American wingsuit flyer dies in crash in Switzerland

BERLIN -- American adventurer Johnny Strange, who scaled the tallest peaks on every continent before he was 18, died in a wingsuit crash in the Alps, Swiss police reported Friday.

Strange, 23, crashed shortly after jumping Thursday from Mount Gitschen in central Switzerland, police spokesman Gusti Planzer told The Associated Press.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the experienced jumper to crash, but Planzer said there were strong winds on the mountain.

Strange had complained about the weather Monday when he discussed his plans with the hosts of Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM's Kevin and Bean Show.

"I'm actually on a mountain right now. We're climbing something in Switzerland and wingsuit base jumping off of it," he told hosts Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter.

"I'm filming a new wingsuit proximity video," he continued. "That's where we fly super-close to stuff.

"It should be awesome," he added.

But Strange, a frequent guest on the show, added that bad weather was causing him problems. He said he might put off a planned jump that afternoon until the next day.

"I don't really want to get hurt," he said.

Strange told the show's listeners they could follow his progress on Instagram, and he posted a brief video of himself in flight the next day. He said it was recorded with a body cam soon after he spoke with Kevin and Bean.

His last post, on Wednesday, was a still photo of him flying low to the ground near a stand of towering trees. The caption read, "Which tree should we bring home for Christmas?"

Strange, from Malibu, California, became the youngest person to scale the tallest peaks on each of the world's seven continents when he conquered the last one, Mount Everest, at age 17.

Planzer said the 8,245-foot Mount Gitschen has become popular with extreme sports enthusiasts in recent years. Another American wingsuit flyer died on the mountain July 10.