12 Feet Under! IS BACK!
12 Feet Under is around five years old and it is again going through a change is proud to keep up it's tradition of doing whatever it wants alive. I originally started this site for the Extreme Cliff Jumpers who were not being "Good Citizens". We called ourselves by many names as we walked the streambeds of Southern California...The Hard Way Hiking Club...The Skeleton Crew...Kerplunkers...Danger Rangers and we thought of many great slogans...This ain't the Army. We DO leave men behind...You Only Live Once...You can only get some rushes by nearly F***ING Dying!...Count to 3, Grow some balls and Jump!
We were brazen fools and sooner or later, as is bound to happen, someone got seriously hurt. We're not talking about a bruised ass or a simple concussion here. Some of the jumpers were smarter than others and saw the road we were walking down. They quit for their children's sake or for the love of not being in pain. It was at this point I decided my website would become more of a trove of resources for non-jumpers as much as it was a monument to Cliff Jumping. I rewrote advice and posted demonstrational videos. I still get mocked by ghoulish definitions of accident, Real Jumpers know the many ways a jump can go wrong.
Then came Web 2.0, a fad term but determined to capture the community aspect I jumped right in. People joined and it was a very ghetto myspace like place. Then I learned that most people just don't care so I made a lot of blank auto generated pages. I tried Web 2.1 where I recruited jumpers but these people were to busy with thier lives to be bothered updating a website. I put it in the to do pile and moved on.
Then came the new stylesheet and the more blog-like appearance of my pages. The message had mellowed and there were more warnings than encouragements to jump. I happily posted pictures I had lifted from my myspace friends and life was hunky-dory. I did the occassional 90 foot jump to be on TV but really listened to my own advice and became a pussy. It was to hot or the water to cold or to dirty.
Years passed and the memories of my former glory haunted my dreams, reminding me of what happened to the man I once was. I got a real job and cared about my credit score and eventually I had a new car. Haircuts, new clothes and even women couldn't erase the memory of what I had lost. I started thinking like the people I used to scare...I must have been crazy to do that...Why would I want to get hurt?...Everyone else isn't killing themselves and they look to be having fun...Was I trying to kill myself?
Then, like any junkie, I relapsed. The mercury rose in the thermometer and my only desire was to jump into the cool waters I had enjoyed many hot summer days ago. Then out of the blue drops a maniac, a guy jumped off the 80 foot cliff I had wanted to do. The fire was lit and two days later I was in the water. 40 feet jumps into 6 and a half feet of water, It's On! I jumped and flipped and had a blast. People climbed higher and everyone had fun. I could no longer deny it, I needed to cliff jump just like I need to breathe, with every fiber of my heart and soul. I went back again three days later and pushed my limits again.
We went to Red Rock two days after that, the skeleton crew is being reborn, and it hit me. I knew why I loved cliff jumping so much. A thirty foot swan dive is bested by a 40 foot jump is bested by a 40 foot gainer and that is how three jumpers see the same cliff. We want the other jumpers to see us as much as we want to fly from the cliffs. The show off loves to jump and a bigger show off pushes him to his limits. A spectacle is had by all and most people go home to never come back. What makes me ALIVE is the DESIRE to come back time after time. I'm not out to kill myself, as some people think, I'm out there to live my life and make it sweet.
What's the point? A new theme!
Safety is an Illusion!
The in your face, Go Big or Go Home! attitude is back! If you don't like it Go Home! If you think you're going to get hurt Go to Kiddieland! If you don't want your 11 year old kid seeing cliff jumpers living it up then Go Home! If you want to swim then go to the beach! 12 Feet Under is again going to be a monument to me, my friends and the people who have the heart to put it all on the line for The Thrill of the Fall!
