Tragic final moments of a base jumper who died jumping from the summit of Yosemite National Park in protest against the decision to ban base jumping after the death of another base jumper

A base jumper's final moments before falling to her death from a peak in Yosemite National Park were tragically caught on camera.

Jan Davis of Santa Barbara was part of a group that jumped from El Capitan to demonstrate that base jumping can be done safely.

The jump was staged following the death of a previous jumper who had successfully parachuted from the rock formation in June 1999, but drowned in the river below while trying to escape park rangers.

Five skydivers took part in the protest planned for October 1999. Davis, an experienced skydiver, was the fourth to make the jump.

All five people had agreed to land in an area agreed upon by park rangers, who would then arrest them and confiscate their equipment.

But when Davis jumped from El Capitan, her parachute failed to open and the 60-year-old fell 3,200 feet and died.

Jan Davis was the fourth person to jump. (Twitter/@Morbidful)

Associated Press photographer Paul Sakuma told the Los Angeles Times at the time: “The first three were beautiful. And then she jumped.”

“Everyone thought it was OK, and then people said, 'Open up! Open up!'”

Scott Gediman, a spokesman for the park, said: “They had agreed in advance to land in a certain area, be arrested and hand over their equipment.”

“We report them for illegal air cargo and the US judge sets the fine, which is usually around $2,000.”

According to witnesses, Davis did not use her own equipment during the jump because she did not want it to be taken away from her when she landed.

This had a different system for activating the parachute than their own equipment, and when base jumping there is no time to activate a spare parachute.

Davis died because her parachute failed to open. (Twitter/@Morbidful)

Witnessing Davis' death was her husband, Tom Sanders, who, according to the LA Times, “slumped on his camera in grief after she fell.”

Of his 2000 loss to CBS, Sanders said, “I saw her go. I wasn't concerned about her safety. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous. But there are jumps that I'm very concerned about. But that BASE jump is very, very forgiving. And yet she died there.”

He added: “As far as I could tell, she had a good, stable exit. She never fell. She just kept falling and falling and falling.”

“But as she continued to fall and I saw the trees come into view, I knew it was too late.

“It was terrible. I lost my best friend.”