All About That BASE: Jumper Survives Near-Fatal Fall, Says He Will Leap Again
A BASE jumper who survived a disaster when he leaped off a 300-foot cliff in Arizona and shattered his heels and fractured an ankle and his hips says he will jump again.
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Landon Dirnberger, 39, jumped off a cliff in Echo Canyon Park near Phoenix, Arizona, Tuesday when the near-fatal plunge sent him to the hospital. During his free fall, he smacked into the side of Camelback Mountain.
Fortunately for Dirnberger, he landed next to an off-duty fireman.
He told KPHO: “When the parachute opened, it opened 180-degrees so instead of flying away from cliff, I was flying toward the cliff and didn’t have time to turn right or left."
Dirnberger, of Casa Grande, Arizona, said he has completed more than 250 jumps in his life.
“There are 100 different reasons it could have happened and when it opened, something just wasn’t right,” he told KPHO.
BASE jumping is the extreme sport that stands for “building, antenna, span, and Earth,” and involves leaping off cliffs, mountains and skyscrapers.
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Doctors say it is going to take Dirnberger six to eight months to recover and he plans on getting back out on the side of a cliff to leap off once he is ready.
He said: “I'd rather be jumping than sitting in the hospital but I'm not saying I'm going to break out of hospital ad go jumping when I am better I'll go."
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