Extreme athlete Dean Potter, renowned for his bold and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, was one of two men killed while attempting a wingsuit flight in Yosemite National Park, California, a park spokesman said on Sunday.
Someone called for help late on Saturday after losing contact with Potter, 43, and his climbing partner, Graham Hunt, 29. They had jumped from a 2,300m promontory called Taft Point, park ranger Scott Gediman said.
He said a search-and-rescue team looked for the men overnight, but could not find them. On Sunday morning, a helicopter crew spotted their bodies in Yosemite Valley.
Photo: AP
No parachutes had been deployed.
BASE jumping is an acronym for fixed objects off which someone can parachute from: building, antenna, span and Earth (such as a cliff). The sport is illegal in all US national parks, and it was possible the men jumped at dusk or at night to avoid being caught by park rangers.
Potter and Hunt, who lived near Yosemite, were prominent figures in the park’s climbing community, Gediman said.
“This is a horrible incident, and our deepest sympathies go out to their friends and family,” Gediman said. “This is a huge loss for all of us.”
Potter was famous for pushing the boundaries of climbing by going up some of the world’s most daunting big walls and cliffs alone, using his bare hands and without ropes. He took the sport to an extreme level with highlining — walking across a rope suspended between towering rock formations while wearing a parachute for safety in the event of a fall.
In more recent years, he combined his love of climbing and flying with BASE jumping. He also produced a film that chronicled his adventures BASE jumping with his dog, Whisper.
In 2009, he set a record for completing the longest BASE jump from the Eiger North Face in Switzerland by staying in flight in a wingsuit for 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The feat earned him the Adventurer of the Year title by National Geographic magazine.
A photographer who documented that jump and had known Potter for more than 15 years said Potter stood out from other climbers not only for his skills, but for his boldness.
“In the adventure world, I’ve lost a lot of friends to climbing and BASE jumping,” Corey Rich said. “On one level, you lose a friend, but it’s also difficult to be surprised because BASE jumping is the most dangerous thing you can do. The odds are not in your favor, and sadly Dean pulled the unlucky card.”
Potter indicated in his writings that he knew the inherent danger of his sport.
“Though sometimes I have felt like I’m above it all and away from any harm, I want people to realize how powerful climbing, extreme sports or any other death-consequence pursuits are,” he wrote in a blog posted on his Web site in October last year.
“There is nothing fake about it whether you see it in real life, on YouTube or in a glamorous commercial,” he added.
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