Extreme athlete Dean Potter dies in BASE jumping accident

Dean Potter, pictured here receiving his award for World Alternative Sportsman of the Year 2013, died while attempting a wingsuit flight in Yosemite National Park. David Cannon / Laureus via Getty ImaShow more

LOS ANGELES // Extreme athlete Dean Potter, renowned for his daring and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, was one of two men killed while attempting a wingsuit flight in Yosemite National Park, a park spokesman said on Sunday.

Someone called for help late Saturday after losing contact with Potter, 43, and his climbing partner, Graham Hunt, 29. They had jumped from a 2,300-metre 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.

The men wore wingsuits — skin-tight suits with batwing sleeves and a flap between their legs — to help them glide.

However, parachutes designed to slow their descent had not been deployed, Mr Gediman said.

BASE stands for buildings, antennas, spans (such as bridges), and Earth (such as cliffs and mountaintops) that jumpers can parachute from. The sport is illegal in all 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, Mr Gediman said.

“This is a horrible incident, and our deepest sympathies go out to their friends and family,” Mr Gediman said. “This is a huge loss for all of us.”

Potter is 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 May 2006, he drew criticism after he made a “free solo” climb of Utah’s Delicate Arch.

Though the climb was not illegal, outdoor clothing company Patagonia dropped its sponsorship of him, saying his actions “compromised access to wild places and generated an inordinate amount of negativity in the climbing community and beyond”.

Potter defended his ascent, saying his intention was to inspire people to “get out of their cars and experience the wild with all their senses”.

Last year, Clif Bar withdrew its sponsorship of Potter and four other top climbers, saying they took risks that made the company too uncomfortable to continue financial support.

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 beloved 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 has known Potter for more than 15 years said Potter stood out from other climbers not only for his skills but his boldness.

“BASE jumping is the most dangerous thing you can do,” Corey Rich said. “The odds are not in your favour, and sadly Dean pulled the unlucky card.”

Potter indicated in his writings that he knew the inherent danger of his sport.

Last year, his friend and climbing partner Sean “Stanley” Leary died during a BASE jump in a wingsuit in Zion National Park in Utah. Potter was among a group of people who recovered Leary’s body.

“Though sometimes I have felt like I’m above it all and away from any harm, I want people to realise how powerful climbing, extreme sports or any other death-consequence pursuits are,” he wrote in an October 2014 blog post.

“There is nothing fake about it whether you see it in real life, on YouTube or in a glamorous commercial.”

Mr Gediman estimates that about five BASE jumping deaths have occurred in Yosemite. He said he himself watched a BASE jumper leap to her death in 1999 when her borrowed chute failed to open.

The woman was participating in a protest against the National Park Service’s ban on BASE jumping.

* Associated Press