CBC North reporter finds out why skydivers keep jumping

CBC North reporter Kaila Jefferd-Moore's curiosity leads her outside of the newsroom to answer questions like why do people keep jumping out of planes? This week, she went to Carcross, Yukon to find out for herself.

On the ground, my tandem pilot Barry Cyr jokes, "you can tell your friends you've been in a small plane but you've never landed in a small plane."

Cyr is the operations manager of SkydiveBC North. He heads North each summer for one month to operate Skydive Yukon. Jumpers get to land barefoot in Canada's most northern drop-zone, which is also its tiniest desert. 

Skydiving is an action sport. It's generally safe and the fatality rate is relatively low. One in 250,000 solo jumps end in a fatality. It's one in 500,000 for tandem jumps. 

In 2018, the United States Parachute Association recorded 13 fatal skydiving accidents in the U.S., out of roughly 3.3 million jumps.

'Knowledge dispels fear'

Jumpers are athletes. They learn and understand the risks and their equipment, and prepare for each jump. They train to progress.

The Canadian Sport Parachuting Association has a motto: "Knowledge dispels fear." 

This is the best place I've ever jumped.- Barry Cyr, Operations manager SkydiveBC North

"For any one thing that could go wrong, there's something else you can do about it," another tandem pilot, Tal Owen, tells me. 

Going through the tandem jump training is different than the solo jump training. Cyr uses what he calls the Gemini tandem parachute system for jumps.

"I've done over 2000 jumps with this system," he says. 

The pack has three parachutes in it — the main chute, a reserve chute, plus a drogue chute that helps keep jumpers facing the earth. The tandem pilot can pull the chute release from either side, in case a jumper gets scared and clings to one arm. The reserve chute is set to release at a certain altitude if for some reason the pilot doesn't pull it. 

Learning how the system worked and feeling the heavy straps with metal links and clips weighing snug on my body, I felt secure.

Buzzing calm

Staring out of the plane at 10,000 feet below was gut-wrenching. 

And then we weren't in the plane anymore — head-first into air. 

There was this split-second moment where it felt like we might free-fall forever.

I felt the adrenaline after the chute was released. In training, Cyr showed me how to safely switch control between us. I immediately yelled "Don't give me control!"

I was buzzing. I thought I might pass out. 

But it was also calm. It was so quiet.

If I didn't have visual proof, I don't think I'd believe it.- Kaila Jefferd-Moore, CBC North reporter

The mountains encompassed the clear, turquoise lakes you could see the bottom of. 

Between instructions from Cyr to do some swirls, I was craning my neck to absorb it. 

When I ask Cyr where else he's jumped that rivals Carcross, he tells me: "Nowhere. This is the best place I've ever jumped."

Cyr has been jumping for 43 years.

"I always come back [to Carcross] every year for that reason. It's so beautiful here," he said. 

The views and adrenaline is one aspect, but there's something more that bring jumpers like the guys at SkydiveBC North or Skydive Yukon back to the parachute.

"I keep jumping because it is a beautiful thing. You get to share it with people," Cyr tells me. "It's pretty hard to put into words, but it's an amazing experience for whoever tries it."

I couldn't believe I did it.

"If I didn't have visual proof, I don't think I'd believe it," I told them.

Skydiving has given me this renewed sense of doing a huge, scary thing — and it felt incredible.

It's a powerful feeling to give yourself.