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00:13For Dean, it was always about Yosemite, his cathedral, his proving
00:26ground. Dean was in his 30s at this point. Physically, mentally, I think he was still at his high
00:37point as a climber. I realized the clock is ticking. At least most people get weaker soon.
00:47But the mind gets better with age. Creativity becomes more and more. I've never been the
00:57strongest climber, but somehow I seem to, through willpower, pull off big climbs. Creative climbs.
01:07And now, what can I do with total concentration and single focused desire?
01:18At this moment, Dean still had the power to do something really great in the Valley.
01:26Half Dome, of course, had never been free soloed. God, man, could El Cap ever be free soloed?
01:33If you want to have a big impact on climbing, you do something on El Cap or on Half Dome.
01:38The biggest walls and the most important place. Alex Honnold, he had these same ambitions and
01:45he had these same goals. Once again, you're going to have conflict and competition going on.
01:50These two guys duking it out in the most dangerous duel you can imagine. Who was going to be the
01:57first to do these legendary climbs. So amazing climbing is going to happen or somebody might die.
02:12When I was done dying, my conscience regained. So I began my struggle of nothing this strange.
02:20And I dropped about climbing into the night sky. And I said all my prayers because surely I'd die.
02:28As I crashed down and smashed into earth, into dirt. How my skin did explode, leaving only my shirt.
02:35And the earth looked like me and said it wasn't that fun. And I replied, I'm sorry if I hurt
02:41anyone.
02:42She said, better look, next time don't worry so much. Without ears I couldn't hear, I could just feel the
02:49touch.
02:50As I fell asleep softly, the edge of a volcano. I should have gone deeper, but I'm not so afraid.
03:10I was hanging out in Dean's living room in Yosemite and there was a little black book on the table
03:15and I just
03:16picked it up and I was like, oh, this is like Dean's tick list. Secret list of what he's training
03:21for,
03:22what his big dreams are. Top of the list was free solo half dome.
03:30Dean's big breakout moment in the 90s was that speed solo on half dome.
03:37He was sometimes hanging on the rope and pulling on gear.
03:40Dean hadn't yet free soloed half dome. Nobody had.
03:44There's just one blank section at the top that he was too scared to do without a rope.
03:52But he was working towards that goal.
03:56It was going to get extremely close to his limit.
04:00He just kept practicing on it.
04:04Getting more comfortable.
04:10Like, I had heard that Dean wanted to free solo half dome.
04:13And it certainly seemed like something that he maybe could have done at some point.
04:16But he just never did it.
04:18And I don't know, I just thought I could do it.
04:20Well, I mean, I knew I could do it.
04:21I mean, I couldn't do it.
04:22I couldn't do it, I didn't do it.
04:35I knew, I knew I couldn't do it.
04:37So, at that point, I was going to get away from the top.
04:50at that point.
04:52Dean probably could have done it,
04:54and it would have been quite aplomb.
04:56Well, Alex just came and did it.
05:00Dean was super pissed
05:02that Honnold had come and stolen his project.
05:05I mean, he was, like, so territorial, you know.
05:08Alex Honnold, when he did Half Dome,
05:11what was your take on it?
05:15Yeah, you know, I had mixed feelings
05:18when Alex came around, you know,
05:21partially I was like, fuck, I wanted that.
05:24Another part was just like,
05:26that's the way it goes, you know.
05:28Alex has been real competitive with me,
05:31trying to do things that he knows I want to do,
05:33and he's, you know, he's younger,
05:35he's real competitive.
05:36You said, fuck, I wanted that.
05:39So is there a more broad thing
05:40you could explain how that would feel?
05:42It's like, oh, fuck,
05:43he knew that was my life's goal,
05:45and he did it before me
05:47because he was a competitive kind of, like, twerp.
05:53Dean knew there was one big climb
05:57still to be done in Yosemite Valley.
05:59The free solo of El Capitan.
06:03It is always in the collective unconscious
06:05of the Yosemite climber
06:06that free soloing El Cap would be the ultimate
06:09of the ultimate.
06:123,000 feet of steep, overhanging rock climbing.
06:17El Cap is the biggest thing
06:18that anybody would think of free soloing.
06:23Dean said to me many times,
06:25the man who solos El Cap
06:27will be the greatest climber of all time.
06:30I knew that Dean wanted to free solo El Cap
06:32because who doesn't look at El Cap
06:34and want to free solo El Cap
06:37It's more about, like, whether or not
06:38you're capable of it.
06:41At some point, somebody wrote
06:42an outside magazine article
06:44inquiring as to whether Dean or I
06:45would do it first.
06:46Which of these two contenders will it be?
06:48Well, I mean, I know when I read the piece,
06:49I was like, it's going to be me.
06:53Looking up at El Cap
06:56It looks so fucking scary.
06:59Hard to believe some of the things I've done
07:02and almost impossible to believe
07:04what I want to do up there.
07:06Yeah, feeling the competitive pull
07:10seeing that Alex is probably going
07:14to free solo it before me.
07:17Yikes.
07:19Dean was desperate to get it before Alex,
07:22but Potter understood that
07:24if he's going to solo El Cap,
07:26he knew.
07:27Yeah.
07:28Let's try Freebase.
07:31Freebase, climbing with parachute protection.
07:33I invented that,
07:35trying to figure out a way
07:36how I could climb El Cap by myself
07:38with a high likelihood of living.
07:43Before taking it to El Capitan,
07:45Dean started soloing with a bass rig
07:49some of these other wraps in Yosemite.
07:52Hard, hard wraps that had never been free soloed.
08:07E.
08:11E.
08:15Of course, bass jumping
08:18is illegal in Yosemite.
08:19And he's climbing where the rangers can see him.
08:24And as long as I don't fall,
08:26it's legal.
08:29If I do fall
08:31and have to pitch my chute,
08:33the rangers are waiting for me down there.
08:36But I don't care about that.
08:39Whatever it takes,
08:40I'm going to take it further
08:42than anything anybody's free soloed in Yosemite.
08:45Woo!
08:49Glad I had my little friend.
08:51This whole time,
08:53Dean was prepping
08:54for Freebase and El Cap.
08:57To free solo
08:59or Freebase El Cap
09:00meant climbing one of the routes
09:03straight up
09:04the biggest, steepest part of the mountain.
09:07But for the most part,
09:09those climbs are too technically difficult.
09:13Everybody knew
09:14there's only one route
09:16that's remotely possible.
09:18The free rider.
09:19This route,
09:20the hardest pitch
09:21is right in the middle of the wall.
09:23The problem is,
09:24you know, El Cap's like that shape.
09:26And so lower down,
09:27it's not that steep.
09:30If you fall off the hardest section,
09:33you're hitting this slab 80 feet down.
09:39But having a parachute or not
09:40wouldn't affect the fact
09:41that you would bounce off
09:42and, like,
09:43it would be a catastrophic way to die.
09:46But I'll tell you what,
09:48that whole top part of Free Rider
09:51overhangs a little bit.
09:52Dean was pretty convinced
09:54that the upper part of the wall
09:56was actually quite safe
09:57with a parachute.
10:00Oh!
10:03Eventually,
10:04Dean wanted to test
10:05the Freebase
10:06right at the very top of El Cap.
10:08Good.
10:09He rappelled down.
10:11Are those a bunch
10:11of white cars down the road?
10:13But falling with a base rig,
10:15it was illegal,
10:17what we were doing,
10:18and Dean was stressed
10:19about getting caught.
10:20What's that car straight out there?
10:22No tool car or anything?
10:24You think they won't see me?
10:25He came up with the idea
10:26of wearing some sort
10:27of superhero mask.
10:30So he couldn't be identified.
10:33Classic, classic Dean.
10:41Oh, my God.
10:49Oh, my God.
10:56Oh, my God.
11:00Oh, my God.
11:01Oh, my God.
11:02Oh, my God.
11:02Oh, my God.
11:04Oh, my God.
11:04Oh, my God.
11:04Oh, my God.
11:04Oh, my God.
11:05Oh, my God.
11:11Oh, my God.
11:42All right, Brian, let's do this.
11:45Yeah, my name is Brian Smith, and I've been known for adventure filmmaking.
11:50I've got this opportunity for a one-hour special with a big network, you know, a story about
11:55Dean Potter.
11:56Called Dean, he said, it was appealing to do something for mainstream television.
12:05Dean was like, well, I want a solo, a free rider, but I'm not prepared to, like, you
12:10know, top to bottom free solo the whole thing.
12:14But he said, the upper section, I can climb free bays.
12:19In case he fell, he'd be able to jump and pull a parachute.
12:22It's like badass.
12:24Come on over.
12:26When we arrived in Yosemite, Park Service was already on edge.
12:30Like, you're filming Dean Potter?
12:32What?
12:33We're assigned a monitor to follow every single step that we do inside of Yosemite National
12:40Park.
12:40Yeah.
12:42I'm sorry.
12:42So, we started running this interview.
12:44Go over here for a second.
12:45Is that okay?
12:46We're losing light here.
12:48Dean and our Park Service monitor.
12:51It won't be too much longer.
12:52They clearly have a history.
12:53Well, this is for Dean, actually.
12:55If there's any way you could say that some of the activities are in love.
13:00There's, um, you won't censor what I say at all, Catherine, and I won't, I'll, um, so
13:06please don't tell me what to say.
13:07And, um, I, I'd like it best if you couldn't hear my interview because I'm uncomfortable
13:12around the Park Service.
13:13Okay, go ahead.
13:14Go ahead.
13:14Thanks a lot.
13:17I've never had a more intense lead up to a film shoot.
13:23Several days before the climb, with all the drama coming from Park Service, they said there
13:29can be absolutely no base jumping, not a single parachute, nothing.
13:36So you're going to have to climb this, like, without a parachute on your back.
13:41Dean didn't know what to do.
13:45He was freaking out.
13:51His intensity just starts ramping up.
13:56He doesn't want to talk.
13:59You have a million questions, but you probably shouldn't ask him anything.
14:07And eventually, he was like, okay, I'm going to do this without a parachute.
14:13But he was scared.
14:15He didn't know if he could do what he was going to do.
14:19But the whole film crew is here.
14:21He didn't want to bow out.
14:26The day before the climb, we're going up the trail, getting our equipment to the top of
14:34El Cap.
14:35Take that camera.
14:35He had concocted some kind of crazy approach from the top to downclimb, traverse in, and
14:44then free solo the upper section of Freerider.
14:50Camping up there, Dean became more and more distant.
14:56Kept moving his tent further away, just completely separating himself from production.
15:04Everyone on the crew was like, is he okay?
15:07Is he going to survive?
15:08I mean, I barely slept that night.
15:15The morning of, Dean told us, get your shit together, don't fuck it up, and like, be ready
15:23for the shots.
15:28Everyone moved into their positions.
15:31Ready.
15:31Ready?
15:32Yeah.
15:34And got ready for Dean to make a grand appearance.
15:41He had this, like, red, tattered shirt on, and Dean said, oh, this is a shirt my dad gave
15:47to me, and I always wear it on days that I think I'm going to die.
15:53And, I mean, I've worked with professional athletes that are very good at managing risk.
15:59Where most people would stop and be like, okay, I don't feel well, maybe I shouldn't do
16:04this, Dean's feeding off of that energy to, like, kind of push himself forward to the
16:11brink.
16:15Then he started slowly moving across this, like, secret approach.
16:27The ledge, it's getting smaller and smaller.
16:33Squeezing himself through these places.
16:46Eventually, he gets to this hard spot on the upper part of Freerider.
17:01We were shitting ourselves.
17:24We're glad to be through that.
17:31And now, all of a sudden, he's, like, 3,000 feet off the valley floor.
17:35Go.
17:39Go.
17:42I don't know.
18:13He gets up to this section, the off-width.
18:19There's no handholds or footholds.
18:24Just, like, wedging himself in there.
18:32Every move, it's a total fight.
18:38You can see it's taking a toll on him.
18:57It was pins and needles.
18:59And I was right in his face.
19:05Don't move, Brian.
19:13Hit!
19:20Lacey!
19:44This whole time, I was trying to stay focused on the shots,
19:47but I was so scared of making a mistake on the camera side.
19:55You know, you drop the lens cap, you kill the guy.
20:18All of a sudden, somebody comes on the radio.
20:23Tell him to shut up now.
20:25Tell him to shut up.
20:29Please, no radio.
20:30We're in the middle of filming.
20:32No radio.
20:35We're in the middle of filming.
20:53Sorry.
20:55Sorry.
21:17No problem.
21:18Sorry.
21:18I lost it.
21:20He's, like, apologizing to us.
21:26I mean, dude, you don't need to apologize to me.
21:29You're, like, hanging with no rope.
22:14You got to the top.
22:20And it's not, like, a moment of excitement.
22:31I don't know.
22:31I think he's just taking in that he's still there.
22:34And he's still alive.
22:37I was pretty fucking nervous.
22:41I didn't sleep last night and was, like, feverish
22:44and, like, a little bit.
22:46Like, unsettled or very unsettled all night.
22:51And that was my deepest spiritual act right there.
22:55So it's even kind of weird to share it with the camera.
22:58For us as a group, this was a big deal.
23:02For the first time in history,
23:05somebody had free soloed a huge section of El Capitan.
23:09El Capitan's head wall has now been climbed ropeless.
23:12And I think it's just a matter of time.
23:14It really does it from the ground, probably.
23:16There's not too many people in the world that do that.
23:19No, there's one.
23:21Yeah, there's one guy.
23:23And it's not Alex.
23:25It really is, like, the first step towards solo in El Cap.
23:30The most ultimate free solo in the world.
23:33The day after the climb,
23:35there was this complete reset in his personality.
23:40And it was clear that for Dean,
23:44in these on-the-edge life-or-death moments,
23:49there was a payoff.
23:56Like, the death consequence,
23:59as extreme as it is,
24:01it is such a teacher.
24:04It's just so pure, like,
24:07it's like if I live, I'm really happy.
24:10Like, it's that simple.
24:11Like, if I live through this afterwards,
24:14it puts me in this totally different state.
24:17And then it just simplifies, like,
24:20like, how good life is.
24:23If you put your life out there,
24:25you feel these different things.
24:28And they're, like,
24:30we have more in us than we,
24:32than we, most of us realize.
24:34And I still think I'm just tapping into it a little bit.
24:38I'm hungry for this now.
24:40I felt it.
24:42And I want more.
24:45So Dean sold out a route
24:47that he called the easy rider.
24:48That was, like, the first volley,
24:50his own personal step toward free soloing El Cap.
24:52To me, I was like, oh, that's creative.
24:54That's interesting.
24:55Power to him.
24:55Like, that's cool.
24:56But it's a long ways away
24:58from actually doing the hard thing.
24:59You know, now you only have to worry
25:00about the bottom 2,500 feet.
25:03But Dean had a vision.
25:05He had plans.
25:06Dean cooked up a concept
25:08to go way off to the left-hand side of El Cap
25:10to solo this route called the West Face route.
25:13It's a little smaller
25:14and by itself not considered
25:17one of the big, proud, real El Cap routes.
25:20But it just happens to go right into
25:23that circuitous link-up
25:25that he had figured out to the top.
25:27He called it the West Rider.
25:30It was soloing the West Face
25:32into the free rider finish.
25:34He had found a way
25:36he could claim to be the first person
25:38to free solo El Cap.
25:40Super inspired by the idea
25:42of this West Rider route.
25:44Picking away at that.
25:46Seems like it will come into doable
25:48sometime this spring.
25:50You know, Dean was pretty secretive
25:51about the whole thing.
25:53This climb was really important to him.
25:56But Alex heard that
25:58he was planning on doing that.
25:59I don't know who leaked it.
26:01I'd heard rumor that Dean
26:02was going to solo the West Face of El Cap
26:04and connect it over into the Easy Rider.
26:06And that, to me, felt slightly threatening.
26:08And if he did that,
26:09mainstream media would have no,
26:11you know, like it would be considered
26:12the first free solo of El Cap.
26:13But that's the most weaselly way
26:15to free solo El Cap.
26:16The idea of somebody doing this
26:17like sneaky little reach around
26:19where they start on the side,
26:20they finish in the middle,
26:21they call it an El Cap route.
26:22I was like, that is a hard no.
26:24I was like, that is doing
26:24a disservice to El Cap.
26:26Honnold's like defending
26:27the honor of El Cap.
26:29Like, that is an achievement
26:30below the dignity of El Capitan.
26:33So, yeah, so what was your,
26:34what action did you take?
26:36I knew that if I free soloed
26:38the West Face before him,
26:39Dean wouldn't be able to claim it
26:41as this like first free solo of El Cap.
26:43And then I just went and did it
26:46with no fanfare.
26:49West Face, 5-1-C, solo.
26:52Good times, but climbed too tensely
26:53on bottom, overgripped.
26:54This was a preemptive strike.
26:58Honnold just sort of took
26:59the glory out of it,
27:00stole the thunder.
27:02I was hanging out with Honnold.
27:03Alex goes, Dean was trying
27:05to do that thing on the,
27:06on the West Face,
27:07and I nipped that one in the bud,
27:09and I just ran up there
27:10and did that right away.
27:11There's no way he's going
27:12to call that solo in El Cap.
27:14And I was like, wait a second.
27:18This is a whole other level, right?
27:21It really illuminated
27:22the life and death struggle
27:25that was playing out
27:26between these two.
27:28As I suspected,
27:29it sort of took the wind
27:29out of Dean's sails,
27:30and then he never sold the West Face
27:31and sort of let the whole thing go.
27:33Put the, put the nail
27:34in the coffin.
27:39Having my projects done by others
27:46will just help me lose my overinflated ego.
27:53Yeah, feeling all sorts of different pulls.
27:56Not sure.
27:57Always not sure.
27:59Not sure.
28:03I think very few of us in our lives
28:05will ever experience anything
28:07like what Dean experienced
28:08relative to Alex Honnold.
28:10It makes for fun sports journalism,
28:12but if you put yourself in Dean's heart,
28:14as someone who hangs your ego
28:16on one or two little things,
28:18you hang your self-esteem
28:19on, on a few fragile little hooks,
28:22it doesn't get any easier
28:23as you get older.
28:24The, um, the blows only hurt more.
28:29And Honnold just kept going.
28:31The 2012 climbing season
28:33in Yosemite.
28:352012 was a big fucking year
28:36because I basically did everything
28:38that Dean had ever done
28:40or wanted to do.
28:43And generally in better style
28:45and, you know, faster and whatever.
28:48Yeah, poor Dean.
28:50In that period in the Valley,
28:52Alex systematically demolishes
28:55Dean's records, Dean's projects.
28:58They're pretty good.
28:58Dean wanted to do this thing
29:00called the triple link-up.
29:02Of course, Honnold did it first.
29:04I rope-soloed the triple.
29:06Totally something that Dean
29:07should have done if he thought he could.
29:09Then right after that,
29:10I broke Dean's speed record
29:12on the nose on El Cap.
29:13Honnold teams up
29:14with Dean's old nemesis, Hans Florine.
29:18Honnold called me and said,
29:20dude, we're getting this frickin' record.
29:21Come on, Alex.
29:22I was a little stunned
29:24that he was so fiercely competitive.
29:28Yeah, I mean, I'm competitive,
29:30you know, like if I'm playing
29:31somebody ping pong, I want to win.
29:32We totally smoked it.
29:35Alex just obliterates everything.
29:37There's almost a cruelty to it.
29:39With all respect to Dean.
29:41It just happens over and over again.
29:43The guy seeks out my projects
29:45and does them before me,
29:47and I do nothing to try to stop him.
29:49I think the most brutal moment
29:51was when Alex repeated
29:53the free solo of heaven.
29:55Dean had free soloed
29:56that super hard crack route
29:58where he got to the top
29:59and he let out this primal scream.
30:01Ooh! Ooh!
30:02Ooh!
30:03He's proven himself as a warrior
30:05and joined the demigods.
30:08Alex gets a call from some tech company.
30:10They want to shoot an ad with him.
30:12I have a website
30:12because I need a way
30:13to put myself forward.
30:14Well, I could just do laps up and down
30:16so you guys could shoot it
30:17a whole bunch of times.
30:18No big deal.
30:19I'm Alex Honnold
30:19and this is my Squarespace.
30:21At some point,
30:22I saw a voicemail on my phone
30:24from Dean
30:25that was several minutes long
30:28ranting about me
30:29respecting his project,
30:32respecting my elders
30:33and my lack of propriety in climbing.
30:35I was like,
30:36oh no, this is all bad.
30:39But it's kind of like,
30:41okay, there's no more competition.
30:42It's just done.
30:47For Dean,
30:49the writing was on the wall.
30:51The future had arrived
30:53and he was no longer it.
30:56So that's painful.
30:58Dean knew that his time
31:00as the king of Yosemite
31:03was over.
31:05And I don't think he could handle that.
31:09Dean was lost.
31:11It was one of those periods
31:12where he was incredibly difficult.
31:17Eventually,
31:17he would alienate himself
31:19from everyone in his life.
31:21I was like a reporter for the Mags
31:22and I wrote this little article
31:24about what he was doing on El Cap.
31:27And he came up to me,
31:29was like,
31:30I need to talk to you, Cedar,
31:31and grabbed the handlebars of my bike
31:34and just started pushing me backwards
31:35away from the group, dude.
31:37And was basically like,
31:38if you ever talk about
31:39one of my projects again,
31:41like,
31:42I'm going to fucking kill you.
31:43Like, that was the vibe.
31:45And I was just like,
31:46gulp, you know?
31:46You guys were friends.
31:47Dude, we were like,
31:48really good friends.
31:49And then dude,
31:50he would just snap on you,
31:51you know?
31:52And that was the beginning
31:54of the end
31:56for me,
31:57of my friendship with Dean.
31:58Over the years,
32:00this is something
32:01that all friends of Dean endured.
32:04Anger and frustration
32:06and jealousy.
32:09Whatever thing inside him
32:11that got triggered.
32:13I was the first of us
32:14to break up with Dean.
32:17We did the raddest shit.
32:20Timmy led us here.
32:21And it was the most fun
32:22and most out there.
32:24I took a pretty nice whipper,
32:2640 footer or something.
32:27I caught it.
32:28Timmy caught it,
32:29got throttled a little.
32:31But then,
32:32when I started to be recognized
32:33for my own climbing,
32:35I started to travel the world.
32:36I became competition.
32:38And it's like,
32:39what?
32:40Like, what the fuck happened?
32:42I did try and be like,
32:44you know, like,
32:45what's up, dude?
32:45Like, what's going on?
32:47It's because I heard
32:48you're taking all the credit.
32:49I'm like, what?
32:51Really?
32:52Like,
32:54Dean didn't know how to share.
32:56Basically,
32:57is what it comes down to.
32:59He did not know how
33:00to be gracious
33:02with another person's light.
33:06I would see him all the time,
33:07but it was always like,
33:12you know,
33:13shields up.
33:14Got to protect myself.
33:16What do you want?
33:17Dude,
33:18I want it to be easy.
33:22Yeah, Bradley.
33:24For me,
33:25the end of the road
33:26is a certain point in time
33:28where for years,
33:29Dean and I had been working
33:31on this film project
33:32that expresses his art.
33:35And he thought
33:37this was going to be
33:37a big deal.
33:38I think as his climbing
33:40legacy was ending,
33:42this film was going
33:45to be his redemption.
33:47He wanted, like,
33:48a theatrical release.
33:49You know,
33:50he wanted
33:50an orchestral score.
33:54And it just kept growing.
33:58It was incredibly taxing.
34:01He would get so mad.
34:02He would get so frustrated.
34:03We'd be editing
34:04in my little bedroom.
34:05I made the cut
34:06that he didn't want to make.
34:08And he was having
34:09a psychotic fucking break.
34:12He grabbed me.
34:13He fucking lifted me
34:15out of that chair.
34:15Like,
34:16he just fucking takes the swing
34:18and he, like,
34:18stops it on my nose.
34:20He's, like,
34:20pressing against my nose
34:22just to let me know.
34:27I don't know.
34:28I remember what I said,
34:30but in essence,
34:30it was like,
34:31we're done.
34:32Take this equipment,
34:33take the foot,
34:34take everything.
34:35We're done.
34:35I can't have this
34:38in my life anymore.
34:39Like,
34:40it's not healthy.
34:42He just stormed out.
34:46A couple of days after,
34:47he's like,
34:48I want everything
34:50you've ever shot.
34:51It belongs to me.
34:53You sign off rights
34:54to it forever.
34:55I was like,
34:56that sounds fucking great,
34:57actually.
34:58So we have decided
35:01we aren't working
35:02together anymore.
35:03He had drawn up
35:04a document
35:05signing over everything.
35:07It says,
35:09Brad Lynch and Dean Potter,
35:10business separation.
35:11Brad Lynch releases
35:12all his rights
35:12to all footage
35:13he ever shot
35:14of Dean Potter.
35:15Yep.
35:16Yep.
35:16He's like,
35:17I'll give you $13,000.
35:19No bad-mouthing.
35:20Total non-disclosure
35:21about creative process
35:22and conduct.
35:22The one exception
35:23is talking to a therapist
35:25who has signed
35:25a specific non-disclosure.
35:27I spent all that money
35:28on just fucking
35:30mental health care.
35:32Ten years
35:33I spent in therapy.
35:34Ten fucking years.
35:36Dean and I,
35:37we never spoke again.
35:39All right.
35:40As friends.
35:49I'm sorry.
35:50I, it's fucking.
35:56Over time,
35:57Dean lost a lot
35:58of people in his life.
36:00His friends,
36:01they're dropping out.
36:03Well, there you are.
36:04That's kind of cool.
36:05Aside from all
36:06the emotional drama,
36:07you know,
36:07I still believe in Dean.
36:09You know,
36:10I fucking love that guy.
36:11Like, your eyes
36:12and his,
36:13the screen.
36:14Sometimes it felt like
36:15I was the last man standing.
36:17But I knew
36:18that he needed support.
36:20He needed a friend.
36:24He hadn't had
36:25a serious romantic
36:27relationship
36:27since Steph.
36:30He said,
36:31hey, Winky.
36:31I go, what?
36:32He goes,
36:33I need your help.
36:34I'm like, what?
36:35He goes,
36:35I can't get laid.
36:36I'm like,
36:37I'm not going to help you.
36:38I just need to get laid.
36:39I go, no, no, no.
36:40You need a lot more than that.
36:41You're just lying
36:42to yourself, right?
36:44I go,
36:44until you get yourself
36:45square with yourself,
36:46dude,
36:47it's,
36:47you're not going to,
36:48it's not going to happen.
36:49Or,
36:50you're going to make
36:50some really serious mistakes.
36:55And that's when
36:56he got involved
36:56with this woman.
36:59She was this
37:00cool,
37:01intelligent person.
37:02But something wasn't right
37:04with her mental health.
37:06He could tell.
37:09And after,
37:09like,
37:10a short period of time,
37:12Dean tried to end it.
37:13But she wouldn't let go.
37:15And he continued
37:16to reject her.
37:21Dean comes back
37:22to his house,
37:23and there's her car
37:25sitting in the driveway.
37:26And there she is
37:27in the driver's seat,
37:29slumped over.
37:30She had taken
37:31a bunch of barbiturates.
37:34Dean tried to resuscitate her,
37:36called the rangers.
37:38By the time
37:39the park service responded,
37:41she had passed.
37:51Imagine
37:52how it must have felt to him.
37:57But honestly,
37:58he didn't even
38:00ever talk about it.
38:01I was like,
38:02dude,
38:02what,
38:03what happened there?
38:04He's like,
38:04she had some problems.
38:06And that was it.
38:07That was it.
38:09But I could tell
38:11he was extremely agitated.
38:15I can see the turmoil,
38:18the darkness.
38:19He was really fucking low.
38:23And to understand
38:24this all happened
38:26two weeks
38:26before he goes to China.
38:34Chinese state television
38:35proposed that Dean
38:37come to China
38:38to do these stunts.
38:42Slacklining
38:43and bass jumping.
38:46They're going to put it
38:47on live TV
38:48in this country
38:49of a billion people.
38:51They were offering him
38:52quite a bit of money.
38:54I believe it was
38:55$200,000 cash.
38:593, 2, 1,åŠ æ²¹!
39:04He wants
39:04me to come
39:05along and help
39:06out film the
39:07process. I was
39:08like, okay,
39:09okay, cool,
39:10cool, cool, you know?
39:11But I'm
39:12thinking, fuck, this
39:13guy is
39:14in a really weird
39:15fucking headset.
39:17He's way
39:18too tense for anything good
39:20to happen out
39:20of this. Immediately, they
39:23bring us
39:23to a fucking
39:24Chinese Hooters.
39:28which is so weird.
39:32Then we go
39:33to this five-star hotel
39:35and there's
39:36a press conference.
39:39It was his 40th birthday
39:41on that particular day.
39:42One, two, three.
39:44Happy birthday
39:45to the press conference.
39:47Happy Thursday
39:48to the Republican
39:50like that.
39:51We get to this place
39:53middle of nowhere
39:54in China
39:55and there's
39:55these incredible mountains.
39:58There's TV trucks
39:59and people everywhere.
40:03There was Mike Beck,
40:04Dean's lawyer,
40:05and Forrest,
40:06the translator.
40:07I'm Forrest Liu.
40:09I'm a climber
40:10and a slide-line walker.
40:12My job was to be
40:14Dean Potter's
40:15translator and assistant.
40:17I feel so excited
40:19because,
40:20oh, this is
40:20an American legend.
40:22Dean was, like,
40:23cool guy,
40:25really friendly.
40:26He's getting along
40:28with the local villagers,
40:29but I can see
40:31the situation for him.
40:33It's crazy.
40:34People on the cameras
40:36everywhere.
40:37Dean has to deal
40:39with that
40:40because they pay him.
40:42In the days
40:43leading up to the big event,
40:45Chinese state television
40:46was filming promotional content
40:48for the broadcast.
40:50So the first order
40:51of business
40:51is a base jump,
40:53but there's all
40:53these people up there
40:55swarming around
40:56the cliff edge.
40:58One of the cameramen
40:59from the television
41:00called Beetle.
41:02He's kind of wild man.
41:03It makes everybody nervous.
41:06He's want to go
41:07close to Dean,
41:10but that was the cliff.
41:12No, Beetle.
41:13Don't let him try.
41:14No, Beetle.
41:17You, Beetle.
41:18Hey, no, no, no.
41:19He could kill her.
41:21We got to calm
41:21everything down.
41:23No, stop it.
41:23Beetle.
41:24You stay there.
41:25You stay there.
41:26Hey, Beetle.
41:27You stay there.
41:27Tell him I'm fucking serious
41:29and he's got to calm down.
41:31Dean, calm down
41:32to help Beetle.
41:34Come on.
41:35Go down.
41:36Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
41:39Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
41:40Any good?
41:41Tell him I will say
41:42three, two, one, go.
41:46Seven, six,
41:48five,
41:49five,
41:50three,
41:51one,
41:51wait.
41:51I'm going to count it.
41:53Okay, count it.
41:54Ready?
41:54Go.
41:56Three,
41:57two,
41:58one.
41:59See ya.
42:05You know,
42:06throughout his career,
42:07Dean had tried
42:09to straddle
42:10an ethical divide
42:12between his art
42:15and commerce,
42:17between pure motivation
42:18and impure.
42:20Nice meeting you.
42:21My name's Jackie.
42:22Nice meeting you, too.
42:23What's the score?
42:24Well, how would you score
42:25your flight this time?
42:27I never score my flight.
42:30I have no competition
42:32or no scoring system.
42:34Okay.
42:35This is art.
42:36This is spirituality.
42:37Mr. Porter
42:38This is as commercial
42:40as he can get.
42:41And he knew that.
42:42But he's still resisting it.
42:44Very, very,
42:45thank you,
42:45Harry Potter.
42:46Not Harry Potter,
42:46sorry.
42:47Dean Potter!
42:51Pretty outrageous
42:52out here.
42:54In a few days
42:56on live TV,
42:57it's the main event.
42:59Dean's got to walk
43:00this solo highline
43:01no leash.
43:03The line
43:04was about 130 feet.
43:07It's longer
43:08than anything
43:09he's ever soloed.
43:11And Dean out there
43:12playing around
43:12on his line.
43:13He's going to have
43:14to walk this slackline
43:15on command.
43:17Hunan Television Station
43:19is the most popular
43:21one in China.
43:22And it's a live show.
43:24I think the organizers
43:26are getting nervous.
43:28It can be a legend
43:30or a disaster.
43:32And we notice
43:33there's this huge
43:34cargo net laid out.
43:36So this is the net,
43:37huh?
43:38Use a safety net
43:39to put below him.
43:41And Dean's like,
43:42what the fuck is this?
43:43What is this?
43:44And they go,
43:45well, we know
43:45we want to put
43:46this net there
43:46just to make sure,
43:48you know,
43:48we don't want you
43:49dying on Chinese
43:50state television.
43:51And Dean was like,
43:52I don't fucking need it.
43:53No, no fucking way.
43:55I'm not a fucking
43:56circus performer.
43:58And this is a real
43:59deal for him.
44:00So the planners are like,
44:02okay,
44:02we won't use
44:03the safety net.
44:05So it looks like
44:05they're trying
44:06to rig the net.
44:07But then we see
44:08him installing
44:08the safety net.
44:10We need to know
44:10your plan.
44:11Yeah.
44:12Like, are these guys,
44:13like, you're studying
44:14And they tell Dean,
44:15don't worry,
44:16no one will know
44:16what's there.
44:19He goes into this rant
44:20about how they're
44:21making him look stupid.
44:23What's going on, Dean?
44:24We've done everything
44:24we've said,
44:25and they keep lying to us.
44:27I've done everything.
44:28I told the truth.
44:30And now, you know,
44:31I had to lie
44:32on the fucking radio station,
44:35on the TV station right there.
44:37I'm not going to lie anymore.
44:38You know,
44:39I wouldn't tell everybody
44:39there's a big fucking net
44:41underneath me.
44:42Like, in that Hunan
44:43there's a bunch
44:43of fucking liars.
44:46I was kind of
44:47the middleman.
44:48If I translate
44:49directly to Chinese,
44:51everything's going
44:51to be messed up.
44:55Meanwhile,
44:56the money was supposed
44:58to be in the escrow account
45:00back in the United States.
45:02And the guaranteed payment
45:03has not been paid.
45:05And he says,
45:06no money,
45:06that's it.
45:07I'm out of here.
45:08That's bullshit.
45:11Bye-bye.
45:12Sorry.
45:12Bye-bye.
45:14So...
45:14No, bye-bye.
45:16Bye-bye.
45:17We go home now.
45:18Yeah, yeah.
45:18Enough.
45:20Bye-bye.
45:21Bye-bye.
45:23Nobody want him
45:24go back to America.
45:25That's okay.
45:26I go bye-bye.
45:28So I have to try
45:30to calm him down.
45:31And I walk away
45:32and go home.
45:33Don't do that.
45:34No, no, no.
45:35Dean digs his heels
45:36in there and says,
45:37look, either I get the money
45:38or I'm done
45:39with this thing.
45:40Sure enough,
45:41they bring in duffel bags
45:43stuffed with cash.
45:46That was all very mafia.
45:49Now he's got his money
45:50and there's no net.
45:53Uh...
45:57Before he solos this thing,
45:58he's got a few days
45:59to practice
46:00with his leash
46:01and he would
46:01try to walk the line.
46:21And he couldn't.
46:25He was nervous.
46:32And we're talking,
46:33this is not a master
46:35we saw in a movie.
46:36What's going on?
46:46He kept falling
46:48and falling.
46:51When he was trying
46:52to practice,
46:53there are tons
46:54of cameramen.
46:56It was hard
46:57for him to focus.
46:59Go away.
47:00Go away.
47:10Dean could not
47:11walk that line.
47:13But he had no choice.
47:14He had to walk the line.
47:20if you fall right at the beginning it's not too bad to catch and save yourself
47:26but toward the middle something that long
47:31it gets wobbly definitely like way harder to catch
47:42without the leash if you miss the line you're in the void
47:53dean was so fucking stressed
47:58and he goes okay so where's the butt weed and i was like what he goes the butt weed
48:05you know the weed that you put up your butt to bring over here i go i didn't put any
48:08weed up my butt dude
48:11he tore into me he told me how worthless i was
48:18i'm lazy and what a mistake it was to bring me here
48:24and i just ran into my room
48:30and i just started to cry
48:32i never felt so betrayed
48:38like
48:41i gave him everything i had
48:51the next morning was the day of the live event
48:54how do you feel now
48:59feel just trying to relax it's like totally unknown whether i make it across or not
49:20i'm looking at dean and i could see him collapsing inside
49:25i could see it like in his eyes it's not there he doesn't have it that day
49:33and dean looks at me and goes okay winky if i fall right you come down you don't let anyone
49:38touch
49:38my body you take care of me you're gonna take care of me right and i'm like yeah dude i'm
49:43gonna take
49:43care of you right it's not a problem man you're my brother it was just everything bad coming to a
49:53head
49:54how do you feel now i'm just trying to call myself
49:57i was just thinking this is a guy that gave everything to master his arts
50:05and now this is it
50:08risking your life for a couple fistful of dollars
50:20i don't know
50:25everybody is utterly quiet like the whole world is frozen
50:31that's more than a hundred million people are watching
51:09i don't know
51:12I've seen many times have suffered a failure.
51:19It's a clear breath.
51:25It's probably the hardest part of the middle.
51:27Out in the middle of the line, it starts to look wobbly.
51:38And I'm like, fuck.
51:42And I was just fucking willing.
52:13And the last 10 minutes.
52:19Let's go.
52:20Let's go.
52:20Let's go.
52:22Let's go.
52:23Let's go.
52:26Let's go.
52:51So he gets to the end of this line.
52:53And on this live feed, we can hear him sobbing.
53:00I can feel that we can hear him sobbing.
53:07He's crying.
53:08I'm crying.
53:09I'm crying.
53:09Cooler.
53:12Wow.
53:13Wow.
53:21he had just gone to the deepest darkest place he possibly could to stay alive
53:31but he had lost touch with himself as an artist
53:36and a friend it's like he made it across the line
53:44but he was a broken man
54:16so
54:25so
54:29so
54:35so
54:41so
54:42so
54:46so
54:48so
54:48so
54:59so
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