A base-jumper lost his life on Friday August 15 after a jump from the Eiger crest in Grindelwald (BE), the ATS announced on Saturday. The 34 -year -old Bernese was found dead by the intervention forces who flew over the premises of the accident. An investigation was opened, specifies the Bernese police on Saturday in a statement.
This news comes only three weeks after an American also lost life after a serious accident in basement base, in the region of the Morcles tooth. During his jump on July 20, the 33 -year -old tourist, visibly equipped with a Wing follows and destabilized by a burst of wind, had hit the mountain a hundred meters below. On the spot, the emergency services could only note his death, said the press release from the Vaud cantonal police.
A few days earlier, it was another Wing follower, a 50 -year -old Italian, who lost his life in the Diablerets region (VD). The man, domiciled in Valais, had gone to the top of the red sex with three other followers of this sport. He hit a rocky wall and died on the spot, said the Vaud police.
Improve coordination
Getting into a vacuum, equipped with a parachute or a combination equipped with integrated “wings”: discipline is considered one of the most dangerous of extreme sports and as such, regularly arouses the debate. In Switzerland in particular, a predilection field for the skidors who run from abroad to taste the great dizziness. At the risk of giving their lives there. Between 2000 and 2022, there are approximately 80 people who died or always missing in the Alps – particularly in the Bernese Oberland and its cliffs of up to 400 meters high, a “death valley” as it is nicknamed which has no less than ten jump sites.
Base-jumpers are both a source of fascination for tourists and objects of criticism. Already in 2019, the federal parliamentarian Margret Kiener Nellen filed a motion asking to prohibit the practice of the Jump base and the Wingsuit flight in Switzerland. The government replied in the negative, believing “that in absolute terms, the number of people who died by practicing it is low compared to other leisure activities such as mountaineering”. On the side of the Swiss Accident Prevention Bureau (BPA), it is estimated that in Switzerland, one in 60 basemates is the victim of a fatal accident each year. In France, Chamonix simply decided to ban extreme sport in 2016 following the large number of accidents, before reintroducing it five years later subject to better regulations.
Aware of this bad reputation, base-jump followers, including sportsman Géraldine Fasnacht (who tells her report to the void and her combination of white and pink Wingsuit in her autobiography The woman birdreleased this summer), are always organizing the practice, self-regulated, in order to minimize the risks. In early August, the Swiss Base Association organization (SBA) and the Air-Glaciers company announced that it has teamed up to launch an application aimed at strengthening the safety of amateurs that rush into the Lauterbrunnen valley. Several incidents between base-jump followers and helicopters took place in this very popular valley.
The application must participate in improving coordination between sports enthusiasts and helicopter pilots, has relayed the ATS. Jumper bases can now request an authorization before setting off in a vacuum via this application. If the airspace is free, they get the green light for a period of two minutes. Until now, authorization was obtained by phone, which could represent up to 200 calls per day. The application thus makes it possible to avoid potential dangers and guarantee a safe coexistence around the Heliport de Lauterbrunnen.