Anyone ever gone bungee jumping? (1 Viewer)

[Michael*K]

I want to hit the bungee tower next month when I go to Las Vegas. I've never done a jump before, so I have a few questions. Is the 175 foot drop a little extreme for a first jump? Should I keep my eyes opened or closed the first time I do it? Are there height/weight restrictions? How are you connected to the bungee cord?

 

[ChrisMatson]

I went in Cancun, Mexico (makes me think of Cable Guy) back in 1997. I think it was "only" about 60-70 feet over water. I was scared, but I did it with my eyes open and I would do it agin. You are a brave man to do 175 feet. I think there are weight restrictions, but I think they adjust the length and number of cords to adjust for this. I was connected around both ankles with some sort of harness.
Have fun!

 

[Brian Kleinke]

That's always scared me, if you go you'll have to tell us how it went

 

[KyleS]

Michael,
I have been fortunate or unfortunate (depending on how you look at it) to go 3 times in my life. Each time I swore I would never do it again... and the reason being that I am scared of heights and nothing scares the shit out of you like Bungee jumping when dealing with heights.
The first time I went Bungee jumping was when I was 17 and I went over to Australia to play American football or Gridiron as they call it. It was over the gold coast into the bay (you actually go into the water) from a crane that is 180-200 feet tall and let me tell you that was a rush. I got talked into it because I was with a ton of other football players and everyone was doing it but due to peer pressure no one opted out. (Probably more then half of us were scared to death).
After I did that I swore I would never do it again.
Well about 3 years later I went back down to Australia with my future wife and she wanted to go Bungee jumping so we went back to the same place. I was taking pictures of everyone jumping and I got talked into it again. It just didnt seem that high when looking through the camera but let me tell you as soon as they started up in the crane I knew it was a bad idea. Took me forever to jump that time.
And the 3rd time was in New Zealand on my way back from Australia on our second trip. That was by far the worst because it was off of a bridge and it was a lot higher up and not over water. I think it was from like 70 or 80 meters (couldnt tell you the distance in feet off of the top of my head).
Either way I think that you will love it. For sure you will want to keep your eyes open... Hell I think closing them would possibly make it worse. If you want something really freaky watch the guys Bunjee jump backwards off of the same spots. :frowning:
Everytime that I have jumped they wrapped & tied what looked like Large sand bag ankle weights (like what people work out with) and then wrapped a strap around them which has the connector for the bunjee cord. Yes they do have weight restrictions but I couldnt tell you what they are in Vegas (In australia it was like 600 pounds so 2 people could go at once). They will have multiple cords depending on what you weight and yes they will take your weight since they dont want you to say that your lighter then you are
Best of luck and let us know what you think of it. Heck I will try and upload a picture tomorrow of when I went in Australia.
KyleS

 

[Alex Spindler]

I have, but it was the wussy 'swing' kind.

I would recommend eyes open, because the experience is one to remember, even if you swear to never do it again.

 

[Ryan Wright]

Bungee jumping is so nineties...

Never been. Always wanted to, but was too cheap to cough up the $50+ for a 2 second rush (still am).

 

[Marshall Alsup]

I bungee jumped at a local fair once. It was several years ago and it was THE SHIT. I was only around 16 at the time and like Ryan couldn't cough up the dough. However a friend of my parents at the time offered to pay my way because he though there was no way in hell I'd do it. LOL, he was wrong!!
Its very fun, and I kept my eyes open. I'm not sure why you'd want to close them. I dont know how high the crane was but I'll tell you this.... It looks WAY higher from the cage than it did from the ground
As far as the weight thing, I'm a fatty. When I jumped I probably weighed about 250 or so and they said it was no problem. They also said they've had dudes over 300 go before.
I say go for it because its very fun. Make sure to have it video taped because thats somthing you'll want to show off to your frinds!
Later,
Marshall

 

[Dave E H]

I went once in Switzerland. It was billed as the world's highest commercial jump at the time - about 5 years ago at 175 meters. It's off a cable car in Interlaken - you have a great view of Mt. Eiger (Eiger Sanction, if you recall). Bad *ss. Enjoyed it - not sure I'll do it again, but I wouldn't turn it down.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I have no idea how high the tower was but about 8 years ago I did a jump @ Kings Island. If you can keep your eyes open on a roller coaster then you'll be ok, it's a similar kind of rush.

 

[Tim Kilbride]

Scared the sh*t out of me...I too am not great with hieghts,figured I would never get the nerve up to do it again and off I went..complete rush!!!!

TimK

 

[Mike Lenthol]

Sounds interesting, how they get you people down though?

 

[KyleS]

Sounds interesting, how they get you people down though?

If they are using a crane then they will simply lower the crane until someone on the ground can grap your hands and lead you over to a cushion until your feet are on the ground to untie you. When I jumped off of the bridge after I stopped bouncing they retracted the cord with me attached till someone was able to grab my arms. Most of the time after you are done bouncing they lower you slowly to the ground though.

KyleS

 

[Dave E H]

WHen I did it, they end of the bungee was attached to a winch - they simply lower you when you get done bouncing.

 

[Scott Strang]

I've been wondering about this bungee stuff. How long has it been "done"?

Has it been around long enough for possible health related problems to start showing up in people that have been doing it for a while?

 

[Carl Johnson]

There aren't any health related side effects to bungee jumping. I can tell you from first hand experience it puts less strain on the body than your average roller coaster. Come to think of it I've never jumped out of an airplane but I'd be willing to bet that is 100x more stressful than your average bungee jump.

 

[Michael*K]

There's no way I can back out of this now. There's just too many people telling me I'll get cold feet. Here's an interesting shot of what I'll be looking at, I guess.

 

[SteveA]

I did one bungee jump in Amsterdam back in 1999, from a height of 75 meters (about 240 feet). It was very high, and very scary. Luckily, there was a bar attached to the place called the "Bungy Beach Bar". A couple of tall brews beforehand helped calm my nerves a little bit!

I don't regret the jump, but it was so scary that I don't think I want to do it again.

 

[KyleS]

Michael,
The scary thing for you is that you will be junping over the pool but when you get up there I guarantee you will be thinking... Man if this breaks I am going to miss the damn pool. Its weird when you get that high up but you swear that you can jump farther out then you really can or are.
KyleS

 

[Peter Yee]

Carl,
Having jumped out of an airplane, I can tell you that it is not all that stressful. I've only done it once, mind you, but that's a factor of the cost -- I prefer to invest in DVDs. In any case, once you're out of the plane, the ride down is pretty calm, even with the wind blowing your face into a pancake. Once your chute opens, it's totally peaceful. I can't imagine a bungee jump is peaceful until you at least stop bouncing!
-Peter

 

[KyleS]

Bungee jumping is so different then sky diving its not even funny. Sky diving is not nearly as stressful IMO since you cant see the ground coming at you. When you Bungee jump the scary part is that you get that height sensation and really cant feel the Bungee cord pulling until you are aways down. I love both but Bungee jumping is so much scarier.

KyleS