A Salt Lake man was cited for BASE jumping off the Great White Throne at Zion National Park/NPS file

Editor's note: This updates with the formation that the man jumped from.

A Utah man was cited for BASE jumping in Zion National Park this past weekend, and he and his two friends were also cited for illegally camping in the park and violating a raptor nesting closure.

“Even though we are not charging entrance fees, law enforcement rangers are still patrolling,” said Zion Chief Ranger Daniel Fagergren. “Park rules are still in effect and violators will be cited.”

Zion has remained open during the coronavirus pandemic, although most visitor facilities have shut down. The man, whose identity had not been released, was spotted jumping off the Great White Throne, a towering sandstone monolith in Zion Canyon, on Saturday and was cited by rangers on Sunday.

BASE jumping has been a somewhat popular, though illegal and sometimes deadly, pastime in national parks. The well-known climber Dean Potter died in a BASE jumping event at Yosemite National Park in May 2015 when he and a friend attempted a wingsuit flight from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot point on the south rim of Yosemite Valley. 

In February 2014 a woman died in a BASE jumping incident in Zion when she jumped from Mount Kinesava but her parachute failed to properly open and she fell an estimated 2000 feet to her death. A month later another individual died in a BASE jumping incident in the park.