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

BASE jumper BASE jumping () is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna (radio), antenna ...

, and

highliner The Highliner is a bilevel electric multiple unit (EMU) 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 additio ...

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

enchainment In mountaineering and climbing, enchainment (an anglicisation of the French language, French word , 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 series of ...

s in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

and

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

. He won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year in 2003. 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, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

, 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 borders 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

, 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 (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

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, United States. The valley is about long a ...

, in 34 hours and 57 minutes with

Ammon McNeely Ammon McNeely (June 3, 1970 – February 18, 2023) was an American rock climber who specialized in big wall climbing and aid climbing, and who set many speed climbing records and made the first "one-day ascent" for many climbing routes on El Capit ...

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 and

Hans Florine Hans Florine (born June 18, 1964) is an American rock climber, who holds the record for the number of ascents of Yosemite Valley's El Capitan and is known for holding the speed record on '' The Nose'' of Yosemite’s El Capitan 8 different times ...

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 an ...

Arches National Park Arches National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. The park contains more than 2,000 natural arch, natural ...

, 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 is walking, running or balance (ability), balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tension (physics), tensioned between two anchor (climbing), anchors. Slacklining is similar to Slackwire#Slack rope, slack rope walki ...

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 () 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 made from large t ...

, the spire in

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

that

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

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 ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

''. 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."

Highlining, BASE jumping, and FreeBASEing

Potter was also known for highlining and

BASE jumping BASE jumping () is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna (radio), antenna ...

. He was introduced to

by Charles Victor Tucker III, known as "Chongo", one of the first three people to highline across

Lost Arrow Spire Lost Arrow Spire is a detached pillar in Yosemite National Park, in Yosemite Valley, California, located immediately adjacent to Upper Yosemite Falls. The structure includes the ''Lost Arrow Spire Chimney'' route which is recognized in the histor ...

. 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 designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

. Some 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 extends ...

. Potter invented freebasing, a combination of

free solo climbing Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of rock climbing where the climber (or ''free soloist'') climbs Solo climbing, solo (or alone) without Climbing rope, ropes or other Rock climbing equipment#Protection devices, protective equipmen ...

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. In 2014, he released ''When Dogs Fly'', a film charting the adventures of his

hearing dog A hearing dog is a specialized 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. ...

, Whisper. The film went viral but was criticised by

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

campaigners.

Death

On May 16, 2015, Potter and Graham Hunt died attempting a proximity wingsuit flight from Taft Point 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 deaths in U.S. national parks in 2015 to five. Between the years of 2014 and 2019, there were three deaths attributed to BASE jumping in Yosemite, including this incident.

Notable ascents

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

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

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. 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 quartz monzonite batholith 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 s ...

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

Bernese Alps The Bernese Alps are a mountain range of the Alps located in western Switzerland. Although the name suggests that they are located in the Berner Oberland region of the canton of Bern, portions of the Bernese Alps are in the adjacent cantons of Va ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

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

, Yosemite. Fastest ascent at the time (2:36:45), record later broken by

Alex Honnold Alex Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his Free solo climbing, free solo ascents of Big wall climbing, big walls. Honnold rose to worldwide fame in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo a f ...

and

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 Deaths in Yosemite National Park Free soloists Tightrope walkers 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 BASE jumping deaths