JT Holmes performs a BASE jump
Squaw Valley has an audacious event planned to celebrate the simultaneous anniversaries of their 60th year in operation, and 50th year since they hosted the Olympics. The celebration will be held Saturday, November 21, beginning at 2 pm.
Kicking off the festivities on opening day will be an historic BASE jump by JT Holmes. BASE (an acronym derived from Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth) jumping is a potentially high risk activity where the jumper leaps from a fixed object high above the ground with a packed parachute, which is then deployed at the critical moment.
This historic BASE jump will be done legally and is a central part of the 60th anniversary festivities to be held on Squaw Valley’s opening day of the ski season. Holmes will perform the BASE jump from a point just below the Cable Car’s Tower 1.
According to Savannah Cowley of Squaw Valley, Shane McConkey had originally been asked to perform the jump. Sadly, McConkey, a greatly admired professional skier, died last year at the age of 40 during a ski-BASE jump in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy on March 26, 2009, after failing to deploy his parachute due to a separate equipment malfunction associated with his skis. Nancy Cushing, owner of Squaw Valley, asked Holmes to jump in his place to honor McConkey and celebrate 60 years of skiing at Squaw Valley.
Holmes, a good friend of McConkey, is a professional skier based out of Squaw Valley. Holmes did his first BASE jump with McConkey and the two became jumping partners. Holmes has been featured in numerous ski films and, like McConkey, has been an innovator in ski-BASEing, where BASE jumping is combined with skiing.
Jonny Moseley skiing in Tahoe
Ski-BASEing was invented after the 1977 James Bond film, “The Spy Who Loved Me”, starring Roger Moore, featured a stunt involving a skier jumping off a cliff and parachuting to the ground. This first ski-BASE jump was an actual jump performed by Squaw Valley’s Rick Sylvester on a slope in Canada on Baffin Island. The stunt intrigued adventurous skiers and BASE jumpers like McConkey and Holmes, and a new extreme sport was created. Video footage of a successful McConkey ski-BASE jump will surely take your breath away.
Jonny Moseley, a moguls champion and Olympic gold medalist in the 1998 Olympics held in Nagano, Japan, will be hosting the celebration on the KT Sundeck from 2-3:45 pm. Moseley was a member of the Squaw Valley Freestyle Ski Team when he won the first Junior National title in Freestyle Skiing, and joined the U.S. Ski Tem at 18. He can be seen skiing and heard narrating the current release of the Warren Miller movie, Dynasty, which can be seen in venues around the country. Holmes is also featured in the movie.
Join the festivities at Squaw Valley on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm.
2:00 pm: Mighty Mite Parade and Cake Lighting
2:10 pm: Champagne Toast by Nancy Cushing
2:15 pm: Jonny Moseley toast
2:20 pm: JT Holmes BASE Jump from the Cable Car
2:25 pm: Balloon Release from the Funitel and 50/60 Anniversary Cake
2:35 pm: Screening of “Squaw Valley USA – 60 Legendary Years”
Photo of JT Holmes (top) courtesy of Squaw Valley.
Photo of Jonny Moseley (bottom) courtesy of Warren Miller Entertainment.
