Nik had 501 BASE jumps when he launched for this planned 9-10 second delay. Most of his previous BASE jumps had been low ones and he's actively working on his tracking skills. According to the one witness who saw the entire jump Nik launched head down, but looked as if he would recover. However, he deployed before complete stability is achieved.
The canopy opened facing the cliff and Nik is turning it away (using rear risers as the brakes are still set when the canopy is inspected) when he landed on a ledge. At that point he had already turned the canopy 90 degrees away from the wall. The canopy collapsed and Nik fell backwards from the ledge. He impacted a second ledge with his head (this is the fatal injury) and the canopy re-inflated and flew into the wall a third time and hung there a moment. The canopy then dropped beneath him and he fell into it. He fell down the remaining part of the wall (several hundred feet) wrapped in the canopy and hitting the wall 6-8 more times. CPR is performed to no avail.

Nik is a very popular BASE jumper and will be missed. He is also a Medical Examiner who, not only lent his expertise to previous BASE fatality investigations, he also performed the autopsy on singer Kurt Cobain. Nik's death has caused his name to be included into the conspiracy, fans say, surrounds Cobain's suicide.