Like every child growing up, I admired airplanes soaring through the sky. They seemed not only majestic but proof of man’s infallible ingenuity and perseverance. The Wright Brothers showed the world we simply had to push the limits with an incredible feat of engineering and determination. I had the same gut reaction anyone else would have: “Man, it’d be fun to jump out of one of those and hurtle towards the ground at 125 miles per hour!”
From Slack to the Skies
Growing up pretending I was Batman (and still pretending I’m Batman, let’s be honest), it was a dream to go skydiving. Finally, out of the state where my mom couldn't track me down should I ever board a plane with a parachute strapped to my back, I asked my Reno colleagues to join me via Slack:
Turns out, my teammates had the same gut reaction
Learn to Fly
After DMC approved our idea and asked us kindly not to die, we packed up to go skydiving. Mentally preparing in the car ride, we blasted some fitting music including “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters and topping it off with “Freebird.” After a quick orientation at the skydiving facility, we suited up into camo suits to get us in the ‘jumping from 1200 feet’ kind of mood.
Holy Jumpsuit Batman!
As fate would have it, my instructor was Batman. This is not a joke, he introduced himself to people as Batman. He also wore a Batman jumpsuit. He took my sizes and grabbed a brightly colored red and green jumpsuit. Handing it to me, he said, “this should fit.”
I couldn’t believe it. It was Robin’s jumpsuit! Robin, the superhero that no one likes, gets defeated by the Joker, and was voted off in a massive fan backlash to be killed in the comics. The superhero that probably could’ve spelled doom to the Batman franchise and effectively did until Christopher Nolan reignited my faith in humanity - err I mean Batman.
I couldn’t have been happier with wearing a Robin jumpsuit.
Freefallin'
First up to fly were David (who was celebrating his birthday), Katherine, and Brian, shown in their protective headgear below. The horns on Brian’s head make him sturdier in case of impact.
David and Katherine were raving about their time, and although a little light-headed, Brian shared their enthusiasm.
Dylan and I were up next, and after some jokes on our instructor’s parts about forgetting the parachutes (not funny), we rolled up the door and stuck our legs out. This is the part where your stomach drops, fear kicks in, and no one makes a sound.
On the count of three, we launched ourselves out into a quite literally breathtaking free fall over Lake Tahoe.
The whole fall felt like pure adrenaline and euphoria.
Carolyn and Maddie plummeted out of the sky after us and were equally as thrilled.
We had an absolute blast skydiving and in Reno. Read about some of the other fun times we had in Reno.
Learn more about DMC's company culture.