Search off for base jumper’s body

RCMP have called off a search to recover an Australian adventure tourist, who was killed when he jumped off Mount Kiguti near Clyde River last month.

Jim Mitchell, 34, leapt from Mount Kiguti to his death on May 8.

“During a BASE jump from the mountain, Mr. Mitchell experienced difficulties and made contact with the mountain,” a June 9 RCMP press release says.

But the harsh weather conditions, combined with the rough terrain of the Sam Ford Fiord area, have made it impossible to recover Mitchell’s body without endangering the lives of others, police said.

Mitchell was an experienced base-jumper in what’s considered to be one of the world’s most extreme sports— jumping off natural or artificial objects with a parachute.

The “base” in base jumping is actually an acronym which stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which base jumpers leap from: B- for buildings, A- for antennae towers, S- for spans of bridges and E- for earth features.

Mitchell is survived by a wife and infant child, to whom the RCMP sent condolences.