Woman receives Life Saving Award for rescuing BASE jumper in Moab

GRAND COUNTY, Utah — A woman was presented with a Life Saving Award for her efforts in helping rescue a BASE jumper who crashed into a cliff in Moab late last year.

River Barry accepted the honor Monday — nearly six months after the incident happened.

“The Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue had plans to rappel roughly 300 feet down to perform a rescue. This operation would have taken more time — time that the BASE jumper may or may not have had, due to the circumstances of dangling on the cliff face. Without River Barry’s selfless act, this incident could have ended much more differently, with the potential for loss of life. And for such a brave act, I’m going to award you our Life Saving Award,” Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins said during the award ceremony.

“When you’re in that moment, all you do is do. There’s no time for thinking,” Barry replied back.

Video of that Nov. 26 crash went viral, with people recreating in the area watching the horrifying accident unfold during the annual Turkey Boogie BASE jumping event.

The man, who was from Australia, crashed into the side of a 450-foot cliff shortly after jumping. As he plummeted down, his parachute snagged on a rock outcropping, leaving him dangling 80 to 100 feet above the ground.

A bystander — later identified as River Barry — quickly jumped into action. Barry, an expert climber, grabbed rock climbing gear out of her van and immediately started making her way up to the jumper.

“I was looking up and I was just in absolute terror, just terrified,” Barry said to KSL TV in early December 2022. “Everyone was just like, ‘This guy’s going to fall any second.’”

Rescue team, bystander recount daring Moab rescue after BASE jumper cliff crash

Once she reached the base, she looked up and could see a crack shooting straight up to where the guy was hanging.

“I was like, ‘I know I can get up that,’” she said, surveying the unclimbed cliff face.

After making it up and safely reaching the BASE jumper, she said she got up to eye level with him and they made eye contact. She talked to him and started to work on placing protection pieces around him.

“I was able to place around three solid protection pieces, that I was like, I’m going to build an anchor here. So, I built an anchor, got him clipped in,” she said.

After climbing above him and securing the man came the moment of truth as Barry began to cut the parachute off.

“Like, OK here we go! You know? And I just clipped them,” Barry recounted, lifting her hand up in a cutting motion. “And the weight transferred really flawlessly to me, and then we were able to lower to the ground.”

After rappelling to the ground, the man was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

Barry said she was just waiting to get her climbing gear back when people began to come up to her.

“Once all the hugs started coming, I was just like, oh. I’m really getting the gravity of the situation and like, wow — this is actually kind of a big deal,” she said.