No camera found in fatal BASE jump

What exactly went wrong when a man tried unsuccessfully to BASE jump off Mount Siyeh’s steep north face in Glacier National Park may never be known.

Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said that rangers who recovered Beau Weiher’s body on Sept. 14 did not find a video camera that would have given clues to his death. Many BASE jumpers wear small cameras on their helmets to record the jump experience.

Weiher, of Missoula, attempted to jump off the north face of the 10,014 peak when something went wrong on Sept. 13. Family members called Park rangers after he didn’t return from his solo journey, and a search began.

Weiher’s body was found by the Two Bear Air Helicopter the next day at about 6 p.m. His parachute had deployed, but he didn’t land successfully.

Weiher had fallen about 1,500 to 2,000 feet, the Park said at the time. Siyeh’s north face is about 3,000 vertical feet high from Siyeh Glacier to the summit.

James Kauffman, 40, of Marion, tried to make the same jump in September 1997. He hit a wall and stopped on a ledge about 400 feet down.

Kauffman survived the incident with only minor injuries and was rescued by ranger Charlie Logan, who flew in by helicopter. BASE jumping is illegal in the Park. Kauffmann was cited and paid about $9,000 in fines and restitution.

BASE jumping is an acronym used by parachutists that stands for “building, antennae, spans and earth.”