Lonnie Bissonnette: Never Give Up

Lonnie Bissonnette, an elite extreme athlete from Canada

Lonnie Bissonnette: When life wants to crush you and you refuse to get crushed…

Lonnie, an elite extreme athlete from Canada, is one of the world’s most prolific BASE jumpers. Highly respected and admired by his peers and community at large, Lonnie was injured in July 2004 while attempting a quadruple gainer on his 1100th BASE(Buildings, Antennae, Span, Earth) jump off a 486-foot bridge. The lines of his parachute tangled around his foot, not allowing his parachute to fully open during the fall. He crashed into the river at a speed of about 70 miles per hour severely breaking several bones in his body, neck, and spine, and suffering a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed. Lucky to have survived that accident, he was told by his doctor he would never jump again.

“From the moment I woke up out of intensive care I said I would go back to the bridge when the time was right. After talking with a friend one day that it had been more than 9 years it just clicked in my head! I thought what better way/time to go back! I could celebrate my 10-year anniversary by going back and slaying the dragon. So I started making plans to go back and jump it exactly 10 years to the day!”

“After that first jump back I decided to redo all the objects in a BASE in the same order I did them the first time. Next was a 420ft building, then Bridge Day for my span, and finally a little 108ft cliff for my earth. The other objects I had done many jumps from prior to the accident so they felt familiar, but the Earth was the only spot I hadn’t jumped before the accident and it was pretty low so that one I was pretty nervous about. It was a site I had wanted to jump before so I felt it was the perfect way to finish off the objects.”

“I had always felt I knew the risks involved in BASE jumping, and I needed to do one more jump to prove to myself that I didn’t give up. After doing that first jump, I knew I needed to continue to pursue my passion for the sport.”

He is also a World Champion in the Para-Bobsleigh and is hopeful about competing in the 2022 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. He trained in Calgary for the 2017-18 Para-Bobsleigh World Cup season, and the 2018 World Championships.

“Pushing the limits and boundaries is something I’ve done my whole life. My mother used to talk about how I would scare the crap out of her from the age of 2! I was always that kid climbing to the tops of the trees, building ramps to jump over things on my bike, jumping off the roof of our house, off tall bridges into the water, anything that would challenge me. It’s something I was born with and I think I’ll always be looking for challenges in life.”

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