The leap.

Yesterday the P&C crew drove up highway six to climb at Wall of the 90′s in Clear Creek Canyon. We spent the afternoon climbing until Bronco noticed a person carrying a giant flag. They stuck in the ground and we all realized that they were going to B.A.S.E jump. We were thrilled. I had never seen anyone jump off a cliff before and it seemed like a pretty wild thing to witness.

We sat for quite some time waiting for them to hike to the top of the cliff Mission Wall. They got to the top and tossed some rocks to the bottom. The rocks never touched the side of the cliff despite how slabby it looked to us from across the river. We continued to wait while they watched the wind and unpacked her chute. The cliff is only around 300 feet high, which doesn’t seem like much to me but then I’m not a B.A.S.E expert in the least.

Anyway without dragging this out too much longer, she jumped. Her chute opened and the wind flipped her around after a second or two. She slammed into the cliff about 200 feet up. Her chute collapsed and she proceeded to tumble, bounce and cartwheel another 100 feet on the ledgy slab. She hit one last bump before free falling to the to the ground below.

Bronco called 911 and there was a physician climbing near us so he ran down and crossed the river to attend to her.

She didn’t move for a good three minutes then suddenly the parachute moved a little bit. By this time the doctor had made his way over to her. Apparently she was completely lucid. She was able to answer questions and they kept her talking. Last I heard before the emergency responders kicked us out of the area she may have just had a broken femur, but it was unclear if that was the extent of her injuries.

We would love to hear any more information anyone has on the situation since we haven’t been able to find it on the news anywhere.

UPDATE!

http://mountainproject.com/v/general_climbing/thank_you/106298321#a_106298493

Tags: accident, BASE