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I'm sorry to inform you that our friend Jeremy Gracyk has died while jumping the Eiger from the Mushroom exit.

The information we have is limited as the police are still not releasing all available evidence. Here is what we do know for a fact so far. More definitive information will be added when it is available from reliable sources.

Jeremy hiked the Eiger with one other jumper. Both men were in good physical shape and made the hike in 1 hour and 45 minutes, without fatigue. They were in high spirits when they reached the Mushroom. The weather conditions at the Mushroom were ideal as well as the in the landing zone, but they were jumping around noon and the face of the Eiger was in deep shadow. Jeremy filmed the first jumper's exit, who was using a tracking suit. Jeremy then exited by himself, also wearing a tracking suit. His body was found out of the bowl, on the talus. At this point, it is unclear whether there was intentional canopy extraction, as the police have not officially released the complete eyewitness account, nor allowed close inspection of the gear (the police have indicated they will do so this afternoon).

Jeremy was jumping a GoPro, but the police have yet to recover the video of the actual jump. The first jumper successfully tracked out of the bowl, and landed on a hill where his view of the jump was obstructed by terrain. About 8 minutes after he landed, he saw the rescue helicopter which was his first indication that something was wrong. There were some hikers that reportedly had direct view of the impact, but the police have yet to release their comments. Once the GoPro footage is recovered, the eye-witness account released, and the gear inspected (all anticipated to be done later this afternoon), we will have a better informed idea of what actually happened.

Jeremy was a relatively new jumper, but by all accounts, was very heads up and methodical and of average technical skill. Jeremy had jumped several terminal antennas, tracked a large terminal wall in the US, was in Kjerag tracking before coming to Lauterbrunnen, and had been tracking from Yellow Ocean, La Mouse, and High Nose with decent tracks.

Though the two jumpers had never jumped the Eiger before, they spent many hours planning the approach, the access to the exit point, and the jump. They watched videos of the jump and spoke in depth with jumpers who had jumped it before, including those with the most experience with this object. Those who knew these jumpers were confident that it was within their capabilities.

Those who would like to offer condolences/sympathies can please post on this thread:
http://www.blincmagazine.com/forum/bsbd-memory/48878-jeremy-gracyk.html

My thoughts go to his BASE buddy I met last week-end. Deep condolences to him, to the family and the US crew there.

Never knew a more heads up and confident new jumper. He was a great jumper and a great friend...we'll miss you Jaws

damn that sucks. fly free buddy.

R.I.P BUDDY,

Thanks for showing me the grass games while we were clouded in for 6-7 hours.. you were one of the guys that took there approach to base serious and thats what i respected about you..


Thanks mate...

BSBD

Sorry for your loss guys, fly free J.

Thank you Brian. Jeremy was unlike any other. Words can't express what his loss means to so many people. He was a giant among men.

http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_74fd8f16-33d2-5c64-8494-eefd911403e6.html

Same guy?

Lost a good one RIP.

This SUCKS!!!! RIP Jeremy!! :(

Yes, that was Jeremy. He was an active-duty US Marine Corps infantry/Force Reconnaissance officer, and a highly-decorated veteran of combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas.

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/showthread.php/95768-Lost-Wingman

Jeremy,

I am sad you are gone bro. My heart goes out to those you leave behind.

Condolences to all his family and friends. He sounds like he was one hell of an awesome guy!

Sad news.

Fly Free Devil Dog!

Just curious, is it somewhat easy for people to clear the talus with only tracking gear, or is this a pretty committed track? Any word yet on possible malfunctions?

I think it's pretty easy to outtrack the first ledge, if you dont totally fuck up the exit. For the second and third ledge you need a decent track and be aware of the missing ground rush.. Due to the steep slopes on the foot of the eiger, you might missjudge your actual distance from the ground.

URGENT READ:
I cannot believe a hiker found the post on BLiNC and offered some amazing 1st hand accounts about the entire event including images. PLEASE READ AND FORWARD.
http://www.blincmagazine.com/...11-a.html#post100040

Are there any follow ups to this incident? The account makes me wonder if a stall induced by tension knots was the cause.

Jeremy was jumping an Asylum Feather. Upon opening it suffered multiple line failure and he crashed into the talus at high speed with a failed canopy. I don't blame anyone, and Jeremy understood the risks of this sport more than any new jumper that I have known, but I want answers made public...why did this happen?

What particular lines failed? Where did they fail? At the attachment? Or the line itself?

Did he have his slider up?

Let's also add to this that Asylum has sent out a mandatory Feather grounding notice to all on-file owners.

That sure sounds like an admission of product defect.

WHY DID THEY NOT GO PUBLIC WITH THIS INFO ?

Herro,

Hold on just a moment. Before this thread spirals into a useless piece of shit junkshow let me clarify a couple of things.

But first... Jeremy was a very close friend of mine. I was with him in LB shortly before his accident and on the phone with him minutes before. I am proud to have been a part of his BASE progression, and proud to have been his friend. He was one of the most incredible and inspiring men I have ever known and I miss him dearly. Martin Tilley is also a friend of mine and I have been a user of Asylum gear for many years. I have been jumping Feathers since they first were released and I was as shocked as anyone to hear the news.

Now, back to the point:
As anyone can imagine, Asylum (Martin) has been rather busy lately with all of this. Jeremy's gear has been in the possession of the military and has been unavailable for inspection by Martin. We have the video and that is what alerted us to the cause of the accident.

Martin has already contacted ALL of the jumpers who this directly concerns - as far as I know, all of the Feather owners have been alerted and Martin is servicing their needs directly and individually.

However, there are still some unanswered questions and Martin needs to get all of the facts before he or anyone else posts here concerning further details of the accident. For now, center A/B line failure is all the info that there is. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that you are owed an immediate explanation from anyone and don't even start to intimate that this is some kind of cover-up.

There are, without question, some major lessons to be learned here but adequate time is needed in order for the information to be presented in a manner that will best result in progress for the community and the sport. Rest assured that all details will be released as soon as possible and that the people working on this are working with the entire BASE community's best interest in mind.

If anyone has a problem with or a question about what I have written above then I invite you to email me directly but I don't have the time or desire to monitor this thread.

-Matt

PERFECT. Without the expert information there is no way to make any allegations or conclusions.

I am friends with a -very- active Feather user and he was contacted VERY soon after the distributor found out there could be a problem.

I spoke with Marty the day that the cause of the fatality was confirmed. Had decided almost instantly that he needed to ground all feathers until he could figure out exactly what happened any why. I dont think there was any effort at all to keep this a secret, but as matt said, simply collect all the data and decide if and what action needed to be taken.

BSBD - Fly Free Jeremy

That was my point. Some people get in the habit of packing slider down, and then when they go to a terminal jump they accidentally pack the slider down. I've seen it happen twice.

Yes this has been known to happen but usually on all purpose canopies not terminal specific canopies. I doubt there is a single incident where this has happened on a terminal specific canopy.
I'm curious to know if it was line failure or failure of the line attachment point. Not that it makes a difference.

No shit? Twice? Hope it wasn't the same jumper. That seems to fall in the catagory of crossing toggles while packing. I've heard of jumpers having two rigs one up one down and accidently grabbing the wrong one. Very seriously doubt that happen with this incident.

Seriosly...

Yes, he absolutely did have his slider up. He packed perfectly.
Move on.

I believe feathers are available with either dacron (400 pound) or spectra (725, I think?) lines.

Does anyone know if this canopy had the spectra or dacron lines?

 Just for the record I was disappointed someone asked about the slider thing in the first place, not asking again. Anyway, his lines were dacron if it was the same rig he was jumping a month or two before the incident.

It's a legitimate question. Like 554, I know of two cases in which a jumper took a slider down rig to terminal accidentally. One was a pretty long time ago, but the other was recently enough that it was a wingsuit jump.

At any rate, the question has been asked and answered.



All of the manufacturers (and lots of jumpers, too) have been pushing toward lighter, smaller gear recently because of the obvious advantages (in weight and aerodynamics). When you are taking a single parachute system and doing that, you will eventually find the limit of what is really possible. In BASE, we often find the limit in quite painful ways. It's just part of the nature of BASE.

lines were dacron 400

If it hasn't been out for 5 years you're a test jumper.

I could not agree more to a single statement. Still the statistic data is there learned from skydiving industry testing fabric designs etc.

 

Surely 3 months is enough time for Asylum to formulate a public statement of some sort. I am surprised and disappointed by the lack of public communication from the manufacturer about this issue.

Jeremy was like a brother to me and I was with him on his final load. I have no ties to Asylum, but can assure you that Marty has been a stand-up guy through this and has done the right thing (contacted all Feather owners and instituted a recall, investigated video, interviewed me via phone, and reported his initial assessment to other manufacturers, etc.). Jeremy's equipment is currently tied up in the military investigation system, as he was an active-duty U.S. Marine at the time of his death. We can't obtain the the gear until the military finalizes the investigation, which will likely occur later in the year. At that time, we will provide the canopy to an impartial rigger for testing, and then Marty will have access to the results. Bottom line- Marty's done all he can with the information at his disposal.

That is at least something.


Except make it public knowledge.

To be fair, it is entirely possibly that Marty knows very little - and if he hasn't even been able to see the equipment, there wouldn't be anything to say apart from blind speculation - which the people on these forums are perfectly good at.

Looks like we'll have to wait a while for for more information given the requirement for the military to relase the equipment for inspection.

Its been a while since i read this thread, was wondering what the final results where? Had a quick search and couldnt find much more about the incident or the conclusions to how the canopy failed.

miss you buddy fly free

Browsing back at some old threads... It´s almost a year know since this incident and at least I do not remember seeing any of these "major lessons" having being presented "in a manner that it will best result in progress for the community and the sport". Also I have not seen any details being released on this topic. Maybe I have missed something and this information has been made available with the best inerest of the BASE community in mind as MattG stated above, I would be very interested to read this so if this is the case I would be delighted if someone could guide me to the origins of this information?

I don´t want to blame anyone or anything but given a statement like that above (coming from a person with long relationship and strong affiliation with the manufacturer in question), I think it is only fair that we are generally interested to hear these "major lessons to be learned".

BSBD Jeremy!

Markus,

As Jeremy was an active-duty U.S. Marine at the time of his death, the military assumed custody of his equipment, which they have retained for the past 11 months. Within days (if they haven't done so already), however, the military will ship the Feather to Pete Swan who has agreed to conduct an investigation of the origins of the wing failure.

The bottom line is that although we have reviewed the video which indicates canopy failure following a hard opening, the equipment simply hasn't been available for an experienced rigger's inspection until recently. I hope that the results of the inspection will, in turn, be released to the BASE community via this forum.

Jeremy's family and friends want lessons to be learned (regarding equipment selection, materials, or manufacturing process, etc.) from the fatality of this great man in order to advance the safety of the sport and prevent this from occurring again.

Sincerely,

Jeff

Jeff,

thanks for your response! I´m really interested to hear the outcome of the inspection (as I jump ultralite gear my self as well) and I appreciate also the view of his relatives that they want us to learn from this accident. I never met him but I wish I had, he sounds like a great guy.

BSBD!

After re-reading this thread, it appears a Feather with 400lb. dacron lines was the equ. used in this incident? With the recent public service bulletin put out by Axep regarding 400lb dacron lines on lite and UL canopies, has Asylum issued anything of this nature publicly? Couldn't find anything on their webpage or google search. It was stated in this thread that A/B lines failed during the jump. It was also stated the canopy was being released by the US military to a well respected rigger a month ago. Any conclusions?

Not trying to start a shit show, just seems this accident is very similar to the two incidents that sparked a public announcement from Apex.

Asylum changed to heavier lines on the feather immediately after this incident.

600# continuous A & B lines are standard now for the small dacron lined feathers.

It should also be noted that Asylum sent new lines to all Feather owners that they could find as soon as they'd created the new line set.

I'm pretty sure that Apex is doing the same thing with the Flik Lite/UL lines discussed in the other thread (and their recent service bulletin).

Yup, the feather changed basically the day that marty heard about this accident. I have to assume that this is also the reason that the service bulletin for apex only covers canopies that were produced before the approximate date of the incident. Not sure why they didnt recall the other canopies before that if they changed the lineset, but I guess it was an isolated incident that was not on their product, so probably felt the recall wasnt needed at that time.