Squamish residents who look to the skies this weekend might be able to catch a glimpse of adventurer and television personality Donald Schultz or not.
The Discovery Channel personality appeared to be backtracking a bit on the statement he made on May 26, saying that he may just come to Squamish to visit friends and hang out.
"If the weather's not perfect, the jump may not even happen," he said. "I've never done the West Coast before and if it doesn't work out, I want to still come up there and hike around The Chief. I'm super excited about coming to Squamish."
Schultz, who has made more than 200 BASE jumps in a specially designed wingsuit, also wanted to point out that he doesn't want to disrespect the BASE jumping community in Squamish by over-hyping his leap.
"I know that it's a small, tight-knit community and if we do this jump, we want to make it as safe as possible and be responsible," he said. "I think BASE jumping is a huge industry and as an industry it would be a great way to get people to come to Squamish and not only participate in the sport, but people could come and watch it as well. The Chief being closed to all BASE jumpers would be terrible."
He also pointed out that if he goes through with the jump that he will inform local authorities that the jump is a go.
"I plan to be respectful of Canadian laws," he said. "I don't want to come in here and act obnoxious. If I do it I will be professional about it but I don't want it to be a big deal if I don't jump. It could be basically impossible because of the weather when I'm down there, I might just go there for the hike."
Schultz pointed out that the main reason he's coming to B.C. is to raise awareness about a cobra conservation project that he's working on in his native South Africa. He told The Chief he planned to meet with one of the project's main sponsors, Red Dragon Apparel, and was told by several different friends to come check out Squamish while he's in the area.
"Throughout my career I've always tried to help make the animals that aren't so cool become more cool," he said. "We're going to be tracking cobras with a GPS and people will be able to see them on a real live map online. We don't really know what cobras do all the time and this could help us figure that out."
Schultz was to arrive in Squamish on Thursday (June 2) and plans to wait for the perfect opportunity to potentially jump until Saturday (June 4). Stay tuned to The Chief for further updates on Schultz's Squamish adventure.
