BFL349 | 26.7.2018

Michael Racicot Aka Treehouse Mike

from Canada37 years

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11

BASE SEASONS

Unknown

SKYDIVES

Unknown

WS SKYDIVES

969

BASE JUMPS

Unknown

WS BASE JUMPS
  • Date & Time: 26.7.2018, 13:45
  • Location: Fatal Attraction, Walenstadt, Switzerland
  • Category: BASE Fatality
  • Object Type: Earth
  • Cause Of Death: Impact in terminal freefall
  • Clothing - Suit: Alpine 2Expert Wingsuit by Phoenix-Fly
  • Canopy: FLiK II7 Cell - Vented by Apex BASE
  • Container: TLs2 Pin by Apex BASE
  • Packing & Setup: Slider Up BOC Vertical
  • Weather: Hot with thermals producing, Sunny
  • Possible Factors: Health issues

What do we believe happened?

It was the second jump of the day of Fatal Attraction. As we gear up we felt crosswinds with a few gusts, down at the exit we couldn’t feel any crosswinds just the rising thermal air as it was a hot day, in Walenstadt about 30 degree Celsius (86 farenheit) up to about 14 degree Celsius (57 farenheit).

Treehouse and I did a 2 way of Fatal Attraction, the same as we have done the day before, I exit first and Treehouse followed me. We exited and as soon as we flew we turned left along to fly along the wall. My start was a bit faster than his as I could see in my rear facing camera. He caught up with me and was about the same altitude than I was, maybe a bit lower. Flying along the wall I could feel the rising air giving me lift but stable. 15 seconds after exit I see Treehouse passing in a safe distance below me to the right, judging from my rear cam he avoided flying over the pillar I flew over as he was a bit lower than I was. Once he passed me I stayed on altitude knowing he will turn right entering the gully we talked about before exiting. As he dove down turning right to enter the gully I followed him. We flew the gully conservative with height and lots of speed. Coming out of the gully we disconnected from the terrain flattened out the angle of attack to bleed of speed and turned right to fly straight back to the LZ, one more gully to fly across till the terrain finally would drop down to the LZ and we would have all the altitude to deploy nice and high. At this point Treehouse was ahead to the right of me. Just before the terrain would drop down I noticed the first twitch in his flight, I didn’t feel or notice any wind or change in condition. Suddenly he dove 45 degree to the left and down, as Treehouse dove he flipped lip on his back and disappeared in the trees back first. I flew another 12 seconds till I was above the LZ to deploy.

Later that day the Police in Walenstadt let me inspect his Wingsuit and the Wingsuit appeared with no prior damage that could have caused the damage, leading edge, zippers, vents, grippers, booties, fines (phoenix fly) everything still intact. A few weeks prior Treehouse has mentioned he had a seizure and that he had those once in a while but doesn’t know what causes them. Speaking to his family they told me that he had those since he was a little boy. It is just a speculation from watching the hole event that he may have had another seizure mid flight.

Treehouse was a well known experienced all round local BASE jumper at the Chief and the community calling Squamish his home. Having always a smile on his face, a funny story in his bag or a hilarious comment to make. His house was open to all the BASE jumper.

We lost a great person, friend, son, brother and uncle of three.
Rest in Peace my friend and fellow jumper you will be missed forever.

Contact

Missing something?

Can you help us with incident interpretation? We are interested in any details regarding personal experience, gear, weather conditions and any other circumstances related to the incident.

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