Orange Skies wrapped up it’s inaugural skydiving season not long ago and the dust has finally settled enough to see how awesome of a year it was! We opened our doors at Yankee Field near Fort Collins, CO, offering a premium skydiving experience to tandem skydivers and experienced skydivers alike. From the beginning, dropzone owner Mike Bohn and the staff here poured their energy and passion into making Orange Skies more than just a place to jump out of airplanes. Orange Skies is a dropzone that our skydivers proudly call home.
At Orange Skies Freefall Center, many, many tandem students got their first taste of freefall. New students were greeted by our friendly, smiling staff from the moment they walked into the door. Groups were able to play cornhole and watch tandems and fun jumpers land while they waited to make their skydive from the beautiful, shiny turbo caravan plane. Most importantly, Orange Skies boasts brand new tandem gear and thoroughly experienced instructors, to give tandems the safest experience possible.
Orange Skies worked hard to cater to experienced skydivers in all disciplines as well. Jumpers benefited from world class freefly coaching from Team Flo as well as regular load organizers for fun jumpers. A number of teams made their home at Orange Skies, including the VFS team Fallhalla, a freefly team that graced the cover of Parachutist this year at Nationals! From the outstanding facilities (air conditioned packing area!?) to the Saturday night grill outs, the dropzone offered all kinds of perks for the experienced skydivers.
Most importantly, Orange Skies became a community this season. The Orange Skies members (sometimes known as ninjas) started out as strangers this year and became a family. The sounds of laughing and joking always filled the packing hangar. Whoops and yells could be heard from the landing area after the customary end-of-day speed star. Jumpers lingered through weather holds and long after dark, reliving the day, the weekend, the season. In short, the first year of skydiving at Orange Skies Freefall Center was a resounding success.
Our beautiful Caravan parked at Yankee Field Photo Credit: Taylor Oesterle
2018 by the Numbers:
Loads: 812
Fun Jumps: 3733
Tandems: 2198
What’s Next?
Orange Skies will have a new home for the 2019 season!
After a hard-fought legal battle in the name of aviators and skydivers rights, a dropzone with the capacity of Orange Skies was deemed unallowed thanks to some pesky land-use and zoning laws and some very pesky neighbors. Thus, Orange Skies will be relocating; more details will be coming out very soon!
The 2019 Events calendar is being worked out!
We at Orange Skies want to bring you the most exceptional skydiving events in Colorado in the upcoming season. Stay tuned for information about skills camps, mini-competitions, record attempts, and more!
More Orange Skies blogs!
This is the first of many more blogs from us here at Orange Skies. Check back regularly to keep up-to-date on Orange Skies news!