The final moments of a base jumper before she tragically plunged to her death from a peak in Yosemite National Park were captured on camera.
Jan Davis, hailing from Santa Barbara, was one of the individuals who jumped off El Capitan to demonstrate that base jumping could be conducted safely.
This jump was organized in response to the death of a previous jumper who had successfully parachuted off the rock formation but drowned in the river below while attempting to evade park rangers in June 1999.
In October 1999, five jumpers participated in the pre-arranged protest, with Davis—a seasoned parachutist—being the fourth to leap.
The agreement among the five jumpers was to land in a designated area where park rangers would arrest them and confiscate their equipment.
However, when Davis jumped from El Capitan, her parachute failed to deploy, causing the 60-year-old to fall 3,200 feet to her death.
Associated Press photographer Paul Sakuma told the Los Angeles Times at the time: “The first three were beautiful. And then she jumped.
“Everybody thought it was OK, and then people said, ‘Open up! Open up!’”
Scott Gediman, a park spokesperson, said: “They agreed ahead of time to land in a designated area, allow themselves to be arrested, forfeit their equipment.
“We give them a citation for illegal air delivery and the US magistrate sets the fine, traditionally about $2,000.”
Witnesses noted that Davis did not use her own gear during the jump because she didn’t want it confiscated upon landing.
This different system for activating the parachute was not something she was familiar with, and in base jumping, there isn’t time to activate a backup chute.
Davis’ death was witnessed by her husband, Tom Sanders, who ‘slumped onto his camera in grief after she fell’, according to the LA Times.
Discussing his loss with CBS in 2000, Sanders said: “I saw her exit. I wasn’t concerned for her safety. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous. But there are jumps that I worried a lot about. But this is a very, very forgiving BASE jump. And yet, she died there.”
He continued: “As far as I could tell, she looked, she had (a) good, stable exit. There was never any tumbling. And she just continued to fall, and fall, and fall.
“But when she continued to fall, and once I saw the trees come into frame, I knew it was too late.
“It was awful. I lost my best friend.”