Woman Identified As BASE Jumper Who Died Near Stevens Pass

A woman died Sunday while BASE jumping near Stevens Pass, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

A Snohomish County Sheriff's spokesperson says the victim's parachute did not open while jumping from Baring Mountain near Barclay Lake, off Highway 2. Her family disagreed and said her parachute did open, but would not say what happened.

The woman was identified on Monday as Marianne Bertucchi and this was her first cliff jump.

She had nearly 50 BASE jumps from the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls, ID.

BASE jumping is the act of parachuting from a high structure or cliff.

"BASE" is an acronym that stands for the four categories of objects from which one jumps; (B)uilding, (A)ntenna, (S)pan (a bridge, arch or dome), and (E)arth (a cliff or other natural formation).

Sources told KIRO 7 that Bertucchi was an extremely accomplished and licensed skydiver at Skydive Snohomish where she made countless jumps at Harvey Field.

Bertucchi was the first base jumper to die on Baring Mountain, since a 33-year-old man fell 1,000 feet, onto a ledge in the very same location back in 2004.