Las Vegas man dies in BASE jumping accident in Elko County

A Las Vegas man was killed in a BASE jumping accident in Elko County, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

David Wessels, 38, had “a California driver’s license but a Las Vegas address,” according to chief deputy coroner Nick Czegledi. The coroner’s office is still investigating, Czegledi said Thursday, but the cause will likely be ruled blunt force trauma.

Wessels leaped from the east side of Lamoille Canyon on Tuesday wearing a “wingsuit” and parachute, the sheriff’s office said.

“Several of the base jumpers had conversations the night before and that morning about the elevated dangers of jumping off a certain area due to the fact Lamoille Canyon is known to have dramatically shifting upslope and downslope air currents along with the sheer rock cliffs in the area,” the sheriff’s office said in a Wednesday news release.

Wessels was “unable to outfly the talus” and crashed into rocks near the bottom of the cliff, the news release said.

It was the second fatality this year involving BASE jumping, an extreme sport that derives its name from an acronym for the types of structures its adherents leap from: building, antenna, span (such as a bridge) and earth (such as a cliff).

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.