Veni Vidi Volavi Episode 1 !

Here is the first episode of Veni Vidi Volavi. I hope you will enjoy it ! Thanks to everybody involved in this project and to EpicTV !

You can follow us on Facebook if you like some news of us !

Enjoy !

Two crazy weeks.

Last two weeks have been crazy. I couldn't post anything coz my computer crashed. I had some crazy weeks at work but also some nice jumps on week-ends !

Two week-end ago we filmed the first episode of the series Veni, Vidi, Volavi. A pure celebration or gravity. In this series I will try to show some under known part of base jumping. The amazing places where we jump, the nice hikes we do, the preparation and a lot of other things. If you want to hear more about it you can check out our Facebook page. 

For the first episode I choose a place that I really like and that I know quite well, "Sans-Bet". Erwan joined me on for this one. This jump is situated close to the "Sixt-Fer à Cheval" reserve. The view during the hike and on the exit point is amazing. The hike was quite hard for the camera crew but we could film some really nice images. After a nice exit I could fly a line that I already worked on previous jumps. We also made a little interview to add to the flying parts. It was my first time standing alone in the front of a camera. That was definitely the hardest part of it, I hope I won't look too stupid. The first episode should appear next week on Epictv.com . To give you a little taste of it here are a few photos made by my girlfriend. 

Last week-end I joined my flying mate David to spot a line on "La Quille du Diable" jump in Switzerland. I studied the jump and the line on maps and I had to fly it to be sure it was doable and possible to film it for the second episode of the series. We slept in sweet little hamlet called "Le Godey". We started the three hours walk quite early. The landscape is incredible and I hope you will discover it in the second episode. At the exit point we meet some other jumpers and geared up for the jump. The rock drop is quite short there but I made a nice exit and could manage to fly exactly the line I wanted to. This is it for the past two week-ends.

The line I hope to fly again for episode II

Yesterday I could manage a jump at the "Vuardes" with Erwan just before the storm and today was too cloudy to jump. I will let you know as soon as the first episode of the series is online and I really hope you will like it ! 

Thanks for reading me !

Big news !

I'm really excited to announce that I'm teaming with Julien Roserens ( 24 Pictures ) to produce a series for EpicTV . The series is called "Veni, Vidi, Volavi. A Pure Celebration Of Gravity." Here is a little description of what it's gonna be about :

Veni, Vidi, Volavi follows wingsuit BASE jumper, Guillaume Beck, in the practice of his passion. Far from the usual sensationalist or death defying styles used in the mainstream media, there will be no competiton or pressure in this series. Veni, Vidi, Volavi is purely about the beauty of this sport and what gravity represents to Guillaume. 

What you can expect : Amazing mountain environments. A celebration of friendship. Dedication to learning and improving. And...Flying. Lots of It. In different terrain. Oh and of course - Fun. 

Check out our facebook page to stay tuned about it !

From base jumping to stage diving

We just came back from our road trip to Austria and Cezch Republic.

This trip started by leaving Geneva direction Salzburg on friday 19th of july. We made a first little stop in Zurich on the way to visit some of my family and spend a nice day there. We took the road next day for what we thought would be a 4 hours drive. In fact we spend most of the day in the traffic (stupid GPS). Everybody was on holidays and seemed to head for the same place as us. To arrive around Salzburg it took us around 6 hours. We had to meet a local base jumper in Mondsee. There we discovered a beautiful area with lakes, mountains and the wall I would jump on the evening, the Drachenwand. We meet Wolfgang the local who took me up there. It's an easy 30 mins walk to get to the top from the other side of the mountain. The wind was still pretty strong on the exit but not too bad to jump. I went for an easy straight line away form the wall. Pulled high and had a nice landing. We spend the next two days in the area. We visited Salzburg, a really beautiful old city. The day after we went climbing and lake swimming in St Gilgen. I really enjoyed this place. I meet two other locals Chris and Marco that day. We could arrange an evening jump on Drachenwand and then planned some higher jumps for the next day.

Next morning we drove a bit more than an hour to Dachstein cable car. The guys promised me a nice jump, arriving there I enjoyed the nice view and couldn't wait to take the cable car to see how it was up there. The cable car had a little terrace on top of it. We had the chance to make the way up on top of it !

Enjoying the view from the top of Dachstein's cable car. 

The cable car takes you up to a nice glacier valley on top of the mountain. From there we had to walk and then climb for around an hour to get to the exit point. Chris and Marco went for a two way and I just followed them the all way. It's was pretty amazing to fly behind them with Marco's smoke drawing a nice trail to follow. After this nice flight we all landed in the same field so exited about the jump. We had now to walk back to our cars in a lovely mountain environment.

The view on Dachstein (photo by Len Sirmanovitch).

Following Chris and Marco. (Screenshot) 

After jump walk (photo by Len Sirmanovitch). 

On the evening we drove to the next jump location. About an other hour from Dachstein. We camped there and had a nice dinner by the river. Even in the evening the weather was still nice and warm. We could discover a crazy sky full of stars.

After an hard early wake up, I had to pack my rig. I hate packing before jumping. I always try to get rid of this right after a jump or during my working week. Having to get up earlier then the already early wake up time to start to pack is a pain in the ass. I packed and had breakfast. It was a bit windy but the sun was hidden by light clouds and it seemed like it would stay like this the whole day. We started the walk after checking some landing zones. The landing zones were quite tight and we had to be careful of the ranger. We were in a national park and we thought it wouldn't be a great idea to get caught be one of them.

We started the walk at 8.30 am and from the informations we got it would take us around 3 hours to get up to the top and that we won't need any climbing stuff. After 45 minutes of a nice walk by a river we reached a nice cottage where we drank something and had a little rest. We walked again after this and started to get into the serious part. Arriving nearly at the bottom of the cliff were we would jump we still had 700 meters of altitude to get to the top. The little easy path changed it self in a steep but cool climbing way. I really enjoyed it, no need for climbing equipment but you have to be careful of your steps. On top of this part we realized that we weren't quit at the exit. We started to doubt a bit about the infos we've got. We started the walk more than 3 hours ago and still had to get around a big peak. That's when Chris told me that the guy who gave him the infos jumped this one for the last time six years ago. We continued our way and decided to try a shortcut. Base jumpers always want to take shortcuts ... Most of the time we end up in fucked up situations. This one was no exception. We ended up doing some free climbing crossings with all our base gear on the back. We got through some quite shitty and scary parts just to find out on the other side that the real path was higher that what we though and that we lost some time and took some risks for nothing.

Nice little path. (Phone picture) 

Watch your steps ! (Phone picture) 

The exit point was not that far now. We walked the last part and arrived where the exit was supposed to be. Nothing was looking like a safe exit. The only thing we could see was a scary rope going down a curved part of the cliff. Nothing you really wanted to hang to and as some people told us climbing equipment was useless we skipped this one .... for a while. Chris made a couple of phone calls to get more informations and we figured out the we had to go down that rope. I wasn't really joyful at this time. I'm shit scared of climb downs and we had nothing to ensure us. We took a break to rest a bit as we were walking, climbing and searching for more than 5 hours. We geared up and decided to go for it. I asked the guys to let me jump first and not letting me last up there. I wasn't sure I would climb down that rope alone. Chris went down first. There was a shitty little ledge around 10 meters down the rope with just enough space to put your wingsuit boosters on. I took a deep breath and started to climb down. I was really scared. Little by little I could get down to Chris and started to put my boosters on. For the one who are not use to wingsuit, boosters are the lower part of the wingsuit. You have to put this part over your shoes and then close the leg zipper. Imagine doing this on a small ledge were you can only stand up with 700 meters under you. It wasn't really comfortable but once this part done I was feeling like released. I now just had to jump. After thanking Chris and Marco for showing me this jump and helping me to push my limits, I made a nice exit and felt in my element again. As I was more tired of what I expected I flew an easy straight line. The flight was great and uneventful. I choose a part of a dry river without too much boulder to land. I packed my stuff in my backpack quickly to avoid to be seen by a ranger. A little bit later I joined the other who had a nice jump and my girlfriend on a parking like nothing happened.

Climbing down that f***ing rope. (Screenshot)

Finally in the air ! Feeling much better ! (Screenshot)

After saying bye to Chris and Marco we started our way to Czech Republic. We spend the next day on the road and doing some laundry. We arrived in the little city called Rokycany where the Fluff Fest take place every year. Fluff Fest is one of the best punk-hardcore festival in Europe. Hardcore kids form all over the world meet there every year and share their passion for music. We had lots of fun and saw amazing shows of bands like Catharsis, Harm's Way, Vitamin X, Oathbreaker and many other. 3 days of stage dives, moshing, delicious vegan food, political debates and vinyls quest. Here is a little video made by my girlfriend of Vitamin X' show.

First holidays' week-end.

 I'm finally on holidays. I waited a lot for them. Now, three weeks without work, free to jump, climb, travel (and rest a bit).

For this first few days I went with my girlfriend to Samoens area. We spend 4 days there. I joined there Bras Noir, Sky Branlor, Luc, Igor and Erwan from Paris. Between saturday and sunday we archived a nice trilogy. Jumping Sans Bet, Criou and ...... a jump somewhere around. I won't name it, you will know why after. 

We stared saturday morning with Sans Bet. I discovered this jump last year but could only jump it once. I was really happy when Bras Noir told me we would start with this one. The walk is around 2h30. Most of it is in large green field with no shade at all. It's a bit hot but when you stand at the top it's definitely worth it. You have an incredible view on the reserve of Sixt Fer à Cheval. "Le Cirque" of Sixt is just incredible with multiple waterfalls and the magnificent "Corne de Chamoix". We took a moment to admire the view and then climbed down to the exit point to gear up. Bras Noir, Igor and Sky Branlor made a three way, Erwan and me jumped together and Luc decided to fly on his own. 

Sans Bet with the "Cirque" and "Corne de Chamoix" on the left. (Screenshot)

The few First second of Sans Bet looks like you are diving straight into the "Cirque". You have some nice proximity line on the right. I choose to fly over the three "bump" on the right side. Then I followed the edge of a big ledge. After a nice left turn I found a nice green field to buzz. Everything went perfectly and I was glad to jump this exit again. 

We all went to Bras Noir's place to eat and pack our rig. After packing, eating and resting we started the walk for the second jump of the day. It was pretty hard to begin. Your body just doesn't want to walk again. The first hour is the worst. Once your are warm again you don't feel your legs anymore. Around three hours and we arrived at the top. I heard a lot about jumping the Criou in the evening light but never had the chance to do it before. It's a for sure something to do ! The light there is perfect during the sunset, a nice orange that gives to the jump a special touch. As the exit is quite easy and large we went for a six way. We exited all at the same time but flew different lines. I wanted to ride the famous field on this jump but miscalculated a bit my approach and flew a bit lower than what I wanted. I choose to fly just a bit lower of the field and discovered a really nice tree line. This jump ended this day, we just had to repack before eating and going to bed.

Enjoying the sunset under canopy. (Photo by Len Sirmanovitch)

Landing after a this nice sunset jump. (Photo by Len Sirmanovitch)

On Sunday the alarm clock at 6 am was kind of a pain in the ass. I was still really tired of saturday. We had a meeting point at 7am. We had to be early and quick. Our jump today was illegal. Yes some mountain jumps are illegal. This one is situated in a natural reserve and ranger like to "hunt" base jumpers. I won't give much more detail on this jump apart that it's a really nice one and sad that we have to go like ninjas to jump it ( even if it add a part of fun in it ). Some locals tried to talk with park authorities but they absolutely don't want any discussions. 

Jumping in natural reserve is an interesting topic. In my opinion we don't threaten any wild life in our activity. We are accused to frighten the bearded vulture but we know that some of them are living in another valley close to an highway and lots of traffic. I don't think that the few minutes we spend in the air or the "noise" we make is disturbing them. I think a discussion should be possible to show that most base jumper are respecting the environment where they have the chance to play. As discussed with the other guys on this jump, we all think that sharing informations with park rangers could be helpful both ways. Avoiding to jump during the breeding period wouldn't be a problem for us. We could also share our observation with them as we are spending quite a lot of time in the wild and seeing often some wild life.

To all base jumper ( and non base jumper ) reading this, please as I always say, nature gave us this incredible playground we have to leave it as it is. Jump but leave no trace. 

Monday was kind of day off. I went climbing with my girlfriend, Bars Noir and his girlfriend. I also rested a bit after all those walks my legs were quite sore. We left Samoens on tuesday morning as I had to go to Sallanches I took the opportunity to jump again Varan. I went there alone. Sometime it's really nice to be alone on jumps. You have time to think and can really enjoy the environment where you are. The jump was around 1.30 minutes. This time I didn't wanted to jump working on something or trying something. I spend most of it just enjoying the fact that I was .... flying. 

Always enjoying a 1.30 minutes flight. (Sceenshot) 

In two days we are leaving for Austria were I should meet jumpers there and I hope I will be able to jump. After that we are heading to Czech republic for an awesome punk-hardcore festival. So expect  new stories when I return !

Enjoy your summer time !

Devouly Wingsuit Week-end.

What a week-end !

I took day off on friday and started this long week-end with another jump in Varan. I think I've already wrote enough about this jump in my two last posts so I'm gonna skip this one. 

Aurelien "Bras Noir" invited me to join him and the guys of the Vercors Base Team in the Devouly area. I always wanted to go there to jump the "Chateau de Cartes". This jump was on my "to do list" for a long time, since I saw it in the revolutionary video "Ready to Go". I couldn't refuse the invitation. After a 2h30 drive from Geneva to the place, I arrived there with my girlfriend by night. 

Saturday morning we could finally discover the nice landscape around us. After that we headed to the "Chateau de Cartes". My girlfriend and Matt's girlfriend Sandrine walked a bit with us and went to a nice spot between two of the rock spikes to see us playing around. 2 hours after the walk's started we arrived at the top and discovered this amazing playground. It really looks like it was made for wingsuit proximity flying. We geared up and I choose to fly an easy line to discovery nicely the place without to much pressure. I jumped last after three other jumpers. Flying this place is incredible. We all made some nice flyby where the girls were standing and they could shoot a few really nice pictures.

Bras Noir, Mat, Mael and myself around Le Chateau de Cartes.

Saying hello to the girls ! 

We made it back to our base camp to pack, eat and rest a bit. The camp was really nice, close to a river and just a few minutes from the jumps' walks. A tough decision had to be taken, should we try to hike for another jump ? The day before we arrived the guys couldn't jump on the evening. They had to walk back down. The conditions were pretty the same but we decided to try a second jump. 

At the cliff's bottom we all thought  it was pretty stupid to go up but we choose to walk at least half of the walk and see how the weather would change. As we arrived around the middle of the walk it was still 50/50, cloudy but not too much, we continued. After a bit less than two hours we arrived at the exit and it was all stuck in the clouds. At this moment we all knew we maybe took the wrong decision before and may have to walk back down. The clouds were changing a lot so we waited all geared up to see if a window will open to let us jump. We called the people at the camp and they told us that is was pretty fucked up. We waited and waited ready to jump at any time and turning on and off our cameras every two minutes for about an hour. Someone got a call from the camp. Good news, a window was just a bit further away form the exit. With a bit of chance it would move to us. A few minutes after we could see the ground ! It was it, we just had to jump ! 3,2,1, a plus ! I was off for one of my best fly ever ! 

Just after the exit I was still in the clouds I started to discover the "Chateau de Cartes" in an amazing evening light. The picture was perfect. I flew nearly the same line as the first jump but with better performance and speed. I ended up opening my parachute seeing all the other guys under canopy with the sun set as background. We all couldn't believe that we jumped and had such an amazing jump after waiting that long at the exit. Everybody was so happy we ended eating all together at the camp. Talking about this crazy jump and sunday's jump, the "Petit Ferrand". 

We woke up quite early and started the walk around 8am. The way up is about 4 hours with some quite steep parts but all in a nice landscape. With the two walks from the day before my legs were quite sore but I arrived at the top with some good energy left. I directly saw that awesome proximity line that everybody wants to make. A nice large and green field, steep enough to ride it with a good margin of security. We made a three way with Bras Noir and Mat. I exited first and flew directly direction the field. Arriving over it, Bras Noir passed me on my left side. Looking down I could see Mat already riding the highest part of the field. I followed him and it was unreal to see the three of us over the field with our shadows following us. It was another incredible jump !

Grand Ferrand in the evening light.

We ended the week-end resting in the river near the camp before leaving it with tons of perfect memories in our mind. I made a little video of this week-end check it out !

This is living my dream. 

Back to Varan

After a cloudy-rainy saturday, I went back to Varan on sunday. It's always a pleasure to jump this huge flight. I headed there with Aurelien "Bras Noir" and his girlfriend. It was still a bit cloudy but the walk was nice. We came across the same group of ibex and on the top we were in the same situation as last saturday. We had to wait for a window in the clouds to jump. After a while a nice gap appeared and we took our chance !

Nice picture of our exit by Val Courtois

I made a quite steep exit as it can be seen on the picture but I recovered a nice flying position quickly. As this jump is really good to work on your glide ratio. You have around 1900 meters to play. I worked in changing a bit my shoulder or belly position to see how it change my flight. I also had fun seeing Aurelien playing around with his much larger wingsuit. The view was great because it was still cloudy and it gave to the jump a nice atmosphere.

 Another nice jump and I'm already looking forward for the next one. 

A view of Varan nicely coated with clouds. (screen shot)

As saturday was unjumpeable I rested a bit and watched the new movie of my firend Julien and his crew, "Le petit bus rouge". You may have already seen their movie "I believe I can fly", if you don't you should ! 

In this new production they mix base jumping, climbing, slack lines, high lines with a touch of circus elements and craziness as always. The result is hard to describe. It's fresh and gives a new outlook on our sport. You have to check it out !