BASE jumper critically injured in Kananaskis after parachute fails

A BASEjumper is in critical condition after he struck a cliff in the Cline River area of Kananaskis Country on Tuesday.

The man's parachute didn't completely deploy after he made contact with the cliff on the way down, according to the Kananaskis Country Public Safety Section.

Rocky Mountain House paramedics got the man stable and called for an air rescue.

Canmore-based Alpine Helicopters flew the man out of the area and handed him off to a STARS air ambulance crew, which took him to the trauma centre at the Foothills hospital in Calgary.

BASE jumping is similar to sky diving, but a person jumps from a building or cliffrather than an airplane. BASE stands forbuilding, antenna, span andearth.