West Va. Bridge Day Tragedy Kills Jumper

I rafted the rapids on the New River in the early 1990s. Great trip, until the raft's pinhole leak affected the steering capability. Huh. Wish the guide has listened to me when I pointed the leak out before we left. Still, he was the one who was all banged up.

It's a terrific raft ride along rapids under the New River Gorge Bridge. It's a great view down from the bridge, and up from the water!

But not when something like this happens: BRIDGE DAY TRAGEDY

Brian Lee Schubert, 66, of Alta Loma, Calif., died in the 11:45 a.m. mishap when his parachute opened too late and he hit the river, authorities said. Schubert was described as an experienced jumper with numerous prior jumps. In 1966, he and a friend became the first people to jump from El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot-tall rock formation in California’s Yosemite National Park.

It was the first BASE jumping death at Bridge Day since 1987 and the third since the event started in 1980.

[Note: revised, added a story quote, Dec 2008.]


- Jonny O