Kelan Dammers
BFL# : 429 (10th of the year)
Name: Kelan Dammers
Date: 5/27/22
Nationality: USA
Location: Sputnik, Walenstadt, CH
Object Type: Earth
COD: impact in flight
Clothes / Suit: Squirrel Freak 2
Gear / Parachute: Adrenaline Hybrid LD3 / OSP
Age: 29
Skydive Experience: 1,300 jumps
BASE Jumps: 180 jumps
WS BASE Experience: 100
Years/Seasons in Base: 7
Time of day: 9:30am
Other factors: —
Exit Altitude: 2180m msl
Conditions: Calm
Wind on exit: Calm
Description:
The day was prefrontal, with the report showing very mild conditions in the morning building to very strong winds around 4:30pm. Kelanand another jumper had shuttled cars to the main landing area very early in the morning to hopefully get two in for the day (they had done three the day prior). Kelan had fallen asleep very early the prior day and was well rested despite the early start.
Upon reaching the summit of Chaserugg, winds were ~10kts over the back (up from the North - ie, where the cable car goes) and the Walenstadt valley was beginning to show very early signs of thermals (light wispy clouds developing and rising up the faces). Kelan and the other jumper walked to exit at a "casual" pace, agreed that the two jump plan was probably no longer in play, and to get to exit to assess if one was going to happen.
Upon reaching exit, conditions were near perfect. No wind up and over the shoulder behind Sputnik, with light thermic updrafts. Thrown grass gently fell down the face. Grass on exit was lightly blowing upward. The first jumper landed without incident, and waited for Kelan, who never arrived. A hiker had heard the impact, and immediately called mountain rescue. After 30mins, the police arrived in the landing area, the first jumper pointed out Kelan's rental car, and the police began opening it to find identification.
Kelan was the second jumper of a two-jumper load. He came to rest near the bottom of the pillar separating the bowl beneath Sputnik from the adjacent bowl, before the grass shelf entrance to the crack. He did not survive impact. I was the next load to exit, and was the first to exit. I saw what looked like a canopy mid-line, with a car and two people, then began to hear a helicopter coming upvalley. I watched the entirety of the recovery.
As Kelan was not wearing a gopro or flysight, and there were no eyewitnesses, the following is not definitive but based upon the inspection of his gear, the descriptions of his injuries from the police, and the location where he came to rest. It is strongly believed that he impacted a tree while inflight along the ridge to jumper's left of Sputnik, prior to making a left turn to overfly the grass toward the tree gates. Flight plans prior to the jump had not been discussed with the other jumper.
On a personal note - I met Kelan years ago at Perris, and I've been jumping with him for the last week as the Lauterbrunnen spring weather has allowed. I found Kelan to be a shy, reserved guy, but after warming up a bit to be just incredibly brilliant, intellectually curious, and deeply empathetic. We had some great conversations on a lot of muddy hikes, and I very much enjoyed the time together. As we both work in tech, the conversations oft drifted into some of the nerdier aspects of flying wingsuits, with significant focus on starts, start arcs, and how to assess an exit. He said he had been spending a lot of time working on his, which I watched several times over multiple days, and which I would describe as nearly perfect. His flights were calculated and technically proficient from exit to landing.
I'm very much going to miss not getting to share more of those hikes with him.
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