Casual factors: Jeremiah was fixated on flying through the left notch, asking questions on the hike all the way to the exit and acknowledging that he was unsure if his suit would allow him to clear the terrain he was interested in flying over. This was his first time seeing the mountain in person and jumping the object. Jeremiah’s last Wingsuit BASE jump was in Italy 11/6/19. Between then and the jump on the 3rd of September he had made another 200 Wingsuit skydives.
Exit Altitude: 775’ rock drop, 3600’ to lz.
Conditions: 62° clear sunny skies
Wind on exit: Light wind up the face from sun exposure.
Description:
Details would be that Jeremiah took a left line from East Buttress toward the classic attempting to fly over the notch, impacting while flying too low to clear the notch. Canopy partially coming out after impacting and reaching line stretch several hundred feet down the gully where he came to rest. The individual that was on exit with him had jumped first and after realizing what had happened, not having a emergency locator beacon or cell service, ran 30 minutes down trail to his vehicle so that he can drive about 20 minutes to cell service and make the distress call. The SAR Helicopter came as quickly as possible eventually locating his body with no signs of life, they decided to resume the recovery the following day. A team of 4 Search and Rescue members were lowered down to recover his body and later taken to the medical examiner’s office.

UPDATED 10TH AUGUST 2024

This is from the jumper that was with Jeremiah. The information in the initial report is second hand information and is inaccurate in one regard: Jeremiah did not ask non-stop on the way up about the notch. If I had asked Jeremiah specifically what line he intended to fly on exit, I believe he would have told me, and had I suggested to do something else, I am highly confident he would have followed my guidance. The biggest lesson for me from this incident is that the pre-jump fist bump is a sacred moment where we check-in with our companions; it is a moment to check-in with folks, reflect, and possibly suggest a change of plans if something feels off.

We took a little over 3 hours to hike up and most of that was talking about non-BASE topics. Another friend had asked me to show Jeremiah the Baring exit.

I had told that friend that I only knew how to get to the East buttress exit and did not know how to get to the classic exit which is considered better for people who are tracking and visiting Baring for the first time. My friend vouched that Jeremiah had sufficient ws base experience for the East buttress exit so there was no need to figure out how to get to the classic exit. The hike up was my first time meeting Jeremiah so we easily filled the time hiking up learning about each other and exchanging stories.At around the halfway mark Jeremiah asked me what my flight plan was for the jump. I shared with him I intended to fly through a jumper’s left notch that I had done once before but was quite technical. He asked if I had laser numbers for the notch, and I shared that I didn’t. I had went for the notch for the first time relying on sight picture to make a quick decision to abort or commit. He asked if I thought it would be possible to fly through the notch with a freak2, I told him I did not know but the correct way to assess would be with a laser and gps data. I suggested there were other nice flight options going straight or right.When we were near the rock gully, he once more asked about the notch and whether it would be possible to do with a freak2. I explained the other factor that you’d need to consider is that it’s a push with a subterminal left turn, so you’d need to have data from past jumps where you immediately do a subterminal turn off exit.

My impression was that he was inquiring with curiosity to know if on some future distance jump if it would even be possible to fly through the notch with a freak2.Both discussions were short and given my answers, I didn’t consider flying the same line would be something on his mind. I didn’t see any red flags in anything he communicated. I’ve been on hikes with jumpers before who seem to have a superhuman belief in themselves that is worrisome, this was not Jeremiah. With regards to climbing, he seemed to have been going beyond the training that many BASE jumpers do, myself included, to become a competent climber. And he seemed to be eager for advice + feedback on how to be as competent of a pilot as possible.The pre-jump exit atmosphere was quiet but nothing felt off. Jeremiah shared he would prefer to jump second. I geared up and walked close to the edge to start visualizing for my own flight and then realized I had forgotten to do a fist bump as is customary, so I turned around to raise my fist in the hopes Jeremiah would take steps towards me to meet the fist bump. He gave me a nervous chakra instead and in that moment I felt that something was wrong, but I ignored that instinct to return to visualizing my flight. As I put my feet over the ledge, Jeremiah interjected to ask if I would mind if he stood to the left, behind me, and slightly over me. I told him I did not mind, did my countdown and jumped. Shortly after landing I looked up to see if I could watch his flight and started to connect the pieces, I then watched him exit and fly towards the notch. I couldn’t see exactly what happened but heard several thuds. From this point on the rest of the first incident report is accurate.

I knew something was wrong at the fistbump check-in and I ignored that instinct. If people are so nervous or the vibe is so off, that the fist bump is forgotten, this is a red flag. If the fist bump happens, but you can feel your own energy or another person’s energy is off, this is a red flag. I should have stopped and asked Jeremiah how he was feeling when he threw the nervous chakra. I think it’s likely he would have told me he was nervous and revealed his plan if I had asked his flight plan. That would have been my opportunity to suggest he fly something different and that the notch would always be there. I know this would likely have worked, because I’ve been in similar situations since.

Sometimes we trap ourselves into a plan and all that it takes to help get us out of the trap is if a friend suggests an alternative.



Two lessons:
(1) fist bump is sacred. Check-in with your partner here and be prepared to take a step back from the edge if the vibe is off
(2) always ask about your partner’s flight plan on exit. Even competent rational people have moments of poor judgement that we would not expect.