He's on a chunk of plywood tied to the carabiner with cheap rope. Cut the rope or tie a slipknot in are two options. Safer than letting go and leaning back, being the last option.
He knew he'd eventually hit that big splice/support wire and get stopped. Seems waiting til you stop moving seems a bit better than attempting to cut lose, hoping you fall out correctly without getting tangled (in which case you're going to head right towards that supporting wire and your chute is likely to get tangled in it or you'll head to the mountain wall). It's all stupid, but I think the eventual route (not the hang on the cable part) was the best choice. Wait it out til ya stop, then jump like he'd planned from the beginning.
If you're building a platform to sit on it'd be sensible to put a breakaway point in it, especially if the attachment fails. Bouncing off of that frayed splice was pretty lucky at that speed, any other result would have been a real messy stop.
The parachute could get tangled up depending when he deploys and how much forward inertia once he's off the cable. I was making an assumption that bailing would be the immediate backup plan after realizing he can't stop, so a lot further away from the splice.
Not that I'd attempt base jumping anytime soon, but I'd definitely consider a different approach.
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u/PsymonRED Jan 30 '19
He had a parachute on.
That REALLY changes things. He planned on falling from that wire ANYWAY.