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By Alessia Proietti

July 20: Base jumping accident

Renowned central Alberta skydiver remembered for living life to the fullest

Jul 31, 2022 | 10:00 AM

Red Deer born and internationally known skydiver Chris Nielsen will be remembered as the man who accomplished a goal many do not: living life to the fullest.

He died July 20, nine days after his 33^rd birthday, in a base jumping accident at Parriott Mesa Summit in Utah after a line that twisted in his parachute led a collision. Base jumping is an extreme sport consisting of jumping off buildings, antennae, spans, and cliffs, among other things, and then releasing a parachute to descend.

“Going through all his stuff, we found his autobiography from high school and that was one of his paragraphs in there; his philosophy of life was to ‘live life to the fullest because why not?’” shared sister Julie Grobe. “He said there’s risk, but you know that and if you’re doing what you love, then it doesn’t matter.”

Growing up in Sylvan Lake, his family says he was scared of everything, from heights to needles to dogs — until he was scared of nothing. It took a skateboard, they say, which led to an addiction of extreme sports and Nielsen becoming an adrenaline junkie, thriving on the compliments and reputation of being a “total badass.”

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“As a kid, he was relentless. If you told him no, he was going to find a way to do what he wanted to do, and how he wanted to do it,” she said.

It was the passing of his father in 2010, Grobe believes, that brought her brother to finding an outlet in skydiving. On a 2011 trip to Panama, he got his skydiving license, progressing quickly and gaining multiple instructors’ licenses, including one for base jumping.

The daredevil worked in Innisfail and Golden, British Columbia, before moving to Arizona six years ago for a full-time position at Skydive Buckeye.

“Everybody says ‘Oh my god, we had so many adventures. We had so much fun with Chris.’ He was always happy, even his work says he never complained,” said his mother, Becky Nielsen.

“He was excellent with clients. It would cost $150 or more to skydive, and they were tipping him almost the same amount sometimes.”

His long-time skydiving friend of 10 years, Steve Barahona, a firefighter and paramedic for the City of Red Deer, echoed this statement.

Having met at Alberta Skydive Central near Innisfail, the duo took their passion to the world’s most exotic locations, attending events like Pepe’s Island Boogie in Panama, where they skydived for seven straight days.

Barahona was drawn to Nielsen’s fearless “everything is going to be fine” mentality.

“He had a very infectious personality. Anyone who actually met him, he’d make you laugh. He basically made any situation easier, that might have been tense or scary. He had this demeanour about him that would just comfort you with his personality and his humour,” he said.

(L-R) Steve Barahona and Chris Nielsen. (Supplied)

Nielsen had about 9,000 dives and 400 base jumps under his belt and was very safety-first.

Having seen the aftermath video from his passing, Barahona admits he couldn’t see any errors in Nielsen’s advanced maneuver and believes the accident was a fluke.

Sharing his technical abilities through videography, he dived out of air balloons, planes, and helicopters, and base jumped using wing-suits known as ‘squirrel suits.’

As a result, he was noticed by many in the industry, including American stunt performer Travis Pastrana, who asked Nielsen to skydive in for his birthday party one year in the Dominican Republic.

Nielsen was even a skydiving stuntman for the movie ‘Running with the Devil’ starring Nicolas Cage, and in a commercial for Australian athletic streetwear brand LSKD.

Nielsen was on his way to working with Red Bull for a spring 2023 project, which his mother says the company has talked about dedicating to him in his honour. She says the magazine CanPara, by the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association, has also reached out to publish a piece on him following his passing.

On the ground, his sister says he was a “manchild,” making him a fantastic uncle. A teacher, she said he even visited her Grade 6 science class to help teach about aerodynamics by showing his gear to students.

Although a tragedy, those close to him each said the same thing: they couldn’t see Nielsen go any other way.

“I was just happy that he died doing something that he really loved and that he was passionate about,” said Grobe. “Honestly, I’d be mad if he died in a car accident.”

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The only way to remember the blond-haired, blue-eyed California surfer boy, they say, is through an honourary jum, which is taking place on Tuesday, August 2 at Alberta Skydive Central (Hwy, AB-54) at 4 p.m.

Chris Nielsen was born July 11, 1989.