A 40-year-old man who served as chief executive of a Utah software company and had a significant following on social media fell more than 200 feet to his death on a canyoneering trip to Zion National Park, new information released by park authorities shows.
Justin Bingham, who served as the head of the Lindon City, Utah-based property management software tech company Opiniion, was with a group of three other parkgoers while hiking through the park's Heaps Canyon on Oct. 5.
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The initial report showed that one person in the group, later identified as Bingham, took a misstep and tumbled down into the canyon at approximately 6 p.m. that day. He was pronounced dead before he could be airlifted to a hospital while the other three members of the group were extracted from the canyon without injuries.
'Search and Rescue arrived on scene and rendered emergency medical care'
"After receiving the report of the fall, Zion National Park Technical Search and Rescue Team and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office arrived on scene and rendered emergency medical care," the National Park Service (NPS) said in a statement. "The man was extracted by a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter to a helispot near Watchman Campground, where he received additional aid from Hurricane Valley Fire and Rescue and Intermountain Life Flight."
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The park authorities added, the "rescue team assisted the third with rappelling down the canyon, reaching the ground safely at approximately 2:00 p.m."
Bingham's death sent shockwaves through his community and fellow company leadership released a statement describing him as an "eternal optimist" who died "doing what he loved."
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'Justin's spirit of adventure and dedication to living life fully will be deeply missed'
"His commitment to building meaningful relationships made a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him," the Opiniion team wrote in a statement. "Justin's spirit of adventure and dedication to living life fully will be deeply missed."
Canyoneering, an adventure sport that involves rappelling oneself into and jumping between canyons, is a high-adrenaline activity that many love for the experience but that has also caused a number of deaths in the country's national parks over the years.
In December 2022, a 52-year-old visitor to California's Death Valley National Park suffered a fatal crash during the descent into Mosaic Canyon while in August 2024 three Utah residents drowned in a natural whirlpool they accidentally fell into while rappelling downward into a canyon in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Due to a canyon-like geography that pushes many vistitors to attempt activities like canyoneering and BASE jumps as well as cliff trails full of tripping hazards, Zion National Park has a higher accident rate than many other national parks across the U.S. At one point recording 41 deaths in a single year, Zion once landed in a round-up of the country's most dangerous, alongside other nearby parks like Grand Canyon and Death Valley, which have also seen high numbers of recent casualties, though most of those are from extreme heat.
"Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time," Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said in a statement on Bingham's death.
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