Basejumper.com - archive

Sorry to report there has been a fatality in the Swiss valley today. No further details at this time!

thoughts to everyone effected by this.....

 

sorry for the loss....

 

 
Fatality is factual as I know the deceased jumper personally!

Chris...mate as soon as you have any details on the second let me know...sorry for your loss bro...thoughts go out to all concerned..

No second fatality! Just mixed info!

Some more facts:
Jumper is Swiss, experience level is around 40 jumps.
Was doing his first few cliff jumps (5 or 6 max)
Exited from LM. No track suit/pants.
Very safety concious and head's up jumper...

Sorry to hear about that :(

Jul.

Do we know if it was a low/no pull impact or a cliff strike?

I'm terribly sorry to hear about it

sad day

Hey there buddy!-My thoughts go out to those close to him. He was an awsome guy!...very enthusiastic!.....Putainne!!!

and now another... This is not good news at all...

Exited from LM. No track suit/pants.

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I have read in the past following another fatality from this site, that LM is an advanced skills BASE jump and not to be under estimated. Is this an appropriate exit point for someone with. . . .say under 10 bigwall jumps?

Sorry to hear about this. Condolences.

Perhaps. It depends on their other preparation/skills/experience.

In different parts of the world, training standards can vary. There are places where this kind of jump is done very early in a jumpers career. I don't think it's a good idea, but it certainly happens.

Also, to call this a "big wall jump" might mislead some people into thinking it's on the same level, safety wise, as the popular wall in Southern Norway (for example). LB exits are significantly more technical, because they are much lower, and sub-terminal (not just terminal) tracking is pretty much mandatory for safety there.

Please find here under a summary of the available comments* (crossposted because of both threads):

LAUTERBRUNNEN BE - two base jumpers were killed over saturday and sunday in Lauterbrunnen. Both men lost control of their jump and hit the wall before falling to the ground.

The first victim (34 years old) was jumping saturday with 4 other persons, the swiss police indicated. At the second jump, the man hit the cliff after a 180 degrees rotation and fell 150 meters (~500feet).

Sunday, a 40 year old man died while jumping with two other persons. He hit the cliff after his parachute opening.

---

The first jumper, Stephane, was very well known in switzerland, being a rigger and active jumper.

I am sure more accurate information will come in appropriate time, and would appreciate speculation being left aside.

Condolences to his family and all those close to him. Didnt know him well, but a great guy he was, that is for sure.



*from the french base jump association and swiss sky dive*

Second fatality was from YO. This was the jumpers second base jump. He went hand held, packed slider down. Started to rotate head low on exit, pitched and started to drop his right shoulder. Chute opened with a fast 180 right, he was on his left riser immediately but impacted the cliff and continued to impact the cliff a number of times till the tallus.

im astounded...saddened for his freinds and family and the swiss dudes...question is has someone knocked all the bridges down in europe?

Did Stephane frequent the Horner? Can someone maybe descibe him to me in a PM. I am trying to narrow down who this is. I have made jumps with two locals but I am thinking of one in particular. Thanks and sorry for losses here. Fly free brothers

I need to correct something. Stefan exited at the Nose and not LM. The nose is where stefan's accident took place.

I was in the valley on Friday and saw Stefan make a jump from LM. I know stefan really well as I took him on his first B a few weeks back.
He was a super head's up jumper and always safety concious to the point of anal retentiveness. He would always open his rig up at the exit point to make sure he was happy with his pack job and to square the center cell. He was a rigger for lots of parachutists here in the french part of switzerland and a really good one at that. I trusted my life to him when he inspected and reassembled my base rig after i had knarly tree landing a few weeks back.

He always had solid exits that is why I took him on his first B.

Stefan was a pretty big/bulky guy and was not jumping with any tracking pants. So from what I saw on his jump from LM his track was pretty weak. He pulled right at the begining of the talus and fairly close to it.


I will post some pics of him soon.

Fly free Stefan!
I already miss you!

I heard about it saturday afternoon while in Spain

He sent me a SMS at 9h57 saturday : C'est beau le Nose (The Nose is beautiful)

I kno he has joined the Dream Team up there. He saved my life yesterday.. Will post about this in other forums. But I know he did not let me go in.

He did not pull a joker card saturdays, but he dedicated his first day in heaven to build one for me.

Thanks for everything you did for me Stef.

I love you (in a brotherly kind of way)

Fly free.

Some pics of Stefan.

Your smile, enthousiasm and unusual kindness is
bitterly missed!

PS: for those who wish, i have a few more pics and some footage of him as well. Please PM me.

I know everyone has questions about this incident that they are itching to have answered. I apologize if this is out of place. . . .

Given that he was jumping slider down off a wall that I believe (not sure) is commonly done slider up, I'm wondering about his brake setting. I am a new to BASE and I'm not sure if the brake setting for slider up vs. slider down jumps is different. If it is different, could it be possible that he was jumping a canopy that he had been packing slider up with a shallow brake setting, whereby this contributed to the quick 180?

I did read above that his body position wasn't the greatest, but this is just something that crossed my mind.

J.P.

yes, and for the first fatality (saturday at the nose) i am sure HELLvetic will give us a full complete total accurate extensive and detailled account once he has cleared the story with the friends who were there. lets just say, wait a few days? thanks.



yes, the brake setting is different. Do a search for 'brake settings'. Lately, i found this thread by JaapSuter quite useful.



yes, it is possible.

but very doubtful for the first fatality (saturday at the nose), he was a master rigger and very meticoulous. again, the detailled report will cover that, i am sure.



i dont know about that. wouldnt think so - but dont take my word for it. it would have contributed for sure to a faster forward speed, thus hitting the wall quicker and faster.


peace,
david

Let's not get it all mixed up. There were two fatalities. One at the nose on Saturday (Stefan Grossman) and one at yellow ocean on Sunday.

Base915 described the yellow ocean accident of sunday morning. He witnessed first hand what happend and in his words desribed the accident:
I saw the footage of that jump and Base915's description is as acurate as they get. Nothing else more to say than it's a tragic and sad accident of someone with almost no base experience.

For the first accident, the one of saturday that happend at the Nose,
I/We are still trying to gather info as the picture is still not clear in regards to what exactly happened. People who witnessed the accident are not regular poster of DZ.com and I have yet to talk to one of them.

I will post a report of the Nose accident as soon as we have crystal clear accurate info in regards to what exactly happened during that jump.

thank you for the clarification.

FUCKING A!!!

Here is a report of the first accident which took place at the nose on Saturday april 15th.

Stefan was extremely conservative in his progression. His experience was about 35 bridge jumps, 2 building jumps, and a handfull (5 or 6 max) of cliff jumps he had made from the three most common exit points in LB during the few days prior to his accident.

Stefan had a prior jump from the nose, so it was not the first time he jumped there when he had his accident.
He was jumping an appropriately sized vented fox canopy with a 38 inch vented pilot chute.
Stefan was a well known, respected rigger and was on top of his game in regards to gear maintenance, set up and packing.

This is info gathered from people who saw the accident first hand.

Stefan was making a stowed, slider up jump from the Nose when he had his accident.
Same configuration as all the other jumps he had made in the valley in the prior days.

It has been reported that he made a stable exit, took a nice but conservative delay during which he tracked a little and pulled high above the talus.
The canopy inflated fully with a 180 at a reasonable distance from the wall. Wittness report that they saw him fly towards the wall with no visible attempt to turn the canopy around.
It is unknown if he had twists or not as this could not be seen from the top.
Stefan hit the talus a few times before the canopy collapsed and fell the rest of the way.
Stefan was found with the right toggle unstowed in his hand.

There is not much else I can say beside that Stefan was a very much loved and kind jumper who was very carefull in his progression. He was an amazing human being and he will be bitterly missed! He leaves a wife and two children. My prayers and thoughts goes out to them.

Fly free my brother...