About Neil Amonson

Neil is a 25 year old outdoor enthusiast living in Salt Lake City, UT. Primarily he’s a base jumper, but is also a fan of most sports related to gravity. Weather it’s scaling a cliff tied to a rope, bombing down a double black diamond on a pair of ski’s, or speed flying through Wasatch Mountains, he loves the outdoors.

Neil is a very competitive person. If he does something he likes to do it well. Neil started racing mountain bikes and doing triathlons in high school. He completed his first Half Iron man at the age of 16. Neil picked up his first sponsors for racing downhill mountain bikes when he was 17.

After graduating high school, Neil entered the intense world of Air Force Special Forces where he saw remote parts of the world as a member of the United States Military. Now a decorated combat veteran with tours served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and South America and his enlistment completed, he currently works at a therapeutic boarding school outside of Park City, UT.

One of the life lessons he tries to teach his students is finding a passion worth pursuing. Neil believes that having something to be passionate about is crucial to living a balanced life. Base jumping gives him a feeling of satisfaction unlike anything else. It could be the fact that he’s, believe it or not, scared of heights. Every time he jumps, he has to confront his own fears and earn the ultimate reward of spending a few moments in the amazing world of freefall.

In his free time, Neil is an avid skydiver and base jumper with 750+ jumps completed and many more to come. His current passion is the new sport of wingsuit base jumping which involves wearing a “flying Squirrel” suit along with a parachute.

This suit enables a jumper to reach forward speeds of over 100 miles an hour with vertical speeds as low as 40 mph. After jumping from a cliff the jumper is able to fly in close proximity to steep terrain before needing to deploy their parachute after a minute or more of freefall.

One of the stereotypes of base jumping is that it is illegal. Neil is promoting LEGAL base jumping. He moved to Utah because of the abundance of legal objects in the surrounding area. Salt Lake City has about 15 cliffs near by as well as having the Perrine Bridge and Moab each 3 hours away. They also have the second largest vertical rock face in North America, Notch Peak, just a day trip away from the city. In the past year Neil made 175+ legal base jumps.

There is nothing more satisfying than sharing a passion with someone who wants to learn about it. Neil would be more than happy to answer questions anyone might have about the sport of base jumping and wingsuit flying. Feel free to post questions on the forum or e-mail him direct at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Sports and Related Background
1997- Racing in beginner x-country MTB class, first triathlon
1998- Racing in sport x-country MTB class, 2 triathlons, 1 biathlon
1999- Racing in sport DH MTB class, 1st half Iron man ( 3rd place), 2 biathlons
2000- Racing in Expert DH MTB class
2001- Racing in Expert DH MTB class
Sponsored by: Schwinn, Marzocchi, Sun Rims, and Azonic

*Graduated High School in 2001 and entered Air Force Special Forces*

2001- Honor Graduate from Basic Training
2002- Completed Military Freefall course (HALO) and open/closed circuit SCUBA
2003- 3 Triathlons, each a top 3 finish
-Started BASE jumping
2004- 4 months in Afghanistan with Army Special Forces team, received Bronze Star
-Received Combat Control Airmen of the Year 2004
2005- 4 months in Iraq doing Combat Search and Rescue
2006- 1 triathlon, 1 mtb race
2007- 1 triathlon, 1 Wells Fargo Stair Climb

BASE/SKYDIVING (to date)
2003-23 Base jumps, 177 skydives
2004-52 Base jumps, 270 skydives
2005-110 Base jumps, 357skydives
2006-193 Base jumps, 407skydives
2007-348 Base jumps, 417 skydives

Participated in “Bridge Day”, Fayetteville, WV, 2004-05: 100,000 + spectators

Guinness World Record Event, 2006 Most Base jumps in 24 hours in Twin Falls, Id

June, 2007- Became a certified Phoenix-Fly Wingsuit Instructor

September, 2007- Wingsuit demonstration jump, Acrobatic Paragliding World Cup, Italy

Jumps completed in Switzerland, Italy, France, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, Alabama, Florida and Maryland