Tourist Dies While Illegally Base Jumping in the Grand Canyon
A tourist died while attempting to BASE jump at Grand Canyon National Park last week, the high-risk recreational sport that involves jumping from fixed objects and using a parachute to descend to the ground, in what was the second reported canyon death in 24 hours.
According to a National Park Service press release, the park's communications center received a report of an attempted BASE jump from Yavapai Point situated on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon around 7:30 a.m. on August 1. When park rangers arrived on the scene they discovered the body of the victim approximately 500 feet below the rim of the canyon, along with a deployed parachute.
USA Today later identified the jumper as Justin Guthrie, 43, of St. Anne, MO. The body was recovered by a helicopter the following morning and transferred to the local medical examiner's office. Results of an investigation are pending, however the Park Service notes that BASE jumping is prohibited in all areas of Grand Canyon National Park, as well as most National Parks without obtaining a special permit.
The day prior, on July 31, Abel Joseph Mejia, 20, of Hickory, NC, likewise fell 400 feet to his death from the rim about a quarter-mile west of Pipe Creek Overlook, in what is being investigated as an "accidental fall."
"Grand Canyon National Park staff encourage all visitors to have a safe visit by staying on designated trails and walkways, always keeping a safe distance of at least six feet from the edge of the rim and staying behind railings and fences at overlooks," a release stated.
Guthrie's death was the first as a result of BASE jumping in more than 10 years, when David Strather, 41, a respiratory therapist and surgeon from Calgary, Canada jumped approximately 2000 feet from the top of the canyon near the confluence of Little Colorado River and main Colorado River channel.
Likewise, in 2016, a 29-year-old Santa Cruz man died while wearing a wing suit—one of the more extreme forms of BASE jumping—from the nearby Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness along the remote cliffs of the Arizona-Utah border.