As we previously covered, a BASE jumper tragically died after he jumped off the Grand Canyon in early August. But what exactly went wrong here? An expert weighs in.
For one, BASE jumping is illegal at the Grand Canyon National Park for this very reason. 43-year-old Justin Guthrie attempted to BASE jump from the Grand Canyon and plummeted to his death. Authorities later found his body and a deployed parachute at the bottom of the South Rim after he jumped from Yavapai Point.
Tom Aiello, a leading BASE instructor, calls into question the BASE jumping at the Grand Canyon. He said that Yavapai Point wasn't an "exit point." Exit points are recognized jump sites by the BASE community. Basically, it's a seal of approval saying that these jump sites are safe. According to Aiello, it's a no brainer not to jump from the Grand Canyon.
He said that the height is far too low.
"It's too short, the cliff is underhung, there's no landing area, or a very, very bad landing area," Aiello told Outside Online. "And doing it in the middle of summer when it's hot indicates turbulence from thermal air."
BASE Jumping At Grand Canyon
Basically, Aiello said no experienced jumper would have jumped off Yavapai Point. His comments come after a 17-year-old died attempting a jump at Yosemite National Park. His inexperience got him killed. He ended up packing the rig wrong and getting his canopy tangled after lying about having skydiving experience. "Essentially he had followed some videos on the Internet trying to figure out how to do it," Aiello says. "He did so many things wrong, it was shocking that he didn't die."
If you were to attempt the Grand Canyon, you would need to be a very experienced jumper. You would need a lot of experience with shorter jumps before attempting something like this. There's also the question of legality. BASE jumping is illegal at national parks without a permit. However, the expert says it's the safety that one should consider.
Not everything is physically possible.
"We look at whether it's possible—physically possible—to make a jump and to successfully deploy a parachute from this point," he said.
"If you can't climb 5.14, trying to free-solo a 5.14 will not kill you because you're not even going to get off the ground," Aiello added. "But the equivalent in BASE jumping will."
