BASE jumper safe after large-scale rescue operation in Kane Creek

SALT LAKE CITY — A large-scale rescue operation took place to save a BASE jumper who was hanging on a cliff wall in Kane Creek.

According to Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins, a call came in at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday regarding a 43-year-old man who was stuck on the edge of a cliff after a failed BASE jump incident.

Wiggins said the man was hanging hundreds of feet up, his parachute tangled on the red rock. So it was up to Search and Rescue to save him.

“(These) individuals with our Search and Rescue team are some of the most talented, I would say, in the state.”

Thanks to state and medical helicopters, rescuers were able to reach the man more quickly.

“They’ll pick them up and they’ll fly them to the top of these cliffs. And then our team will gear up, and then they’ll rappel down to the injured individual.”

The sheriff isn’t sure what went wrong. Did he not jump out far enough? Did his parachute fail? Or did the wind push him into the rock face?

Whatever happened, he’s safe, thanks to a team of volunteers—who have been busy lately.

“This is the second BASE jumper incident in less than, probably, a week,” Wiggins said. “They’ll just drop what they’re doing to come and try to save somebody else. And it’s pretty remarkable that they’re willing to do that at any given moment.”

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This is a breaking news story. It may be updated.

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