Basejumper.com - archive

Hey everyone,

I thought id post this as the media has been all over this calling it a base incident.

Many of you have probably met Walden Grindle, he was an active jumper for the last 7 years here in NorCal, Europe, and at the last KL. He died on sunday after a speedflying crash. He was able to call his wife and say that he thought he broke his hip and activate his SPOT. A half hour passed from the time of the last phone call to the time a heli crew arrived and he had already passed. There have been many inaccurate reports that this was a BASE incident, and is has been all over foxnews, cnn, msn, ect, but it was in no way related to BASE. Move this thread if needed, just wanted to clarify the situation.

For those who didnt know Walden, he was one of the nicest guys youll ever meet, and a very experienced jumper. The NorCal crew will miss him immensely.

Charley

Walden was a great guy. He'll be missed.

I was surprised that the media led this headline with the words "BASE jumper." There was even a discussion of wingsuit flight in the AP article, which I thought was even more misleading. I guess that tells us something about how the public and media perceive us.

I find it interesting how they try to reference every sport that involves a canopy in one of the articles i found.

Are you able to PM any details about the incident. There's not a lot of information about about Speedfly incidents and its good to try to learn when they happen.

I understand if not. I'm sorry for you loss.

tom

I feel like I was just punched in the gut Charley.
I helped Walden in Yosemite one year (with Fernando... RIP),
another year at the Turkey Boogie he had a 180 with line twists off the crown and calmly managed it and landed on the road.

Saw him out at Burning Man this year jumping with Burning Sky which he helped manage. I went there for a firefly jump on Friday (couldn't afford jump tickets this year)

I really wanted to get a sky jump with him across the city one day.

Take care Walden. Keep Burning bright in the Burning Sky.

 
I didn't know Walden but the mountain he was flying is in my back yard.
I have flown it in a hang glider numerous times. The day he attempted to speed fly it was the day after a cold front had passed through...a very turbulent and unstable day.

The rescuers said he impacted near a climbing rock on the south side. That would have been on the lee side of a big mountain. most likely he got smacked by the lee side rotor as the take off would have been to the northwest.

That mountain smacked me with CAT(clear air turbulence) one day that slammed me into the aluminum keel of my glider and almost knocked me out.

Flying close to any mountain should only be done in calm conditions and never on the lee side.

condolences to family and friends

BSBD

hangdiver