Dean Potter | |
|---|---|
 Potter on August 28, 2009 | |
| Born | Dean Spaulding Potter (1972-04-14)April 14, 1972 Fort Leavenworth,Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | May 16, 2015(2015-05-16) (aged 43) |
| Cause of death | Wingsuit flying crash |
| Occupation | Rock climber |
| Known for | Rock climbing,Alpinism,BASE jumping,highlining,FreeBASE (climbing) |
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[1] |
| Spouse | |
Dean Spaulding Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an Americanfree climber, alpinist,BASE jumper, andhighliner.[2] He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, andenchainments inYosemite National Park andPatagonia. He won theLaureus WorldAction Sportsperson of the Year award in 2003.[3] In 2015, he died in awingsuit flying accident in Yosemite National Park.[4]
Dean Potter was born in 1972[5][1] to an Army officer in a military hospital atFort Leavenworth, Kansas[6] and grew up inNew Hampshire. He taught himself to climb when he was in 10th grade in southern New Hampshire. He attended theUniversity of New Hampshire, where he rowed varsity crew. Potter quit college and pursued his passion for climbing.[7]
Potter climbed many new routes and completed many solo ascents in Yosemite and Patagonia. Hefree-solo climbed a small part ofEl Capitan in Yosemite, where he pioneered a route he calledEasy Rider by climbing down the slabby upper pitches of the route Lurking Fear (hardest moves ratedgrade 5.10a) and then traversed Thanksgiving Ledge to complete the last six pitches and six hundred feet of the route Free Rider (hardest pitch 5.11d, two pitches of 5.10d, 5.10b, 5.10a and 5.7). This was the first major section of El Capitan to be free soloed, but his path avoided the significantly more challenging climbing on what is the easiest way up El Capitan below (several 5.12 pitches, with difficulty up to 5.12d on Free Rider).[8][9]
In July 2006, Potter climbedThe Reticent Wall, one of the hardest routes onEl Capitan inYosemite Valley, in 34 hours and 57 minutes withAmmon McNeely and Ivo Ninov, slashing five days off the existing time.[10] Potter and Sean Leary set a new speed record for climbing upThe Nose of El Capitan in November 2010. They ran up the 31-pitch route in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 45 seconds. This was twenty seconds quicker than the existing record, set the previous October byYuji Hirayama andHans Florine.
Controversy surrounded Potter after his 2006 climb ofDelicate Arch inArches National Park, for which he lost his sponsorship from thePatagonia clothing company. "There wasn't any legal reason for me not to climb it," Potter said of Delicate Arch, despite well-established tradition forbidding climbing named features in the park. This incident resulted in a blanket ban on the activity withinArches National Park. Potter had previously created conflict with Park authorities byslacklining between the Three Gossips.[11][failed verification]
"I didn't see any moral reason not to climb it. I didn't hurt it,"[12] he said, though rope grooves in the soft sandstone were later found, possibly created or enhanced by the professional photographers Potter brought along to publicize the climb.[11]
Potter said he would not climbTotem Pole, the spire inMonument Valley thatNavajo imbue with religious significance. Delicate Arch, despite its prominence onUtah license plates, did not have the stature of the sacred Arizona tower, he said: "I didn't see a reason why it's wrong, why we shouldn't mesh with nature."[12] An account said: "At first Potter's handler at Patagonia spread the word of his climb by calling theSalt Lake Tribune. Public outrage was immediate, though, especially in Utah, where many see Delicate Arch as a symbol for the state's wild beauty."[11]
Potter's Delicate Arch climb was memorialized in hip hop artist Kris "Odub" Hampton's song "Not All Roses," which chronicles the controversy surrounding the climb. Odub's later "Cease and Desist" responds to the cease-and-desist order that Potter's attorney sent the artist in response to "Not All Roses."[13]
Potter was also known for highlining andBASE jumping. He was introduced toslacklining by Charles Victor Tucker III, known as "Chongo", one of the first three people to highline acrossLost Arrow Spire.[14] Potter completed a variety of highline-crossings without the benefit of a safety lanyard, backup line, or BASE jumpingparachute. Some included lines suspended as much as 3,000 feet (910 m) above the ground inYosemite National Park.
On August 6, 2008, he completed the first "FreeBASE" ascent ofDeep Blue Sea on thenorth face of the Eiger.[15] Potter invented freebasing, a combination offree solo climbing without the assistance of ropes—but with a BASE parachute rig attached on the climber's back. In the event of a fall, a climber can revert into a base jump and survive.[16]
In 2014, he releasedWhen Dogs Fly, a film charting the adventures of hishearing dog, Whisper.[17] The film wentviral but was criticised byanimal rights campaigners.[18]
On May 16, 2015, Potter and Graham Huntdied attempting a proximity wingsuit flight fromTaft Point aboveYosemite Valley.[19][4] The route they were attempting, which they had flown before, required them to clear a small notch in a rocky ridge line. Hunt hit a side wall during the flight while Potter cleared the notch before crashing. Both died on impact.[20] Neither of them had deployed their parachutes.[21][22][23] Potter's and Graham's deaths brought the total number of BASE jumping deaths inU.S. national parks in 2015 to five.[24] Between the years of 2014 and 2019, there were three deaths attributed to BASE jumping in Yosemite, including this incident.[citation needed]
Fellow rock climberDoug Robinson, considered the father ofclean climbing inYosemite,[25][26] told the BBC that he was "very sad about Dean Potter's death, but not very surprised." He said Potter had always sought to take on new challenges, "pushing the envelope all his life."[27]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
