Dean Spaulding Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an American free climber, alpinist, BASE jumper, and

highliner The Highliner is a bilevel Electric Multiple Unit railcar. The original series of railcars were built in 1971 by the St. Louis Car Company for commuter service on the Illinois Central Railroad, in south Chicago, Illinois, with an additional bat ...

. He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, and

enchainment In mountaineering and climbing, enchainment (an anglicisation of the French word ''enchaînement'', meaning "linking") is climbing two or more mountains or climbing routes on a mountain in one outing (often over the course of a day or a serie ...

s in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

and

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

. In 2015, he died in a

wingsuit flying Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just ...

accident in Yosemite National Park.

Early life

Dean Potter was born in 1972 to an Army officer in a military hospital at

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perma ...

, Kansas and grew up in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He taught himself to climb when he was in 10th grade in southern New Hampshire. He attended the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College ...

, where he rowed varsity crew. Potter quit college and pursued his passion for climbing.

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 El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about from base to summit along its tal ...

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).

Big wall

In July 2006, Potter climbed ''The Reticent Wall'', one of the hardest routes on

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

, in 34 hours and 57 minutes with Ammon McNeely and Ivo Ninov, slashing five days off the existing time. 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 Yuji Hirayama (平山ユージ; born February 23, 1969) is a Japanese rock climbing, rock climber specializing in lead climbing competitions. He won two IFSC Climbing World Cup, Lead World Cups, in 1998 (becoming the first Asian climber to win the ...

and Hans Florine. Potter's record was later surpassed by Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds followed by Alex Honnold and

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Natio ...

, who completed ''The Nose'' route in 1 hour 58 minutes in June of 2018.

Delicate Arch climb

Controversy surrounded Potter after his 2006 climb of

Delicate Arch Delicate Arch is a freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park, near Moab in Grand County, Utah, United States. The arch is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and a ...

Arches National Park Arches National Park is a national park in eastern Utah, United States. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, ...

, for which he lost his sponsorship from the

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

. Potter had previously created conflict with Park authorities by

slacklining Slacklining refers to the act of walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightwir ...

between the Three Gossips. "I didn't see any moral reason not to climb it. I didn't hurt it," 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 Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually ...

, the spire in

Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona ...

that

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...

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."

Highlining and BASE jumping

Potter was known for his exploits in highlining and BASE jumping. He was introduced to

by Charles Victor Tucker III, known as "Chongo", one of the first three people to highline across Lost Arrow Spire. Potter completed a variety of highline-crossings without the benefit of a safety lanyard, backup line or BASE jumping

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, w ...

. Some of these crossings included lines suspended as much as above the ground in

. On August 6, 2008, he completed the first "freebase" ascent of ''Deep Blue Sea'' on the north face of the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that exten ...

. Potter invented freebasing, a combination of

free solo climbing Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individu ...

without the assistance of ropes and – potentially – BASE jumping with a parachute rig attached on the climber's back. In the event of a fall, a climber can revert into a base jump and survive. In 2014, he released a 22-minute-long film, ''When Dogs Fly'', that chronicled the extreme adventures of his

hearing dog A hearing dog is a type of assistance dog specifically selected and trained to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing by alerting their handler to important sounds, such as doorbells, smoke alarms, ringing telephones, or alarm clocks. They ...

, Whisper. The film became a viral phenomenon, but was criticised by

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the s ...

activists.

Death

On May 16, 2015, Potter and Graham Hunt died attempting a proximity wingsuit flight from

Taft Point Taft Point is a viewpoint in Yosemite National Park west of Glacier Point. It offers wide views of Yosemite Valley, Yosemite Falls and El Capitan. The main attraction of Taft Point is the giant fissures in the mile-high granite rock. The fissures ...

above

. 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. Neither of them had deployed their parachutes. Potter's and Graham's deaths brought the total number of BASE jumping death in U.S. national parks in 2015 to five.

Notable ascents

*2002 ''Supercanaleta'', Cerro Fitz Roy,

. First solo of route. *2003 ''Concepcion'' 5.13+ (67m), Day Canyon,

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territ ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. First ascent. *2006 ''Heaven'' (5.12d/13a) Glacier Point,

. First free solo ascent. *2006 ''Southern Belle'' (V 5.12d R/X),

Half Dome Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smo ...

, Yosemite Valley. Second ascent with Leo Houlding. *2008 ''Deep Blue Sea'' (5.12+),

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type= Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. First FreeBASE ascent of the Eiger. *2010 ''The Nose'',

, Yosemite. Fastest ascent at the time (2:36:45), record later broken by Alex Honnold and Hans Florine.

References

External links

Dean's Online Memorial
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9nNk6rotac Video interview about Potter's childhood dreams of flying, wingsuit piloting and BASE jumpingbr>"Dean Potter's Extreme Life in 7 Hair-Raising Videos"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Dean 1972 births 2015 deaths Accidental deaths in California American rock climbers BASE jumping deaths Deaths in Yosemite National Park Free soloists People from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Sportspeople from Kansas Sportspeople from New Hampshire University of New Hampshire alumni Wingsuit flight deaths Laureus World Sports Awards winners