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Business Happenings - March 2004

Skydive Moab -
Take your Vacation to a Higher Level!

by Carrie Switzer

Skydive Moab
Canyonlands Field
(16 miles north of Moab on Hwy 191)
259-JUMP/800-UGO JUMP www.SkydiveMoab.com


For years thrill seekers have been visiting Moab’s extreme landscape to participate in various activities on Terra Firma or on the Green or Colorado rivers.

This year they will have the opportunity to take their adventures to the air. The Canyonlands Field Airport is now home to Skydive Moab, a new venture that offers beginners a chance to jump in “tandem” with a seasoned professional. The owners of Skydive Moab, husband and wife team, Clint MacBeth and Shelley White, along with Michael Carpenter and Dominik Loyen of Skydive New England, bring almost 15,000 jumps of experience to Skydive Moab.

Clint and I came to Moab last year to spend our off-season(winter) BASE jumping. We loved it! The weather was mild enough to spend almost every day outdoors. With the ideal landscape for a wide array of adventure activities, we were surprised that someone had not already opened a skydiving center. We knew we could settle-down here and thought we could make a living by doing what we know best.

Skydiving is in Clint’s blood! It was part of growing up in the MacBeth family. Clint’s father, Greg, began jumping in 1983 when Clint was only 5 years old, and his Grandfather Gil, started jumping a month later at the age of 60! Greg went on to run his own dropzone for 10 years. Clint learned how to pack parachutes by age eleven and started jumping as soon as he turned 16. The rest of the family including mom, two younger brothers and one younger sister have all taken the plunge as well. Keith, the next oldest, is an accomplished formation canopy pilot, who has participated in various world record jumps.

Clint’s skydiving career has seen over 5000 skydives. It has taken him all over the US & beyond visiting dropzones and participating in competitions, the most recent of which was the “World Cup of Canopy Piloting” where he placed in the top 25!

Clint and I met at Skydive New England in the summer of 2000 when I was just learning to skydive.

“We’ve come so far in just a short time!” Starting our own business has been very exciting, but also tons of hard work. Being new to the “business end” of things continuously presents us with challenges, it keeps us learning everyday. We’ve gotten lots of help from the established Moab business community, everyone has been really wonderful to us. We hope to pay them back by bringing even more visitors to Moab looking for adventurous fun-filled vacations!

Go Fast Pure Energy drink, based in Colorado, is something else we are trying to bring to Moab. We really believe in this company and their product and we actually “live the brand”, as you might say. Everytime we jump, we reach speeds of 120mph or more, and people just don’t usually go much faster than that! During the last decade, Go Fast has pumped more than a quarter million dollars into the skydiving community in event sponsorships, athlete support, and cash purses. Now they are bringing their support to Moab and we’re hoping everyone will embrace them.

This winter hasn’t remotely resembled our last winter here, but we have “weathered” the cold and the snow and a few of your friends and neighbors braved the cold to make their first skydive. We can’t wait to share this incredibleexperience with everyone! One of the best things about taking people on Tandem skydives is that you are constantly surrounded by the excitement and adrenaline of new jumpers-there’s an energy in the air!
Skydiving is an exhilerating way to beat the heat in the summer!

Skydive Moab is located at Canyonlands Field, just 16 miles north of Moab on Hwy 191. We’re open six days a week (closed Tues) from 9am until sunset. For more information on tandem jumping call 259-JUMP/800-UGO JUMP or go online at www.SkydiveMoab.com

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