Dean Potter
{{Short description|American climber and BASE jumper}}
{{for|the New Zealand cricketer|Dean Potter (cricketer)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Dean Potter
|image = Dean-Potter.jpg
|alt = Dean Potter
|caption = Potter on August 28, 2009
|birth_name = Dean Spaulding Potter
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1972|04|14}}
|birth_place = Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|05|16|1972|04|14}}
|death_place = Yosemite National Park, California, U.S.
|death_cause = Wingsuit flying crash
|spouse = {{marriage|Steph Davis|2002|2010|end=divorced}}
|other_names =
|known_for = Rock climbing, Alpinism, BASE jumping, highlining, FreeBASE (climbing)
|occupation = Rock climber
}}
Dean Spaulding Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an American free climber, alpinist, BASE jumper, and highliner.{{cite web |url=http://vimeo.com/56298775 |title=Real Water Productions: Moonwalk |date=July 12, 2012 |publisher=Vimeo |access-date=January 4, 2014}} He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, and enchainments in Yosemite National Park and Patagonia. He won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year in 2003.{{cite web|title=PAST WINNERS|url=https://www.laureus.com/world-sports-awards/past-winners|website=Laureus Sport for Good Foundation|accessdate=}} In 2015, he died in a wingsuit flying accident in Yosemite National Park.
Early life
Dean Potter was born in 1972[http://www.outdoorsportsteam.com/en/climbing/athletes/dean-potter/ Dean Potter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411085801/http://www.outdoorsportsteam.com/en/climbing/athletes/dean-potter/ |date=April 11, 2015 }} on outdoorsportsteam.com{{cite web|title=Dean Potter, Graham Hunt Killed in BASE Jump|url=http://www.climbing.com/news/dean-potter-killed-in-base-jump/|website=Climbing.com|access-date=2 October 2015|date=17 May 2015}} to an Army officer in a military hospital at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas{{cite web|url=http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/dean-potter-what-ive-learned|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004133911/https://www.rockandice.com/people/dean-potter-what-ive-learned/|archive-date=2018-10-04|title=Dean Potter: What I've Learned|work=rockandice.com|access-date=May 18, 2015}} and grew up in New Hampshire. He taught himself to climb when he was in 10th grade in southern New Hampshire. He attended the University of New Hampshire, where he rowed varsity crew. Potter quit college and pursued his passion for climbing.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espnmag/story?id=3595588 |title=The Man Who Thinks He Can Fly |first=Katie |last=Arnold |publisher=ESPN |year=2007 |access-date=September 27, 2013}}
Climbing career
=Free solo=
Potter climbed many new routes and completed many solo ascents in Yosemite and Patagonia. He free-solo climbed a small part of El Capitan in Yosemite, where he pioneered a route he called Easy Rider by climbing down the slabby upper pitches of the route Lurking Fear (hardest moves rated grade 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).{{cite web|last=Roy|first=Adam|title=The First (almost) Free Solo of El Cap | url=http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/the-first-almost-free-solo-of-el-cap.html | work=Outside Magazine Blog |date=February 10, 2012 | access-date=April 18, 2013}}{{Cite web|title = How Dean Potter Reinvented Climbing, Jumping, Flying | url = http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150518-dean-potter-dead-base-jumping-yosemite-climbing-adventure | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150520221616/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150518-dean-potter-dead-base-jumping-yosemite-climbing-adventure/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 20, 2015 | website = National Geographic News | date = May 18, 2015 | first = Andrew |last = Bisharat | access-date = May 18, 2015}}
=Big wall=
In July 2006, Potter climbed The Reticent Wall, one of the hardest routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, in 34 hours and 57 minutes with Ammon McNeely and Ivo Ninov, slashing five days off the existing time.{{cite web|last=McDonald|first=Dougald|title=Reticent Wall in a Single Push|url=http://www.climbing.com/news/reticent-wall-in-a-single-push/|work=Climbing Magazine|date=July 26, 2006 |publisher=Skram Media LLC|access-date=February 15, 2011}} Potter and Sean Leary set a new speed record for climbing up The 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 by Yuji Hirayama and Hans Florine.
=Delicate Arch climb=
Controversy surrounded Potter after his 2006 climb of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, for which he lost his sponsorship from the Patagonia 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 within Arches National Park. Potter had previously created conflict with Park authorities by slacklining between the Three Gossips.{{cite web|last=Neville|first=Tim|title=How Delicate Was Dean?|url=http://www.outsideonline.com/1825021/how-delicate-was-dean|work=Outside Online|date=June 2006 |publisher=Mariah Media Inc.|access-date=February 15, 2011}}{{failed verification|date=May 2015}}
"I didn't see any moral reason not to climb it. I didn't hurt it,"{{cite web|last=Thuermer|first=Angus M.|title=Climber Potter, Patagonia agree to split the synchilla|url=http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=1567|publisher=Jackson Hole News & Guide|access-date=February 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713104555/http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=1567|archive-date=July 13, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} 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.
Potter said he would not climb Totem Pole, the spire in Monument Valley that Navajo imbue with religious significance. Delicate Arch, despite its prominence on Utah 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." An account said: "At first Potter's handler at Patagonia spread the word of his climb by calling the Salt Lake Tribune. Public outrage was immediate, though, especially in Utah, where many see Delicate Arch as a symbol for the state's wild beauty."
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."{{cite web|last=Levine|first=Whitney|title=Not All Roses: Climbing Rapper in Hot Water over Delicate Arch Parody|date=April 23, 2007 |url=https://www.climbing.com/news/not-all-roses-climbing-rapper-in-hot-water-over-delicate-arch-parody/|publisher=Climbing Magazine}}
Highlining, BASE jumping, and FreeBASEing
Potter was also known for highlining and BASE jumping. He was introduced to slacklining by Charles Victor Tucker III, known as "Chongo", one of the first three people to highline across Lost Arrow Spire.{{cite video |people=Janice Ahn, Brian Murphy, Ritesh Batra, Daniel Patterson, Keith Davis |date=December 18, 2008 |title=Chongo |url=http://www.digitalcribs.net/DisplayVideo.aspx?id=971395575&fbid=g2_OxCftrRq |medium=Short film |publisher=Cisco |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723092529/http://www.digitalcribs.net/DisplayVideo.aspx?id=971395575&fbid=g2_OxCftrRq |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |access-date=February 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} Potter completed a variety of highline-crossings without the benefit of a safety lanyard, backup line, or BASE jumping parachute. Some included lines suspended as much as {{convert|3000|ft|m}} above the ground in Yosemite National Park.
On August 6, 2008, he completed the first "FreeBASE" ascent of Deep Blue Sea on the north face of the Eiger.{{Cite web|url=http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08x/newswire-potter-eiger-freebase|title="FreeBASE": Dean Potter on the Eiger Nordwand|last=Thomasma|first=Melissa|date=2008-08-13|website=Alpinist|issn=1540-725X|access-date=2017-08-30}} Potter invented freebasing, a combination of free 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.{{Cite web|url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150518-dean-potter-dead-base-jumping-yosemite-climbing-adventure/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520221616/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150518-dean-potter-dead-base-jumping-yosemite-climbing-adventure/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 20, 2015|title=How Dean Potter Reinvented Climbing, Jumping, Flying|last=Bisharat|first=Andrew|date=May 18, 2015|website=National Geographic}}
In 2014, he released When Dogs Fly, a film charting the adventures of his hearing dog, Whisper.[http://www.ruffwear.com/dean-potter-whisper Dean and Whisper: Climbing, Base Jumping Service Dog] The film went viral but was criticised by animal rights campaigners.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32776686|title=US daredevil Dean Potter dies during flying stunt|work=BBC News|date=May 18, 2015 |access-date=May 18, 2015}}
=Death=
On May 16, 2015, Potter and Graham Hunt died attempting a proximity wingsuit flight from Taft Point above Yosemite Valley.[http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web15s/newswire-hunt-potter-yosemite Friends Remember Graham Hunt and Dean Potter] on alpinist.com{{cite news|last1=Kaplan|first1=Sarah|title=Dean Potter, extreme climber, dies in Yosemite base jumping accident|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/18/dean-potter-extreme-climber-who-risked-falling-in-order-to-fly-dies-in-base-jumping-accident/|access-date=May 20, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 18, 2015}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Lucas |first1=James |title=Dean Potter and I Recovered Dead BASE Jumpers |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/19/dean-potter-and-i-recovered-dead-base-jumpers.html |website=thedailybeast.com |publisher=The Daily Beast Company LLC |date=May 19, 2015 |access-date=May 19, 2015}} Neither of them had deployed their parachutes.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/sports/dean-potter-extreme-climber-dies-in-jumping-accident-at-yosemite.html |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Dean Potter, Extreme Climber, Dies in BASE-Jumping Accident at Yosemite |first=John |last=Branch |date=May 17, 2015 |access-date=May 18, 2015}}{{cite magazine |last=Schaffer |first=Grayson |title=Dean Potter Killed in BASE Jumping Accident |url=http://www.outsideonline.com/1981591/dean-potter-killed-base-jumping-accident |magazine=Outside Magazine |access-date=May 17, 2015}}{{Cite web |url=http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/17/pioneering-climber-dean-potter-died-in-base-jumping-accident |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518063854/http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/17/pioneering-climber-dean-potter-died-in-base-jumping-accident/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |title=Pioneering Climber Dean Potter Killed in BASE Jumping Accident |access-date=May 21, 2015 |publisher=National Geographic |last=Bisharat |first=Andrew |date=May 17, 2015}} Potter's and Graham's deaths brought the total number of BASE jumping deaths in U.S. national parks in 2015 to five.{{cite news |title=Dean Potter's GoPro camera captured deadly Yosemite cliff jump |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_28153001/helmet-camera-captured-dean-potters-deadly-yosemite-cliff |access-date=June 30, 2015 |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |date=May 20, 2015}} Between the years of 2014 and 2019, there were three deaths attributed to BASE jumping in Yosemite, including this incident.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
Notable ascents
- 2002 Supercanaleta, Cerro Fitz Roy, Patagonia. First solo of route.{{cite web | last = MacDonald | first = Dougald | title = Haley Solos Fitz Roy's Supercanaleta | work = Climbing Magazine News | publisher = Skram Media | date = January 8, 2009 | url = http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/haley_solos_fitz_roys_supercanaleta/ | access-date = May 27, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090118030152/http://climbing.com/news/hotflashes/haley_solos_fitz_roys_supercanaleta/ | archive-date = January 18, 2009 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}
- 2003 Concepcion 5.13+ (67m), Day Canyon, Moab, Utah. First ascent.{{cite web
|last = Pegg
|first = Dave
|title = Immaculate Concepcion
|work = Climbing Magazine News
|publisher = Skram Media
|date = June 24, 2003
|url = http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/immaculate/
|access-date = May 27, 2009
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090827171428/http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/immaculate/
|archive-date = August 27, 2009
|df = mdy
}}
- 2006 Heaven (5.12d/13a) Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley. First free solo ascent.{{cite web
| last = Hansen | first = Holly | title = Potter in Free Solo Heaven | work = Climbing Magazine News
| publisher = Skram Media | date = September 11, 2006
| url = http://www.climbing.com/news/potter-in-free-solo-heaven/
| access-date = May 27, 2009 }}
- 2006 Southern Belle (V 5.12d R/X), Half Dome, Yosemite Valley. Second ascent with Leo Houlding.{{cite web
| last = MacDonald | first = Dougald | title = Scary Half Dome Route Gets Second Free Ascent | work = Climbing Magazine News
| publisher = Skram Media | date = November 10, 2006
| url = http://www.climbing.com/news/scary-half-dome-route-gets-second-free-ascent/
| access-date = May 27, 2009 }}
- 2008 Deep Blue Sea (5.12+), Eiger, Bernese Alps, Switzerland. First FreeBASE ascent of the Eiger.{{cite web
| last = Thomasma | first = Melissa | title = "FreeBASE": Dean Potter on the Eiger Nordwand | work = Alpinist
| publisher = Alpinist LLC | date = August 13, 2008
| url = http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08x/newswire-potter-eiger-freebase
| access-date = February 15, 2011 }}
- 2010 The Nose, El Capitan, Yosemite. Fastest ascent at the time (2:36:45), record later broken by Alex Honnold and Hans Florine.{{cite news|title=The Nose, new record on El Capitan by Leary and Potter|url=http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37708|access-date=May 18, 2015|work=Planet Mountain|date=November 8, 2010}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://deanpotter.remembered.com/ Dean's Online Memorial]
- [http://outsideonline.com/outside/features/200212/200212/climbing_the_speed_1.html Outside Magazine feature]
- [http://www.climbandmore.com/climbing,530,0,1,climbers.html Dean Potter's climbing profile on Climbandmore.com]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/sports/othersports/14climber.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=dean+potter&st=nyt&oref=slogin The New York Times article]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9nNk6rotac Video interview about Potter's childhood dreams of flying, wingsuit piloting and BASE jumping]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150521003138/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150518-dean-potter-videos-wingsuit-climbing-adventure/ "Dean Potter's Extreme Life in 7 Hair-Raising Videos"]
{{Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Dean}}
Category:Accidental deaths in California
Category:American rock climbers
Category:Deaths in Yosemite National Park
Category:People from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Category:Sportspeople from Kansas
Category:Sportspeople from New Hampshire
Category:University of New Hampshire alumni
Category:Wingsuit flight deaths