging. She was one of the first to make BASE jumping a professional career and helped establish the industry standards. Marta is a respected leader in the BASE community, who inspires many of us with her excellence and eth...

In this episode, Matt Blank sits down with John McEvoy. Blank and John take a deep dive into BASE jumping student progression and what it means to be on the path to mastery. John shares his incredible story of recovery, determination, and passion. He talks about how he got into BASE jumping, what he learned from his stroke, how he fixed his heart and faced his tumor, and how he continued to develo...

In this episode, Laurent speaks with Marine Descols. Marine is a hypnotherapist, wingsuit coach, and camera flyer. She did her first skydive at the young age of 12 and developed a passion for action adventure sports when she met her partner Vincent. Marine and Vincent founded Sky Vibration, the world's first commercial tandem wingsuit operation. Marine is fascinated with the mind-body connection a...

In this episode, Laurent speaks with Fred Fugen, a pioneer of modern parachuting and one of the most talented and innovative skydivers, wingsuit pilots, and BASE jumpers on the planet. Fred has won multiple world championships in freeflying, set several world records in BASE jumping and wingsuit flying, and has executed some of the most incredible aerial stunts ever performed. Laurent talks with F...

In this episode, Laurent speaks with Steph Davis. Steph is a world-class free solo climber and an avid BASE jumper. She has a unique background, including being a dedicated pianist and holding a master's degree in literature. While attending law school, she decided to drop out to pursue climbing full-time and has never looked back. Steph is an inspirational figure with her approach to risk managem...

In this episode, Laurent Frat speaks with Katelyn Compton Escott - a performance wingsuit pilot, BASE jumper and speedflyer. She was recommended by a few mutual friends as a potential guest. However, before we could invite her, she suffered a serious spinal injury while speedflying in Kamloops. Since her accident, she underwent a successful 10 hour surgery and has been making positive progress. In...

Tension knots might be the scariest and least understood malfunction in BASE. In 2019 and 2020, Squirrel conducted surveys in an attempt to get a better understanding of tension knots and their occurrence. In this episode, Blank and I sit down with Will and Matt from Squirrel to have them share what they learned, and some suggestions on how to train our emergency procedures. Read SQRL's paper on t...

With us this week is Lonnie Bissonnette, a BASE jumping pioneer who after suffering a nearly fatal accident that left him paralyzed, became the first person to earn a BASE number as a paraplegic, jumping all four objects in the BASE acronym (Building, Antena, Span [bridge] and Earth). He has since traveled the globe BASE jumping and became a para-bobsleigh world champion representing his home coun...

In this episode, Laurent speaks with Espen Fadnes. Espen has somehow stayed at the top of the discipline, basically from the beginning of wingsuit BASE jumping, was part of the community that opened the world's eyes to what was possible and how base jumpers could fly.  He is an FAI world champion, regularly holds sell-out camps at the indoor wingsuit tunnel, and it completes hundreds of wingsuit B...

In this episode, Matt Blank speaks with Taylor Cole.  Taylor is a member of the US parachute team, CTO of the Navy’s technology lab in Southern California, stuntman, and long-time BASE jumping community organizer. His open-minded and logical approach to BASE jumping may appear in contrast to his wild antics, but after listening to this conversation we hope you gain some valuable insights into his...

In this episode, Laurent and Matt speak with Chris McNamara. Chris is an expert in big wall climbing and describes himself as a recovering wingsuit BASE jumper.   Climbing Magazine once pointed out that three percent of Chris's life had been spent on the face of El Cap - of which he has climbed over 70 times, he holds 9 big wall speed climbing records, and is a winner of the American Alpine Club's...

In this episode, Laurent speaks with Robert Pecnik.  Robert is the director, owner lead wingsuit designer, and test pilot of Phoenix Fly.  In Croatia, Robert's skydiving career started in 1982, and is still regularly BASE jumping with unrelenting enthusiasm. Among other things, we talked about his thoughts on the risks and dangers of wingsuit BASE and how his passion for flying has remained so res...

In this episode, Laurent and Matt speak with Jamie Crawford. Jamie is an expert in urban BASE jumping who has been honing his skill with patience, dedication, and intention for over a decade.  Jamie provides a fresh perspective on Exit Point with his hardcore urban style. He has generously agreed to shed some light on what has historically been a shadowy dark art.  Jamie's FB His Insta   If you ha...

In this episode, Laurent sits down with Tristan Wimmer and Ben Pitassi of 22 Jumps.  22 Jumps is a public charity that combines BASE jumping and fundraising to support the development of durable solutions for traumatic brain injuries.    The project was initiated by Tristan Wimmer after his brother Kiernan's tragic death. Kiernan, who had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained in Iraq f...

Jesse Hall is an accomplished athlete who grew up in the mountains of Colorado and developed a love for skiing, rock climbing, and backpacking at a young age. Jesse was inspired by air sports early and made his first jump on his 18th birthday in 2000. Since then, he's made thousands of BASE jumps from hundreds of different objects around the globe. Jesse won the North American Extreme Skiing Champ...

In this episode, Laurent Frat and Matt Blank speak with Todd Shoebotham.  Todd is the co-founder and President of Apex BASE, one of the premier manufacturers of BASE Jumping equipment. Todd has been involved in the sport of BASE jumping since 1987.  He is a designer, innovator, educator, a film consultant, and with his brother Troy, was one of the very first commercial manufacturers of BASE-specif...

In this episode, we speak with Kenny Daniel, the founder and designer of Baseline.ws. Baseline.ws is a website and mobile app that provides tools designed to help skydivers and BASE jumpers improve their safety margin and increase performance. I've been excited to chat with Kenny about how I can best use baseline.ws for what I'm doing and general suggestions about data gathering for BASE. www.base...

In this episode, Matt Blank interviews Jay Moledzki. Jay Mo is one of skydiving's foremost canopy instructors and we've brought him on to talk about his history as a test pilot, his experience pioneering high-performance canopy flying, and some of his training tips that we can use to improve our own canopy skills for the BASE environment. Jasonmoledzki@gmail.com @jason_moledzki www.trustthejourney...

Sean Chuma has made BASE jumping his life and livelihood for the better part of one and a half decades, moving from southern California to Twin falls to BASE jump full time.   Despite being a world-renowned aerialist, tandem BASE developer and BASE jumping instructor, he remains a soft-spoken ninja who’s largely chosen to represent through action rather than words, so we’re excited to get him on r...

Dr Matt Wilks is an adventure medic, ICU doctor and seasoned paraglider pilot. He founded the Flight Physiology Project, which is a multidisciplinary bid to study physiology, cognitive performance and safety of pilots during free flight. Matt has a long list of notable experiences including being the lead doctor on several large international expeditions. He practised anesthesiology in New Zealand...