Basejumper.com - archive

South Africa
Man hurt in Table Mountain fall
2007-9-12 18:37
Cape Town - Rescue services were on Wednesday called in after a man, believed to be a base jumper, was injured in a fall on the slopes of Table Mountain.
Base jumping involves the use of parachutes in jumping off fixed objects and is regarded as an extreme sport.

Cape metro rescue staff said a defence force Oryx had tried for about two hours to airlift the man, but was unable to do so because of poor visibility.

A team would have to be sent up on foot instead, and the rescue could for that reason go "deep into the night".
SAPA

Update from IOL;
http://www.iol.co.za/...0913000132101C855361



Injured jumper rescued from mountain ledge

September 13 2007 at 12:47AM

Thirty rescue workers stretchered an injured base-jumper off Table Mountain at 10pm on Wednesday night after an operation lasting eight-and-a-half hours, said Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSR).

The 19-year-old hurt his back and ribs and sustained other minor injuries when he plummeted 30m down Platteklip Gorge at 2pm, said WSR head Dr John Roos, who also works for Cape Metro emergency medical services.

The teenager was taken to the Chris Barnard Memorial Hospital, where he was in a stable condition.

"I don't know why he was base-jumping from where he was... It was not a clever thing for him to have done," said Roos.




He jumped from the top of Table Mountain, to the left of Platteklip. "Something went wrong," Roos said.

The teenager ended up unable to walk and trapped on a ledge in the gorge, in an area inaccessible to the helicopters sent in to try to airlift him out.

Instead, teams of technical rescuers climbed to him, strapped him into a stretcher and hoisted him to the top of the mountain, said Roos.

They carried him to the cable-car station - which specially re-opened to help - and loaded him into a cable-car, which ferried him to the ground.

He said that although the Red Cross rescue helicopter could not get to him, it was able to send down an advance team, which included a doctor.

As conditions deteriorated, a South African Air Force Oryx helicopter was called in, but it too was unable to reach the jumper.

This made the operation "technical", said Roos.

He said an initial team of about 16 rescuers was bolstered with six more "sent in to do the more technical work".

The rest of the team manned a base station set up on Table Mountain road to co-ordinate the operation. All of them were volunteers. - Sapa

According to a jumper I trust very much in Capetown, this was NOT a BASE jumping accident, but rather a paragliding accident.

He is well connected with mountain rescue and the Capetown paragliding community, so I am sure he has his facts straight and the media are wrong.

As it turns out, it was a BASE jump attempt. The guy had never jumped before and surprisingly had 150 or so skydives. He had his buddies filming it for some charity thing.
Surprised he is still alive, conditions were real crap yesterday. The whole way the article is written sounds to mne like a couple of hillbilly's.... Quite funny actually.

"Hey y'all, watch this!!!"

thats not a good choice of object for a first jump, but i guess he already knows that now.
did he jump from an established exit point or just somewhere rocky.? was he using base gear?

That's a nugget!!!

Dunno about the BASE gear and stuff. I doubt it.

Here's another article from news24.com

http://www.news24.com/...1442_2182566,00.html

Cape Town - A team of 30 rescued an injured base-jumper off Table Mountain at 22:00 on Wednesday after an operation lasting eight-and-a-half hours, said Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSR).

The 19-year-old hurt his back and ribs and sustained other minor injuries when he plummeted 30 metres down Platteklip Gorge at 14:00, said WSR head Dr John Roos, who also works for Cape Metro emergency medical services.

He was taken to the Chris Barnard Memorial Hospital where he was in a stable condition.

"I don't know why he was base-jumping from where he was... It was not a clever thing for him to have done," said Roos.

He jumped from the top of Table Mountain, to the left of Platteklip. "Something went wrong," he said.

He ended up unable to walk and trapped on a ledge in the gorge, in an area inaccessible to the helicopters sent in to try and airlift him out.

Strapped to stretcher

Instead, teams of technical rescuers climbed to him, strapped him into a stretcher and hoisted him to the top of the mountain, said Roos.

They carried him to the cable-car station - which specially re-opened to help - and loaded him into a car which ferried him to the ground.

He said that although the Red Cross rescue helicopter could not get to him, it was able to send down an advance team, which included a doctor.

As conditions deteriorated, an SA Air Force Oryx helicopter was called in, but it too was unable to reach the jumper.

This made the operation "technical", said Roos.

He said an initial team of about 16 rescuers was bolstered with six more "sent in to do the more technical work".

The rest of the team manned a base station set up on Table Mountain road to co-ordinate the operation. All of them were volunteers.

And one more from iafrica.com, including his name

http://iafrica.com/news/sa/750291.htm

CAPE TOWN
Base-jumper in Table Mountain fall

Thu, 13 Sep 2007

A team of 30 rescue-workers stretchered an injured base-jumper off Table Mountain at 10pm on Wednesday after an operation lasting eight-and-a-half hours, said Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSR).

The 20-year-old hurt his back and ribs and sustained other minor injuries when he plummeted 30 metres down Platteklip Gorge at 2pm, said WSR head Dr John Roos, who also works for Cape Metro emergency medical services.

The Cape Times named the Rhodes University student as Alexis McNaughton and reported he was trying to enter a charity competition to win R50 000 and that his jump had to be filmed.

In a stable condition

He was taken to the Chris Barnard Memorial Hospital where he was in a stable condition.

"I don't know why he was base-jumping from where he was... It was not a clever thing for him to have done," said Roos.

He jumped from the top of Table Mountain, to the left of Platteklip. "Something went wrong," he said.

He ended up unable to walk and trapped on a ledge in the gorge, in an area inaccessible to the helicopters sent in to try and airlift him out.

Instead, teams of technical rescuers climbed to him, strapped him into a stretcher and hoisted him to the top of the mountain, said Roos.

They carried him to the cable-car station — which specially reopened to help — and loaded him into a car which ferried him to the ground.

He said that although the Red Cross rescue helicopter could not get to him, it was able to send down an advance team, which included a doctor.

As conditions deteriorated, an SA Air Force Oryx helicopter was called in, but it too was unable to reach the jumper.

This made the operation "technical", said Roos.

He said an initial team of about 16 rescuers was bolstered with six more "sent in to do the more technical work".

The rest of the team manned a base station set up on Table Mountain road to coordinate the operation. All of them were volunteers.

Is there any exit points on Table Mt. that is not Sketchy ?
I have heard that the exits are low and the taluses are close because of the age of that rock. It has been beat down over a million years. Nothing realy big for delays.
.

Most of the exits on the front of the mountain are only around 120m, but there’s a really nice 320m vertical on the camps bay side of the table car overlooking fountain ravine, followed by a long flight down to Tafelberg road

Levels of sketchiness vary...

I have only jumped one exit point there and it's something like 400 to 450 feet to impact depending on how good an exit you can do.

Getting your opening height right can be difficult for that particular exit, as you want to be open below the prominent nose to your side, but not too far below it, as the talus starts sloping just a little further down with some scary looking ledges and such.

There's a significantly lower exit that's even more 'ledgy'.

Of course, there's also a pretty sheer 6-7 second rock drop that Loic and some talented SA locals have flown wingsuits from.

The latest article on this can be found here and mentions speedflying, which is probably why I have heard from a local that it was a paragliding incident.

I will paste it below also, as the link will expire sometime in the future:


" A Rhodes University student who survived a 30m crash off Table Mountain on Wednesday has vowed to "speed fly" again.

Speaking from his home in Stellenbosch on Thursday, Alexis McNaughton, 19, told Grocott's Mail that he was still walking with a bad limp, but would be back in Grahamstown for the start of the university term on Monday.

And when he's fully recovered he'll be jumping again, only this time he'll be "a little more careful".

McNaughton was attempting to win a competition offering R50 000 for charity by filming himself jumping and parachuting off the mountain. A team of 30 had to be airlifted in to carry out a rescue operation lasting almost nine hours.





McNaughton says cloud cover prevented a Red Cross helicopter from getting near the Platteklip Gorge ledge where he landed. Instead, rescue workers had to be lifted halfway up the mountain and climbed the rest of the way. As conditions deteriorated, a South African Air Force Oryx helicopter was called, but it too was unable to reach McNaughton.

On the ground, rescue workers strapped him into a stretcher and carried him to the cable car - which re-opened specifically to help ferry him to the ground. McNaughton eventually reached the hospital at 10pm.

Miraculously, he sustained only bruises, mild hypothermia, and two big cracks to his helmet. "It's amazing that I broke nothing, fractured nothing," he said. "It's really a miracle of God."

An experienced skydiver, he has previously jumped off Table Mountain six times using a technique that used to be called speed-flying. It's similar to paragliding because one runs off a cliff with an inflated canopy, says McNaughton, but the chutes are smaller and the aim of the game is speed, not flight time.

He thinks the reason things went wrong is because he didn't build up enough speed to get away from the cliff-face, hitting the rocks below and tumbling to a ledge where he lost consciousness for 20 minutes. When he came to, his cellphone had been ringing. He answered it and gave rescue workers his co-ordinates using a GPS he always carries when jumping.

The next few hours were the worst, waiting in the icy wind chill to be rescued. He wrapped himself in his canopy to keep warm, and kept talking telephonically to friends below who were anxiously watching the rescue operation. - Sapa "

I think it's a load of crap; I don't even think the guy has skydiving experience. To go out in those conditions was just insane; even for a skydiver. In the local paper he said he had been jumping ever since he could remember. His story keeps changing.

Tar and feathers I say, tar and feathers!

fyi - PASA website has him as a B-licence holder, maybe to a 19-year old that qualifies you for anything

He lives in a different country, so I'd say B licence must meen Beginning Licence

No it stands for Bonehead license...
... Hang on, I am still a B in that world...

I have made some mistakes and was lucky to get away... I suppose I should be the last one to judge here... Still it was a very dumb thing to do.

Dont visit this site very often and late in this discussion but yes, you are correct the guy was Ground Launching (aka Speed-Flying without skis) using a 'Sabre 135' and not BASE jumping.


Alan - www.speed-flying.com

good to know I can still trust my sources

this reminded me I have seen this guy's name before, like right here

Sabre 135 you say...

like this one about how jump numbers don't mean shit...

Yes is the same guy in the links...