A BASE jumper was left dangling cliffside in Utah over the weekend after a mishap caused him to crash.
Shocking video shows the terrifying moments a BASE jumper slammed into the side of a Utah cliff before his parachute snagged on a ledge, leaving him dangling in the air.
The video was capture by a family visiting the Kane Creek Canyon in Moab. Mitch Edwards told NBC affiliate KSL that he and his family were driving up the canyon when they saw BASE jumpers parachuting off the top of the cliffs.
“It’s a spectacular canyon with huge, 600- to 700-foot cliffs on both sides," Edwards told the news station.
After witnessing two successful jumps, Edwards said he his 12-year-old son pulled out their phones to record the next jumper. That's when they captured the moment a man leaped from the top and appeared to have been blown by a gust of wind that sent his sailing towards the rock, slamming into the side of the cliff known as the Tombstone.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
"My guess is that he fell close to 100 feet before hitting a ledge, and then that chute snagged on the ledge — miraculously — because on those cliffs, there's really nothing to snag on. And there happened to be a little outcropping there," Edwards said.
Unable to call 911 because he didn't have cellphone service, Edwards said he flagged down a driver that was descending the mountain and asked him to call first responders as soon as his phone had connection.
He said his family waited around for a while to see if emergency crews were responding, but after some time decided to leave because of concern that the parachute wouldn't hold for much longer and he didn't want the three pre-teens he was with to witness an even bigger tragedy.
U.S. & World
Edwards said about an hour later they saw a helicopter arrive and the man being hoisted.
The jumper was airlifted to a nearby hospital in critical condition, according to the Grand County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office credited their ropes team for the rescue and said they had responded to three accidents at that cliff in over a two-day period. BASE jumpers from all over the country were in Moab over the holiday weekend for an annual event called Turkey Boogie.
