The Washington Post has reported that extreme athlete and daredevil, Dean Potter, has died in a base jumping accident in Yosemite National Park, California. Dean Potter was known for constantly pushing the boundaries of rock climbing and climbing some of the world's highest cliffs without using a rope or a safety harness.
Potter, 43, and his climbing partner Graham Hunt, 29, were killed after a wingsuit flight went wrong in the park on Saturday. A friend called for help after all contact was lost with both athletes later that evening. A search-and-rescue team looked for them through the night but could not locate them. A helicopter crew eventually spotted their bodies on Sunday morning. Neither of the two appeared to have deployed their parachutes.
The pair crashed to their death after jumping off a 7,500 ft cliff known as 'Taft Point' on Saturday evening.
Base jumping is basically sky-diving off a fixed structure or promontory and is illegal in national parks. Park rangers and officials at the Yosemite National Park have tried to curb the practice, but Potter fought and flouted the law for several years.
According to The Guardian, the free climber lived in Yosemite along with his girlfriend Jennifer Rapp and his dog, Whisper. Although his dog had joined him on many of his previous jumps, she was not with him at the time of the accident.
Potter was a highly popular figure in extreme sports. His free spirit along with his inclinations to push the limits of climbing and base jumping made him an admired presence in the tight-knit community.
"It's tremendously sad," said Gauthier, Potter's occassional climbing parter in a statement to The New York Times. "Dean was part of this community and had such an impact on climbing. He was a luminary and in the pantheon of climbing gods," he said.
