Dean Potter Dies In Yosemite BASE Jump Attempt

Dean Potter, a climbing and extreme sports legend, was one of the two BASE jumpers found dead in Yosemite National Park over the weekend. He was 43.

Dean Potter Dies

Potter and 29-year-old Graham Hunt’s bodies were found Sunday afternoon during a helicopter search of Yosemite National Park, park spokesman Scott Gediman told CNN.

Late Saturday, both Potter and Hunt were reported missing by friends. The two were doing a BASE jump from Taft Point into Yosemite Valley wearing wingsuits. The aerial descent measured roughly 3,500 feet. It is unknown exactly what caused the jump to go awry, but neither of the jumpers’ parachutes deployed, Yosemite chief of staff Mike Gauthier told the Los Angeles Times.

“I wouldn’t have expected this to happen. I don’t even know how it could have happened. I’m really surprised, because Dean was safe,” Potter’s friend Charles “Chongo Chuck” Tucker told CNN. “These sports, you can be safer than people think, but you just … really can make no mistakes at all. A single mistake, that can be the end of everything.”

Potter and Hunt’s bodies were discovered on the wall of rock along Yosemite Valley. The men, who jumped at the same time, both landed on the rock outcropping below their jump-off location on Taft Point. It is thought that the men may have been trying to clear a “notch” on the mountain and ended up slamming into it instead, according to the L.A. Times.

“I can’t emphasize enough how tragic this is,” Gediman said. “Dean just loved Yosemite. He loved the park and everything it stood for.”