THE funeral of a globally renowned sky-diver and BASE jumper who died in a tragic accident in the Italian Dolomites has been held in his home village in Cumbria.
More than 200 people attended the funeral of Dylan Morris Roberts, 32, many of whom dressed in magenta, in homage to Dylan's monicker in the jumping community of the Mangenta Pilot.
Both the local and worldwide extreme sports community were rocked when Dylan died during a BASE (bridge, antenna, span, and earth) jump from the famous Happy Birthday ledge at Monte Brento in Trentino, a licensed site, popular with BASE jumpers.
Dylan's mother Catherine Morris married former Director of Public Health for Cumbria John Ashton, Dylan's 'second father', after his father Steve Roberts died.
The pair, along with Dylan's brothers Alex and Che, have paid tribute to Dylan's talent and fun-loving, generous personality, and stressed he was a world leader in his field, 'obsessional' about safety, and ruling out pilot or equipment error as a factor in his death.
Alex said: "He was flying in a 'wingsuit', doing 'proximity flying', where you fly a line that goes along the side of the mountain, and he somehow ended up colliding with the rock face so the reasons that he didn't manage to turn away in time are not entirely clear.
"He was flying the line that he intended to fly and there was no parachute malfunction or anything, because once you've completed that line of proximity you pull away from the mountain, and then when you're clear in the open, that's when you pull your parachute."
Such was his reputation, Dylan worked with Tom Cruise on the upcoming Mission Impossible 7 film as his reserve parachute packer - the ultimate safety responsibility, and rigger.
The funeral was held on Wednesday, July 13, in Dent Meditation Centre.
John added: "Dylan has been sky-diving for many years and base jumping for over eight, and has done hundreds of jumps, and undertaken very high levels of training.
"The tabloid ways of presenting this kind of activity tends to be adrenaline junkies, and what we've discovered is that they're anything but.
"These guys are obsessional about safety, they go to enormous lengths to make sure they're embarking on safe flights.
"They use lasers to track the line that they're going to use, and they plan them methodically in relation to the weather etcetera, and if there's the slightest doubt, they don't jump.
"This isn't reckless activity, done on the spur of the moment, with no knowledge of where they're jumping, like some young people have been known to do - the last thing we'd want is for Dylan's death to be presented like this.
"It's a bittersweet thing - it's a terrible loss we've experienced but we're very proud of him at the same time."
Dylan's mother Catherine reflected on his legacy: "What came over was the huge love and respect that people had and how he inspired people to live life to the full, inspired people to make every day count, and make every day an adventure, and always look after your friends and family, and people around you, and that in essence was what Dylan was about.
"Dylan was living here in Dent, and was thinking of moving to Kendal.
"He loved the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District being able to walk the dogs, ride his mountain bike across Middleton Fell, and then go into the Lakes and do some skydiving at Cark, and do licensed jumps with friends.
"He brought his friends over into the Lakes so that they could explore the beauty of the place and that again is so typical of Dylan - he wanted to give huge enjoyment wherever he could."
READ MORE: Grandmother says her first skydive was 'absolutely amazing'
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