No s**t , there we were, thought we were gonna die. Fortunately, after 45 years of skydiving, I only have a few stories that begin like this.

After my fourth jump at the North Pole in 1997 (I made six in all), I decided I really needed to collect the complete set and make a jump at the South Pole.

His name is also Kevin. He didn’t even tell me until the end of the phone call. I had to ask.

I was in a 2-way with my good friend (in freefall, OK?). She had only 100 jumps, and I had more than 2,000.

My second jump of the day, an 8-way formation skydive, was uneventful until I tracked away and pulled.