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A 27-year-old BASE jumper died Sunday when he leapt off a 700-foot cliff and his wingsuit failed, according to authorities.
The seasoned jumper was with a group of 10 others who took off from off a ledge in Utah’s Millville Canyon and “something went wrong,” said Cache County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Doyle Peck, NBC News reported.
Two medical helicopters responded to the scene, where the man was declared dead.
“On today’s jump, something went wrong, and he did not have enough lift with his wingsuit,” Peck said in a statement, referring to the jumper’s flying-squirrel-like outfit. “He impacted the ground at a high rate of speed resulting in his death.”
The victim, who has not been identified pending family notification, was “experienced in this type of activity,” Peck said.
Millville Canyon, which features by steep cliffs not unlike those at the Grand Canyon, is located about 45 miles north of Ogden and is popular for BASE jumpers, officials said.
BASE jumping, which stands for buildings, antennas, spans and earth, is an extreme sport in which participants fling themselves off of high locations with a wingsuit or parachute.
Since 1981, there have been 541 reported BASE-jumping deaths worldwide, according to the BASE Fatality List, a website maintained by an online community for the sport.
Before Sunday, there had already been 15 such deaths reported globally, according to the log.
Two BASE jumpers were killed in in Utah in June — including daredevil Andy Lewis, 39, who wowed football fans during Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl halftime performance.
Lewis and another 50-year-old man died during a botched tandem jump in Mineral Bottom, a remote desert area near the Utah-Colorado line.
