BASE jumper rescued after parachute mishap left him dangling off cliff face near Squamish, B.C.
In a thrill-seeking expedition gone wrong, a BASE jumper was rescued Tuesday evening after getting caught in a tree on the Stawamus Chief rock face near Squamish, B.C.
Jim Loree, search manager at North Shore Rescue, said the jumper's parachute opened at the wrong angle after he jumped from the top of the mountain's cliffs.
Instead of gliding away from the mountain, the jumper was propelled into the rock wall and was left dangling from a tree on a snow-covered ledge, Loree said.
Squamish Search and Rescue was first on the scene around 5 p.m. PT to assess the situation, but ran out of daylight to attempt a rescue.
North Shore Rescue's night hoist team and Talon helicopters were called in to handle the "tactical situation," Loree said.
"We determined we should fly in quite a bit higher above him and just do a longer hoist," he said, adding a single rescuer was lowered down to secure the jumper in a harness and stabilize them for extraction by helicopter.
"We did have concerns about blowing [the jumper] off the wall," Loree said, but the rescue was successful.
The jumper did not sustain any injuries from the incident.
"He was super, super lucky ... It could have been a vastly different outcome," said Loree.
BASE jumping involves jumping off fixed objects, like bridges or cliffs, and deploying a parachute to slowly descend.
Loree said North Shore Rescue's night hoisting equipment is "super valuable" and meant the Squamish team avoided a lengthy rope rescue that could have put more lives at risk.
"It was a great team effort with Squamish [Search and Rescue] and North Shore Rescue, and we're happy they called us," he said.
