Wiltshire soldiers to base jump the Eiger for Help for Heroes

In late September Deane “Smudge” Smith and Alastair Macartney both serving members of the Army from Wiltshire, will be risking life and limb to raise as much cash as they can for Wiltshire based charity Help for Heroes.

Watch their base jump video from a recent trip to Norway in preparation for the Eiger.

Base Jump –noun

a parachute jump from the tops of tall manmade or natural objects, usually from 1,000 feet (305 m) or less.

This is what these guys do for fun- Al is currently the National Champion and Smudge was recently crowned “Skydiver of the Year” by the British Parachute Association and came 5th in the World Canopy Piloting Championships this year.

Late in September Al, Smudge and Spencer Hogg (who has never made a single base jump) will scale the snowy rock formations of the Eiger in Switzerland. They will then leap thousands of feet from the famous 'mushroom' plateau, propelling themselves in to freefall, flying their bodies enabling them to literally track away from the cliff face and certain death.  Assuming survival, they will then repeat this feat.

All this is to raise money for Help for Heroes. This Wiltshire based Charity raises money to support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country. Every time you see on the news that a soldier has been killed, the chances are that at least three others have been seriously and permanently wounded. This quote from the Help for Heroes website sums up what the charity does better than I ever could,

"It’s about the blokes, our men and women of the Armed Forces. It’s about Derek, a rugby player who has lost both his legs, it’s about Carl whose jaw is wired up so he has been drinking through a straw. It’s about Richard who was handed a mobile phone as he lay on the stretcher so he could say goodbye to his wife. It’s about Ben, it’s about Steven and Andy and Mark, it’s about them all. They are just blokes but they are our blokes; they are our heroes. We want to help our heroes."

If you want to find out more about what Al, Smudge and Spencer are doing check out their website:  http://jump4heroes.com/page6/page6.html