A Salt Lake City man was fined $5,000 for BASE jumping from the Great White Throne at Zion National Park/NPS file

A Salt Lake City, Utah, man was fined $5,000 and banned from entering Zion National Park for two years following his BASE jumping escapades in the park.

On Saturday, March 28, Zion rangers received an anonymous tip that a group of three was planning to BASE jump off of either the Great White Throne or Cable Mountain. Rangers staked out these locations and observed one individual jump from the Great White Throne. This person, identified as Marshall Miller, of Salt Lake City was apprehended later that night after initially evading rangers. Miller had also been a person of interest in a BASE jumping incident that took place during the government shutdown in January of 2018.

Miller ​pled guilty to jumping from the feature known as the Great White Throne, according to a park release.  He also confirmed his involvement in jumping off Lady Mountain in January of 2018 and pled guilty to this incident as well. The court ordered a $5,000 fine and a two-year ban from Zion. 

Additionally, Miller was charged with violating a climbing closure of the Great White Throne. The Great White Throne climbing routes have been closed since March 1 to all visitors due to nesting peregrine falcons. Closures are implemented due to the falcons' sensitivity to disturbance during the nesting season. If disturbed, the nesting pair may abandon their nest site and not nest again until the following year.

On the evening that Miller BASE jumped from the Great White Throne, he was wearing a wingsuit that allowed him to glide a distance before deploying his parachute and landing in the area below Angels Landing. The cliff face below Angles Landing is a known California condor nesting area.

On September 25, 2019, California condor chick #1000 took its first flight from its nest on the cliffs below Angels Landing, becoming the first wild-hatched chick to successfully fledge within Zion National Park since recovery efforts began in the late 1990s and likely the first in Zion in over 100 years.

“BASE jumping near nesting falcons and condors increases the chances of these parents being displaced or flushed from their nest or roost site which will increase the nest’s vulnerability to predators and could potentially result in nest failure,” said Janice Stroud-Settles, a park biologist.

BASE jumping is illegal in all national parks. ​Since 2013, the Zion National Park Search and Rescue Team has recovered two bodies related to BASE jumping in the park.

“BASE jumping is an extremely dangerous sport,” said Zion Chief Ranger Daniel Fagergren. “When a fatality occurs, the search and rescue team often has to manage an additional amount of risk while recovering the body from the extreme vertical terrain. We would like to thank the United States Attorney's Office in Saint George, Utah for their support in prosecuting this important case.”