Extreme athlete Dean Potter stands in front of El Capitan after a speed climbing attempt up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif.
Extreme athlete Dean Potter knew the risks of flying off the vertical rock walls he was famous for scaling with little more than a parachute on his back and thin fabric wings.
Just two weeks ago, the man who talked of transforming “dying into flying,” had posted a photo of himself soaring above the treetops with just enough space to avoid disaster.
“I don’t fool myself thinking I’m any better than my fallen brothers and sisters but I do stack the odds in my favor,” Potter wrote on Instagram.
Potter, who lived on the outer edge of extreme sports, died Saturday in his beloved Yosemite National Park when he and a friend leaped off Taft Point, 1,067 meters above the valley floor and crashed into rocks during a dusk flight in bat-like suits.
The deaths of Potter, 43, and Graham Hunt, 29, were a stunning loss and another reminder of the narrow margin for error in the death-defying pursuit of wingsuit flying, a more dangerous offshoot of BASE jumping — parachuting off buildings, antennas, spans such as bridges and Earth.
Potter and Hunt were experienced in manipulating their suits for a thrilling 160 kph ride just inches from rock walls and treetops before deploying their parachutes. They also knew the hazards of a wrong move or a gust of wind.
“BASE jumping is the most exciting, amazing experience in the world but it also kills way too many people,” said Chris McNamara, who quit jumping after a friend’s death.
Just last year, Potter helped recover the body of a close friend who died while jumping in Zion National Park in Utah.
Parachuting has been controversial in Yosemite since two men launched off El Capitan in 1966 and were battered when winds blew them back into the cliff. After a brief experiment permitting jumping in 1980, Yosemite made the pursuit illegal, as it is in all U.S. national parks. Jumpers who are caught are fined and their equipment is confiscated.
In 1999, after a jumper who had landed safely drowned in the Merced River while running from rangers, supporters staged a protest jump from El Cap. People below watched in horror when Jan Davis’ chute didn’t open and she plunged to her death. Controversy was further stoked because Davis, 60, had borrowed the chute from someone else because she didn’t want her parachute confiscated.
Skydiving instructor Brian Germain said if flying was legal in the parks, jumpers would know the flight lines of the terrain better.
“You have too much adrenaline because you know you might get arrested,” said Germain, who uses wingsuits in skydives from airplanes but not while BASE jumping.
At least five people have died in BASE jumping accidents in U.S. national parks since January 2014, including the most recent deaths at Yosemite, said Jeffrey Olson, a National Park Service spokesman. AP
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