Arctic Search for Australian BASE Jumper's Body Called Off

Nunavut RCMP have called off efforts to recover the body of an Australian man who was killed while parachute jumping off a cliff on Baffin Island earlier this month.

James Michael Mitchell, 34, died on May 8 while attempting a BASE jump from a 1,000-metre mountain cliff called Kiguti in the Sam Ford Fiord area, about 100 kilometres northwest of Clyde River.

BASE jumping refers to an activity in which participants jump from tall buildings, antennas, spans or steep earth structures, parachuting or gliding to the ground.

A search and rescue team has made several attempts to recover Mitchell’s body, but RCMP Sgt. Jimmy Akavak said bad weather has hampered their efforts, and they have now run out of options.

“The team members that have been searching have basically exhausted their efforts,” Akavak told CBC News on Tuesday.

“They have a general area on the mountain where the body may have landed. We had reports early in the search that they were hampered by weather and stuff like that.”

To date, searchers have found only a piece of Mitchell’s helmet and his camera equipment, police say.

Akavak said the cliff’s steep height and rough terrain mean there is no safe way for rescue crews to reach the scene. Blood is visible on the mountain where Mitchell died, Akavak added.

Nunavut has been a popular place for BASE jumpers and other adventurers over the past 10 years.

Mitchell was part of the Baffin BASE 2010 expedition, which brought experienced BASE jumpers from around the world — they are also paragliders, skydivers, skiers and climbers — to the cliffs around Sam Ford Fiord.

Although the Clyde River RCMP detachment was notified of Mitchell’s death on May 9, the RCMP did not publicly announce it until this week.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/05/18/arctic-base-jump-search.html#ixzz0oO0KtpgG

CBC News

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