Roland "Slim" Simpson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roland Simpson (1969-2004) was an experienced and well known BASE jumper with over 1,000 jumps. He was born in Australia in 1969. Since 1993 he has been a huge inspiration for all in the sport of BASE jumping. A true tandem master, and later, when the wingsuit was developed, one of the instructors in using such a suit. In 1998 he became the US national exit style champion; the next year the US national champ.[citation needed]
[edit] BASE life
Since 1993 he was well known as an experienced BASE jumper. He won many awards and has done many successful leaps including a jump from Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, Troll Wall in Norway, and the Cave of the Swallows in Mexico. He even participated in making the world's record in jumping from fixed objects on 3 July 2004 when 30 jumpers leapt at the same time.
On 25 April 2001 in Garie Beach, Australia, he had a tragic accident in which he was badly injured. His injuries were three broken vertebrae, two broken femurs, a broken collarbone, a punctured lung, and a smashed pelvis. A year after the accident, he was returned to the sport. He was always active in BASE jumping. Then on 5 October 2004 during Chinese National Day Holiday, a multi-national group of BASE jumpers who were invited by the Shanghai Sports Bureau leapt from the top of the tower. The next day, Roland Simpson leapt from the Jin Mao Building, the tallest skyscraper in China, in a wingsuit and after a good jump and flight, he had a parachute malfunction and crashed on an adjacent building. He went into a coma and died from his injuries in Canberra Hospital at 2:30pm AEST following repatriation on 22 October 2004.
