Danny Joe Kregle, a 68-year-old Arizona man, died on Sunday, June 14, 2026, in a BASE jumping accident at Mineral Bottom, a remote canyon area near the Utah-Colorado border outside Moab.
He was strapped in tandem to Andy Lewis, a celebrated extreme athlete and pioneer of the sport, when their parachute failed to fully open after leaping from a 280-foot cliff at a site known as Mary’s Gash.
Both men died before emergency responders could evacuate them from the scene.
Kregle was not a professional daredevil. He was a father, a grandfather, a businessman, and by all accounts a man who embraced life with humor and heart.
His decision to take a tandem BASE jump with Lewis, who ran BASE Jump Moab and regularly guided clients through the experience, spoke to a spirit of adventure that defined him well into his later years.
A Man Who Made People Laugh
Those who knew Danny Kregle remember him most for his warmth and his wit. He was an active presence in the Paradise Valley and Mesa communities in Arizona, where people knew him as someone who could lighten any room.
He loved boxing and traveling, and he carried an enthusiasm for new experiences that never seemed to fade with age.
His family released a statement that painted a picture of a man who treasured the simple joys as much as the grand ones.
One of his most cherished pastimes was performing magic tricks alongside his granddaughter, a ritual that captured something essential about who he was: a man who found genuine delight in making the people around him smile. His granddaughter was the light of his world, his family said, and he was the light of hers.
Sydney Laverty, a relative who spoke to the Times-Independent after his death, described Kregle as an accomplished businessman with a wonderful sense of humor, always searching for a way to get a laugh out of the people around him.
The Jump That Claimed Him
BASE jumping, even in its most guided and controlled form, carries substantial risk. Studies have estimated that it is five to eight times more dangerous than skydiving.
Tandem jumps, where an inexperienced participant is harnessed to a trained guide beneath a single parachute, are generally considered the lower-risk entry point into the sport, but they are far from without danger. On that Sunday morning, something went wrong that neither experience nor preparation could prevent.
Lewis had built a reputation over the years as one of the most skilled and daring figures in the sport. His guiding company had taken many clients through the same type of jump Kregle took that morning.
The accident was not the result of negligence or recklessness on its face but rather a reminder of the unforgiving nature of the sport itself.
Danny Joe Kregle leaves behind two daughters and one granddaughter. His family has asked that he be remembered not for the manner of his death but for the fullness of the life he led.
He was a man who traveled widely, laughed freely, loved his family deeply, and in his final chapter, stepped off a cliff in the Utah desert with the sun rising over the canyon, chasing one more extraordinary experience.
