Extreme sports enthusiast killed in jump from cliff in Washington, deputies say

An extreme sports enthusiast was killed during a failed BASE jump near Washington’s Mount Baring, according to Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

The man was identified late Wednesday at 23-year-old Jeremiah R. Manners of Bradley Beach, New Jersey, according to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The incident happened around noon Sept. 3 at the Barclay Lake Trailhead in the Wild Sky Wilderness Area, which the U.S. Forest Service says is known for its “steep and rugged” features. The mountain is about a 90-minute drive northeast of Seattle.

“The male was parachuting with a friend near Mount Baring when witnesses observed him hit the side of a mountain before disappearing into the mountain’s steep terrain,” the sheriff’s office said in a Sept. 4 Facebook post.

A search team spotted his parachute later that day on the north face of Mount Baring, but was “unable to gain access to the location due to the dangerous and difficult terrain,” the post said.

“Friday morning, SnoHawk10 (a helicopter) returned and inserted a four-person mountain rescue team to the ground nearby. It took the team several hours to navigate the steep terrain and get to the location of the victim’s parachute,” the release said. “Rescuers located the 23-year-old victim deceased.”

BASE jumping is a “dangerous” variation of skydiving, in which people leap from “buildings, antennas, spans and earth (BASE),” using specially made parachutes to break their fall, Base-jumping.com reports. It is considered “a fringe extreme sport or stunt,” the site says.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office reported Wednesday that Manners died from “multiple blunt force injuries” and it ruled his death was an accident.

This story was originally published September 7, 2020 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Extreme sports enthusiast killed in jump from cliff in Washington, deputies say."