BASE jumper ‘very fortunate’ after rescue from Squamish cliffside

A BASE jumper is lucky to be alive after he leapt from a mountain in Squamish Tuesday afternoon and was blown back into the cliff.

Search and rescue volunteers say a BASE jumper was lucky to be left with only minor injuries after crashing on a mountain in Squamish, B.C.

The team was called in Tuesday night after a witness reported a BASE jumper had crashed into the cliffside shortly after taking off from Slhanay, according to Squamish Search and Rescue.

BASE jumping is an extreme sport wherein the participant jumps from a fixed object, like a cliff or building, then deploys a parachute to reach the ground.

Twenty-five members responded and were guided by a friend of the jumper, the organization recounted in a social media post. The rope rescue team found the man on a “small rock feature” roughly 60 feet below the edge, “wet, cold, but conscious.”

Because the terrain was too steep and rough to carry a stretcher down, Squamish SAR called in a Talon helicopter from North Shore Rescue, who hoisted the man off the mountain, saving the team “hours of difficult travel through hazardous terrain.”

“The young man was very fortunate, sustaining injuries to both ankles but otherwise doing well,” the post reads.