A woman found herself dangling by her parachute from a lamp post in Squamish after attempting a base jump from the top of the Stawamus Chief Tuesday morning.
Video of the woman’s imperfect landing ended up on social media, showing emergency crews mobilizing at the lamp post in order to get the woman back down to safety.
Squamish Deputy Fire Chief Aaron Foote said the woman was dangling 20 feet in the air from the post on Highway 99 near the base of the Chief when crews responded just before 10 a.m.
Foote added the woman had aborted a landing in the parking lot due to winds pushing her toward the highway.
The woman was not injured in the incident and was safely brought down a ladder by fire crews.
Tyler Gillies, president of the West Coast Soaring Club, was quick to correct initial reports that the woman was a paraglider, saying instead she was a base jumper.
“The harness is a dead giveaway,” Gillies said Thursday. “Base jumpers wear almost like a belt, like a climbing harness. That’s why she’s hanging straight down. If she was a paraglider, she’d look like she was sitting in a chair or couch.”
Gillies said a pilot chute is also visible in the video, which paragliders don’t use as their chutes are inflated before they leave the ground.
According to Foote, this is the third incident involving people jumping off the Chief that Squamish Fire Rescue has responded to this year — all of them from within the last two weeks.
On Aug. 29, a 40-year-old man was sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries after falling into the log boom area of the blind channel portion of Howe Sound while paragliding.
WATCH: (Aug. 24, 2017) Paraglider rescued in dangerous operation
The man died from his injuries in hospital two days later.
Two climbers have also died after falling from the Chief this year, with another one suffering injuries nearly a month ago.
Gillies said his community has been shaken by the paraglider’s death last month, and says more education around safety may be needed.
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