DEADLY PLUNGE
Alberta Mounties investigating BASE jumper’s death.
On Saturday, an upbeat Gabriel Hubert went on Facebook to post a positive message about his life: “Sun is shining … going wingsuiting … Thanks life.”
At about 9:30 the next morning, Hubert and two companions jumped from Ha Ling Peak, near Canmore, Alta. The landing area was about 850 metres down, said Peter Kozak, a close friend of Hubert’s.
His wingsuited companions landed safely, but Hubert hit the trees without his parachute opening. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The only thing we have an understanding of is that his parachute did not deploy,” RCMP Sgt. Ryan Currie said Monday. “I cannot say for certain if it was human error or an equipment malfunction.”
Hubert, a welder, lived on an acreage outside of Edmonton with his wife and two young children, Kozak said.
A few weeks earlier, Hubert had successfully performed a wingsuit jump off the same peak with Kozak’s girlfriend.
Kozak watched them land safely. Their specialized outfits had fabric stitched between the arms and body that increases a jumper’s surface area and allows a user to fly impressive horizontal distances at a slower rate of descent.
“It was all safe. There were no scary moments or any of that. He was just generally stoked about the whole thing and wanted to do it again, which is why he ended up going again this weekend and then it didn’t end up so well,” Kozak said Monday.
Hubert travelled all over Canada and around the world to BASE (the term stands for buildings, antennas, spans and Earth) jump, including Malaysia, Switzerland and Norway, Kozak said.
He had completed hundreds of BASE jumps and several thousand skydives. He also practised wingsuit skydiving ( jumping out of a plane wearing one of the suits) for several years.
“(Hubert’s death is) hitting everybody pretty hard,” Kozak said.
“He was always fun, always outgoing and energetic, and generally high on life. Everyone is going to miss him a lot. It’s a real big loss to our group of friends. He was a great guy.”
While parachutists experimented with wings as early as the 1930s and in the 1960s, commercial wingsuits were not developed until the late 1990s in Europe.
Several companies now sell the suits — sometimes referred to as flying squirrel or birdman suits — for $700 US to $1,800 US. Wearers can attain speeds of more than 160 kilometres per hour.
Last month, two jumpers in Yosemite National Park in California were killed instantly when they attempted to zoom through a notch in a ridgeline and slammed into a rocky outcropping.
“It’s an inherently dangerous thing because if you stayed home and sat on your couch and watched TV all day, you’re never going to die in a wingsuit BASE jumping accident, but if you’re into that kind of stuff, there are a lot of things you can do to make it safer,” said Kozak, also an experienced skydiver and BASE jumper.
Those safety measures include planning, training , progressing to more difficult jumps with experience, having proper weather conditions, proper equipment, and going with people you know who have jumped before.
Hubert was planning to travel to Europe this summer to BASE jump and was organizing an event for BASE jumpers in British Columbia.
Kozak described Hubert as the type of guy “who’d give the shirt off (his) back.”
Some of Hubert’s friends changed their Facebook profile pictures to a black square.
“This is truly a sad day for our community, I have lost a friend, mentor and roommate,” Lance Lefebvre wrote on Facebook.
Police say they are continuing to investigate Hubert’s death with the Calgary Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.
Currie said the practice is not illegal and is quite common in the area.
“Ha Ling Peak is actually a fairly accessible mountain. A lot of people do hike the trail up the backside to reach the peak,” he said.
“A lot of people do use that area for BASE jumping with wingsuits and parachutes. It’s common for people to use it, but not common for us to have accidents of this sort.”
Everyone is going to miss him a lot … He was a great guy