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There was a fatality this morning at the High Ultimate. I will post details later

Any more info on this yet?

http://www.dropzone.com/...;;page=unread#unread

Cya bromo

Thanks for taking me on my first A Gary. You will be missed.

RIP muppet...youll be missed...wish i woulda came up north for that jump with you sooner...

The details,

Gary has been very current with his V1 wingsuit. He has tracked the high Ultimate before and wanted to wingsuit it since. He felt good about it this morning and went for it. He exited with two feet off the end of the platform and pushed very hard and a little more flat than usual to clear the first ledge. As a result he went headlow and looked as if he might front flip before he disappeared out of sight. At some point quite high he deployed his canopy. I saw his canopy fly right and back towards the wall before disappearing out of view. There was no sign of inputs and the canopy never reappeared. He came to a rest at a tree above the big tree ledge. Air glaciers rescued with a long line and he clearly died on impact and did not suffer. The coroner reported his closing loops to be intact and brakes set.

Let this remind us all not to underestimate this exit. It can mess with even very experienced jumpers. I watched my best friend go without saying goodbye today and hope no one will ever have to experience that.

Fly Free Brother

fuck.

RIP Gary.

RIP, Muppet.

Thanks for the update, Chris. I'll hit you up when you get back. Hang tough.

Jeeze, I'm very sorry for your loss, Cheers Muppet.

Sorry for your loss bro, my deepest condolences. I only met Gary couple of weeks ago on the same exit but he seemed like a nice guy with safe and sound mindset towards the sport. Really sad to hear the news today.

BSBD!

RIP muppet Ill never forget that worcester jump

Shit dude! First, so sorry for your loss. I jumped with Muppet and crew on a trip to twin last year, but did not know him well. Seemed like a cool and extremely psyched dude!

I'm confused by your account...do you presume he deployed OK and died from a cliff strike under a good canopy? Or that a freefall cliff strike deployed his canopy?

the closing loop intact comment implies he deployed the p/c. i think we can presume he impacted before a full canopy was open from the account. BSBD.

I guess in between my two interpretations makes the most sense. Thanks!

Please read Markus latest post for some general, important information regarding this jump.
http://www.basejumper.com/...;;page=unread#unread

Michi
SBA

Gutted, Gary was a legend for one so young, all the cliches dont do him justice, a top bloke and great flyer in whatever discipline he turned to.

Met Gary when he was packing and about 12 years old at the DZ and itching to get in the air. Gary crammed about as mouch airtime in as possible and was a natural, we will miss you mate.

Fraser

Investigation of the canopy indicates that Gary most likely struck the cliff in freefall immediately after initiating deployment. My guess is the 2nd ledge that you can't see from the top. If anyone ever recovers the helmet and camera please destroy it.

I almost feel that the ramp has made the jump more dangerous here. When you had to run down the exit, it forced you to go into a stable tracking position, and although it was possible to wingsuit, you had to think a lot harder about it before you did it. A lot of poised exits and close calls it seems like. RIP Gary.

It is perhaps better to take the discussion elsewhere but it also reminds of the incident in the Crimea(?) where the wooden platform contributed to a wingsuit fatality. Becomes a discussion of modifying a site vs finding a better site...

Thanks for the fun jumps Gary, glad we did that 5 way, fly free..

Yes, it was in Crimea. Unstable exit due to wooden ramp oscillations which in turn were caused by the push

Muppet's close friends (my brother Sergey etc) request the opposite, and state that Gary wouldn't want the video destroyed.

Gary specifically said to me at the top diving board on an A one time "If I go in, do something cool with the video".

I spent the six years up until June of this year with Gary, he was my boyfriend as well as one of my mentors, and we have talked about that very issue, he had said the same many times. He would want others to learn from it. He was an advocate for making new jumpers watch things like the death video to show them just how final one BASE jump can be. He made me watch that very same video, I know however, he would not want any of his loved ones to see it. I would hope whoever ends up with the video takes good care of it and uses good judgment and it doesn't end up all over the web as did Dwains videos. Personally, I never want to see it.

+1111

Condolences & respects to his family & friends...