High Sierra Topix

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/extreme-athlete-d ... --spt.html

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A Yosemite National Park spokesman says extreme athlete Dean Potter and another man have died in a BASE jumping accident.

The spokesman says Potter and Graham Hunt died late Saturday after attempting a wingsuit flight from a 7,500-foot promontory called Taft Point.

A search-and-rescue mission began overnight when the jumpers' spotter lost contact with them. Crews found their bodies Sunday in the Yosemite Valley. No parachutes had been deployed.

Potter is renowned for his bold and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, in which he would parachute from a fixed structure or cliff. BASE jumping is illegal in Yosemite.

Potter was 43. He completed solo ascents and tightrope walks across some of the world's most famous rocks, and recently appeared in a film BASE jumping with his dog.

One more activity I won't do...

Awful way to go.

I don't remember anyone posting about the show on the Discovery channel a few weeks ago, Valley Uprising. It was about the history of climbers in Yosemite. I really enjoyed it. It's probably available On Demand.

According to this article it sounds like they kept pushing the envelope, pulling the ripcord at the last possible moment. He had a recurring dream in which he died this way, and rather than run away from it, he pushed to see how close he could get to it. Neither of their chutes opened. Sounds like a death wish from the way this writer describes Potter's personality.

Hate hearing news like this. The Valley Uprising documentary has a section on base jumping in the Valley near its end...pretty nuts.

RIP

The really odd thing I haven't seen any comments on in the news or at boards yet is why did 2 of them die independently? There ought to be more information forthcoming after examining their chutes and where they fell. Some early total speculation.

I think we can rule out a dual Death Wish because men like that enjoy life strongly getting great excitement from their exploits.

Mechanical problem with chutes. Unlikely both chutes independently failed coincidently when such is rare that any single chute fails.

One of two packed both chutes and made same mistake on both. Possibly because was not paying attention doing something he had done hundreds of times before.

The location they base jumped at was not plumb vertical and too soon they hit the cliff before their suits allowed them to glide.

Winds pushed them into the cliff or out of control.

They were playing chicken against each other and like James Dean racing another vehicle towards the cliff, this time neither jumped out in time.

What did they expect? It is illegal for a reason not just to inconvenience them. I say if you get caught the first time, lifetime ban from the park. Second time, min one year in jail.

They died loving what they were doing (even if illegal.). At least the dog wasn't along for the ride.

This report is pretty much the same one as above except that it kind of hints to the possibility that that may not have cleared a notch that was "tricky" to get through.
http://www.outsideonline.com/1981591/de ... g-accident

They were trying to fly through a notch in one of the ridges and didn't make it, hence the tragic death of both of them.

Sad day, they were loved by many and loved the Sierra more than most...

Not quite sure what makes this a tragedy. Breaking the law, high risk, over developed ego (see comments of just a few weeks previous), May have been a nice guy and missed by his friends but these "accidents" occur fairly frequently and seems to me should be expected. Seems more like a candidate for a Darwin Award.

Mike