Base Fatality List recorded 548 worldwide deaths since 1981
A 27-year-old Base jumper died Sunday in Utah’s Cache County after his wingsuit failed during a 700-foot jump in a remote mountainous area east of Millville, according to the Cache County sheriff’s office.
Doyle Peck, a Cache County chief sheriff’s deputy, said the jumper was part of a group at a site called Leetham’s Hollow, described by NBC News as having “walls and cliffs not unlike the Grand Canyon’s.” Peck told local reporters that “on today’s jump, something went wrong, and he did not have enough lift with his wingsuit. He impacted the ground at a high rate of speed resulting in his death.”
Search-and-rescue teams were deployed to the hollow Sunday. Crews declared the jumper dead at the scene and helped transport him out of the area, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The Cache County sheriff’s office expressed its “deepest sympathies to the family and friends of this individual,” according to KSL.
Peck said the man had experience in Base jumping and was among a group engaging in the activity, according to NBC News. His identity is being withheld pending family notification.
Sunday’s death occurred several months after two other Base-related fatalities in Utah, including that of the extreme athlete Andy Lewis, who rose to prominence for his 2012 Super Bowl performance with Madonna.
Base is an acronym for “building, antenna, span and earth” — the four objects from which participants can jump. A 2019 National Geographic report referred to wingsuit Base jumping as the world’s “deadliest sport.”
Before Sunday, the Base Fatality List had registered 548 deaths worldwide since the registry started in 1981. There had been 15 deaths so far in 2026, according to the list.