BASE jumper found dead after 3-day recovery effort on Mt. Baring

The body of a 40-year-old BASE jumper was found after a three-day recovery effort on the north face of Mt. Baring, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) announced.

At approximately 7 p.m. on Aug. 19, search and rescue (SAR) deputies with SCSO responded to an unresponsive BASE jumper who jumped from the 6,127-foot summit of Mt. Baring.

BASE jumper found dead at Mt. Baring

A fellow jumper, who jumped shortly after the individual, heard a crash and spotted the victim’s open parachute near the 4,000-foot level, but the second jumper was unable to see the individual.

SAR and the Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue (SCVSAR) conducted a “complex and highly technical” recovery operation over the course of three days. The victim was found dead in an extremely steep and hazardous area of Mt. Baring’s north face. SCSO noted direct access to the individual was impossible and required a carefully coordinated effort amongst multiple specialized teams.

An SCSO Air Support Unit began the operation by using a SnoHawk1 to search the north face of the mountain. The next morning, an in-depth aerial search led to the victim’s parachute being found around the 4,150-foot level. This confirmed the need for a technical ground recovery.

Everett Mountain Rescue and the Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team aided in the mission by planning and executing the recovery. A SnoHawk10 was sent to a staging point approximately 600 feet above the victim’s location due to the vertical drop and remote area he was in.

Over the course of several hours, crews rappelled down the steep terrain, installed anchors into the rocks, and worked to prepare the victim for aerial extraction. Rockfall hazards required careful planning and rope management for crews to extract the victim safely.

An Air Support Unit coordinated a long line recovery that was approximately 800 feet long, the longest operation flown by the Air Support Unit to date. The precise extraction lifted the individual away from the cliff face and safely lowered the victim onto a landing area near the base of Mt. Baring.

The victim’s body was then extracted from the location and flown to Skykomish Airfield, where the Snohomish County Medical Examiner took custody of it. The medical examiner will provide identification and determine the cause and manner of death of the victim.

“Without the technical skill and coordination of these teams, such a recovery would not have been possible in the dangerous terrain of Mt. Baring,” SCSO stated.

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