Clément Borrel

THere was no direct witness of the accident. This report comes from another jumper whom inspected Clement and the gear.

60m to 80m below the exit of the Dent de Crolles, there is a steep ledge (6m width) one needs to clear with a serious launch. Clément was seen by a basejumper under open canopy flying high near the cliff around 10:30 on Wednesday. He didn’t reappear in the evening and the rescue teams started searching by night. Due to rain and mist, he was found 2 days later dead with severe head and neck injuries, on Friday morning around 7:30.

He was in a very steep gorge where no one would normally land, far from the cliff bottom where his camera was found only at 10m of the steep cliff bottom 350 m below the classical exit. The helmet with the chinstrap broken was found a little farther than the camera. A review of the camera memory card showed that no release of video occurred whereas he used to film his jumps. The toggles had not been touched: he either was unable to unstow the toggles, or was unconscious or dead under canopy. A 36” pilot chute was found connected to the canopy.

Whether he slipped approaching the exit due to unstable slope with disintegrated rocks or he had unstable exit without the force necessary to jump safely from this exit, is unknown. He lost his helmet with the camera on the impact and was seen under opened canopy, he landed farther to the south in a steep gorge where he was found two days later.