How high do you go?

For your first static line jump you will be jumping from around 3,500 feet. As you progress with longer and longer freefalls you height you jump from will also increase. By the time you are qualified you will be jumping from between 12,000 and 15,000 feet which will give you 45-65 seconds of freefall on each jump. Experienced skydivers usually deploy their parachutes between 2000 and 3500 feet.

Is it cold?

The higher you go, the colder it gets. Most people have seen the outside temperature of -50 degrees while on a plane trip abroad. Luckily it is rarely that cold at the altitudes we skydive from! At 3500 feet (the altitude you do static line jumps from) there isn’t much of a decrease in temperature, by the time you get to 12,000 feet it is usually 10-20 degrees colder than it is on the ground. This isn’t that a big a deal though as you never notice the temperature while you’re in freefall!

That doesn’t stop people wearing gloves and neckwarmers though – they are recommended for jumping in the winter! In the summer it can be very warm, even here in the UK! I have done jumps in the Lake District in just shorts and T-shirt and not felt at all cold!

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