Re: Getting reports of two climber deaths in the valley, one of them....

Dean Potter, the other *** on edit *** Graham Hunt.

RIP, Madman.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2626754/TRAGIC-ACCIDENT

http://www.climbing.com/news/dean-potter-killed-in-base-jump/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2015 08:24PM by tanngrisnir3.

RIP Dean and Grant, it's a sad news. Saw this earlier today at http://www.outsideonline.com/1981591/dean-potter-killed-base-jumping-accident

Quote
tanngrisnir3
Dean Potter

Base jumping?

Quote
eeek

Quote
tanngrisnir3
Dean Potter

Base jumping?

Yup. Sounds like from all reports I've read like bad timing trying to get to a certain gap or notch.

They jumped from Glacier Point.

Quote
tanngrisnir3

They jumped from Glacier Point.

They jumped from Taft Point. Here's the latest New York Times article on their death:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/sports/dean-potter-extreme-climber-dies-in-jumping-accident-at-yosemite.html

.

Incidentally, I overheard a ranger talking about this incident when I was at Tunnel View today (which is why I came here when I got back to see if there was information). I only heard snippets of the ranger talking about the bodies being retrieved for some BASE jump deaths and how it got out on social media before there could be an official statement since they have to wait on official confirmation on releasing the names before they can report it (or something to that effect).

I just read about this on Facebook. i can't believe it. i had the privilege of meeting him 2 summers ago at the grocery store in Yosemite Valley. i was walking to go into the store and he was coming out. we both tried to politely get out of each others way but we both kept screwing up trying to do so, we both laughed. lol

i stood in place and said one of the most stupid things that has come out of my mouth ... "hey! you're somebody famous! " (lol) yeah i felt like an idiot not remembering his name even though i knew who he was. ... he smiled and said "not really..." i said "i'm sooooo embarrassed because i have forgotten your name, star struck i guess". he said "Dean Potter".... i don't even remember our conversation other than i asked him where he lived etc.. i asked him if i could take his photo (which i did)... he answered my questions (which weren't many)... i didn't want to hold him up.... he was a super nice guy...i apologized for asking for his photo, he said no problem... he then walked away.. i was still star struck... and as soon as he was gone and out of site, i was so mad at myself... instead of getting a photo of the two of us together, i only got a photo of him! AND i forgot to ask for an autograph. lolol

anyway... i was shocked and saddened to hear about his death... what a man of great accomplishments... an icon in his sport and to his fans. he will truly be missed.

here are the photos he let me take of him.

Quote
forrestranger

I just read about this on Facebook. i can't believe it.

I can.

They died doing something that they loved. But what they loved is something with extremely high risks, which is why it's banned by the NPS (not that it stops anyone from BASE jumping, with wingsuits or not). But they knew the risks of their extreme sports and that death could be only one jump away. May they RIP.

.

Great story and photos forrestranger.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2015 07:45AM by hotrod4x5.

I've been aware of Dean for at least ten years. I was once a big arm chair fan of rock climbing and he was one of the greatest. There are probably hundreds of videos online of him doing what he loved. Whether that was free soloing (no ropes at all, only hands and feet for upward movement), speed climbing (using hands and direct aid to get up as fast as he could) or typical free climbing (ropes for catching falls only) he did it all. It seemed like the base jumping and wingsuit flying was his most recent way of getting his adrenaline addiction fix.

Of all his videos, I think I enjoy most the ones of him walking a high line above Upper Yosemite Falls. I'm on my phone right now otherwise I'd provide a link.

When I heard of his death I was shocked, even though it's not surprising. I guess I kinda thought he was invincible.

RIP Dean, you were one of the greats.

Dean Potter was featured in the excellent Discovery Channel climbing documentary "Valley Uprising" recently. Tremendous skill and talent but eventually consumed by his obsession to push their limitations.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-extreme-athlete-dean-potter-dead-yosemite-2015051-story.html



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2015 07:44AM by phantum.

I just read that Graham Hunt was only 29 yrs old... so young, so sad.

Paraphrasing an old cliche;

There are old climbers.
There are bold climbers.
There are no old bold climbers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2015 12:55PM by Dave.

More information about that tragic accident:


Yosemite plunge: Fatal mistake in a sport with no room for error
By Peter Fimrite Updated 7:09 pm, Monday, May 18, 2015

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Yosemite-plunge-Fatal-mistake-in-a-sport-with-no-6271703.php


(I was at Arches National Park the day after Dean Potter climbed up Delicate Arch. There were a couple of TV news vans at the visitor center parking lot and it felt like something was going on in the park when I arrived on the 8th of May, 2006. Only when watching the news that night did I find out that someone had climbed up Delicate Arch.)

Nice remembrance article on Graham Hunt in Outside: http://www.outsideonline.com/1982461/remembering-graham-hunt

The Last Flight of Dean Potter
The pioneering climber and BASE-jumper defied convention to his last day.

Daniel Duane, Men’s Journal, provided by
Published 10:00 am, Friday, May 22, 2015

At 7:25 pm on Saturday, May 16th, Dean Potter zipped up his wingsuit, and, with friend Graham Hunt stepped to the edge of Taft Point, 3,500-feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley. Their plan was to jump off, rocket across a canyon below, and, if they were high enough, shoot through a V-shaped notch in a neighboring ridgeline above a cliff called Lost Brother. They would deploy their parachutes further up the valley. Potter's long-time girlfriend, Jen Rapp, photographed them as they leapt (Potter wore neither a helmet nor a GoPro despite reports otherwise and there is no video footage of the flight). Far below, Hunt's girlfriend, Rebecca Haynie, waited for the landing. It never came.

"We jump every day in Yosemite," Potter told me a few weeks ago, despite federal laws banning the practice in national parks. Potter said that he had personally jumped from every major Yosemite formation, including perhaps fifty flights off Half Dome. He and Hunt had also jumped Taft Point many times, but a few times through the notch, which they knew to be extremely dangerous.


http://www.sfgate.com/living/mensjournal/article/The-Last-Flight-of-Dean-Potter-6281144.php

Never heard of Lost Brother.

Quote
AnotherDave
Never heard of Lost Brother.

As I understand it, this is it (viewed from Eagle Point):

This article says that despite reports otherwise, Dean was not wearing a helmet or camera yet park officials say he was. I wonder why the discrepancy.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) — A camera on the helmet of cliff jumper Dean Potter, who died in Yosemite National Park, shows that he may have tried to avoid his friend who slammed into a ridge and then hit the rocks himself a split second later, a park official said.

Unless I've missed it, the National Park Service has yet to publish an official press release about the two deaths and it's been over a week since they jumped and died.

.

Quote
plawrence
Unless I've missed it, the National Park Service has yet to publish an official press release about the two deaths and it's been over a week since they jumped and died.

.

NPS personnel have been talking to reporters, but yeah I haven't heard of any press release like they often have for high profile incidents. Perhaps they don't want to encourage this sort of activity.

I couldn't find anything in the Morning Report, although sometimes it takes a month before something ends up there.

Any "Official" NPS word yet on this tragic event?
I ran across this video of a similar (but successful) jump.... http://www.wimp.com/base-jump/

The latest news from the San Francisco paper:

AP Exclusive: Deaths of Yosemite jumpers remain a mystery

Scott Smith, Associated Press

Updated 9:07 am, Tuesday, August 4, 2015

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — World-famous wingsuit flier Dean Potter had strapped his iPhone to the back of his head and hit record before jumping from a cliff in Yosemite National Park in what was to be an exhilarating flight through a V-shaped rocky formation — a route that left little margin for error.

Potter set the phone at this position to capture a video of his partner, Graham Hunt, behind and above him as the pair leaped off the granite diving board at Taft Point, 3,500 feet above the valley.

Twenty-two seconds later the video abruptly stops. The two were killed when they slammed into the ridgeline at 100 mph-plus attempting to soar through the notch in the rock formation called Lost Brother.



http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/APNewsBreak-Officials-puzzled-over-Yosemite-6423095.php

This is such a sad story. At least both of these guys lived and died on their own terms, mostly. Their loved ones can take some solace in that.

Cliche, but never take life for granted. Every second we get is precious.