Jean boenish biography

Over three decades have passed since Jean Boenish woke up one morning to learn that her husband Carl, regarded as the “father” of BASE jumping, had been tragically killed hours after the couple had set a world record by leaping from a 3,600-foot vertical rock face in Norway, nicknamed the Troll Wall.

Jean boenish age

“I don’t dwell on it,” says Jean, 55, who still doesn’t have all the answers about exactly why her husband decided to jump from a section of the mountain that they’d deemed too dangerous the day before. “All I can do is learn from it and then go on. That was Carl’s philosophy.”

The story of Boenish’s life and his passion for the sport that ultimately killed him at 43 (his death became the seventh recorded BASE jumping fatality) is chronicled in the gripping documentary http://www.cnn.com/shows/cnn-films-sunshine-superman, which premieres on CNN on Sunday, Jan.

17 at 9 p.m. (ET).