Squamish resident dies in speed-flying incident on Stawamus Chief

WATCH: Squamish resident Kyle MacDonald-Wolochatiuk has been killed in an extreme sports incident on the Stawamus Chief. Julia Foy reports.

A Squamish resident has been killed in a speed-flying incident on the Stawamus Chief.

Forty-year-old Kyle MacDonald-Wolochatiuk, died on Sunday while taking part in the extreme sport; which is similar to paragliding, except the wings used in the activity are smaller. It combines paraponting, paragliding, parachuting, and skiing to create the sport and is done by launching from a slope, with the wing overhead.

The BC Coroner’s Service says MacDonald-Wolochatiuk died after he encountered problems during a speed-flying run just after 6 p.m. Sunday. He launched from the First Peak of the Stawamus Chief in Stawamus Chief Provincial Park.

“As a result, everything then went wrong. He lost complete control of the chute and fell all the way to the bottom, which was probably a distance of about 500 metres.”

Several witnesses were in the area at the time and called 9-1-1, but MacDonald-Wolochatiuk died at the scene.

He and his wife, originally from Ontario, have been living in Squamish for a number of years. There are reports his wife is due to give birth in the next few days.

This is not the first speed-flying death in Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. In 2013, 36-year-old Jeff Bertoia, who was also an experienced speed-flyer, fell to his death from Mount Habrich.