Yesterday, Dean Potter and Graham Hunt were found dead, after a wingsuit accident that occurred on Saturday in Yosemite Valley. As news broke out early on social media, details of the accident were unclear. Today, a number of news agencies are reporting details of the accident.
Here is an excerpt from an article by National Geographic that seems to best describe the accident.
An observer shooting photos of Hunt and Potter’s flight reported hearing two disconcerting, loud sounds in succession that suggested impact—but also could have been parachute deployment.
When the jumpers didn’t return from their outing on Saturday night, Jen Rapp, Potter’s partner in life, and Rebecca Haynie, Graham’s partner since January, approached Gauthier with the news that the jumpers had missed their scheduled arrival. Gauthier helped arrange a team from Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR), and a hasty, ultimately unsuccessful search on foot was performed.
A helicopter was placed on standby for the following morning.
A California State helicopter arrived Sunday morning and the pilots, using the photos taken by the observer on the previous night, were able to quickly locate two subjects that matched Potter and Hunt’s descriptions. By noon, two rangers were short-hauled onto the site, they confirmed Potter and Hunt’s deaths, and performed the recovery. No parachutes had been deployed. For the full article, please click here
As the story was picked up by mainstream news agencies, the reporting of Dean and his heroic acts has shifted back and forth from the dangers of extreme sports to issues of legality in National Parks. In contrast, tales of Dean on social media speak of just how inspirational he was to the so many people that he encountered in his life.
Here is a post by Jeremy Collins after Dean’s passing
I was asleep… deep. Dreaming.
I was rustled awake by a large dark figure whispering. “Jer, hey, hey, hey man, I need to fly today. Help yourself to anything you find here.”
And like that, Dean Potter was gone for the day. In fact three more days, while I crashed his cabin deep in the Sierra.
I was lucky to collaborate many times artistically with one of the deepest, most complex souls I have ever known. He believed in me. Fully. He believed in others. But mostly, he believed in himself. He had the confidence of a predator at the top of the food chain. A lion. A king. He felt his visions from his fingertips to his toes. He was misunderstood, misquoted and at times mistaken. But he was my friend and maybe he was your friend too. Today he flew his last flight.
We had plotted to meet soon so I could share with him all the drawings I had created of his fallen friends for his film “Aerialist”. He refused to look at them anywhere but deep in the woods on a hike, together. I respected that. I respected him. I will miss him.
We had never met Dean Potter or Graham Hunt here at Squamish Climbing Magazine, but after hearing all of the inspirational stories shared by others today, We sure wish we had.
Dean Potter, 1972-2015. Photo courtesy of deanpotter.com
