- 17 hours ago
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00:00:08Hi, buddy.
00:00:11Oh, oh, oh.
00:00:15You gonna fly with me, pal?
00:00:18Yeah.
00:00:24Right now, I'm going down this path of learning and pushing myself more in the flying arts.
00:00:41The wingsuit is basically a flying squirrel suit.
00:00:48You get little wings between your arms and legs that allow you to glide.
00:00:55The shape of the suit changes downward speed to forward speed.
00:01:02So I can shoot through the air at 100 miles an hour.
00:01:08This amazing feeling just spreading your wings and soaring unhindered by earthly bounds.
00:01:39It's the evolution of human flight.
00:01:44And I don't know where it's gonna lead, but that's where I'm headed.
00:02:00When I was done dying, my conscience regained.
00:02:04So I began my struggle of nothingness strained.
00:02:08And I dreamt about climbing into the night sky.
00:02:11And I said all my prayers because surely I'd die.
00:02:15As I crashed down and smashed into earth, into dirt.
00:02:19How my skin did explode, leaving only my shirt.
00:02:22And the earth went through me and said it wasn't that fun.
00:02:26And I'm reborn, I'm sorry if I hurt anyone.
00:02:30She said better luck next time, don't worry so much.
00:02:34Without ears I couldn't hear, I could just feel the touch.
00:02:37As I could sleep softly, the edge of the world came on.
00:02:42I should've gone deeper, but I'm not so brave.
00:03:01Wow.
00:03:03In China, Dean was at the end of the line.
00:03:07He's done, he's spent.
00:03:13I mean, yeah, I was fucking pissed.
00:03:16The way he treated me was so unacceptable.
00:03:21Right after the walk, Dean comes up to me, looks at me, he goes,
00:03:28I'm sorry.
00:03:31And I was like, for what?
00:03:39I can understand his anger toward me was his anger toward himself.
00:03:44Because he kind of felt like he sold out.
00:03:46He had been driving off every person in his life.
00:03:51When we got back to the States, he was pretty fucking vulnerable and very quiet, not being around anybody.
00:04:03It's late.
00:04:05It's late.
00:04:05Around 1016.
00:04:07Got a good wood fire going.
00:04:10I don't want to, I just want to escape society.
00:04:17Just go off into never, never land.
00:04:24Having these massive snowstorms here in Yosemite, the valley's closed, the electricity's out.
00:04:32And part of me just wants to be some simple guy that just lives alone with a lover girl.
00:04:42Maybe somehow I'm supposed to be the spiritual master.
00:04:46I'm so far from that.
00:04:51Oh, yeah.
00:04:53Coffee's an amazing drug.
00:04:56Feeling all sorts of energy.
00:04:59Thinking that a big change is coming.
00:05:06I feel guilt about the way I treated people.
00:05:11Things I've done.
00:05:16Need to start doing all the things I know are right.
00:05:22Maybe this is the beginning.
00:05:33Back in 2006, when I worked at Patagonia, Dean was one of their ambassadors.
00:05:40And he was fired for climbing the Delicate Arch.
00:05:45After Dean left Patagonia, I didn't hear much about him for a while.
00:05:50And then a few years later, I ran into Dean at the outdoor retailer show.
00:05:56He saw me.
00:05:57He was like, hey, you know, how are you?
00:05:59We gave each other a hug, like catching up.
00:06:01And he said that he'd been through kind of hell and back.
00:06:05He had lost friends.
00:06:08He was just like very open about everything.
00:06:11It was really nice to reconnect with Dean.
00:06:15And then he's like, how's your marriage?
00:06:18And I was like, it's great.
00:06:21Everything's great.
00:06:22All's good.
00:06:23Great to see you, Dean.
00:06:25And then later that night, I was mad at myself for not answering honestly.
00:06:31In reality, I wasn't happily married.
00:06:34We were struggling as a couple.
00:06:37But we had children.
00:06:39And I thought I would never leave that relationship.
00:06:44After that meeting, Dean and I, we ran into each other a couple times.
00:06:49And like, we had so much fun.
00:06:51We had a similar interest in arrowheads.
00:06:54He would send me a picture when he found an arrowhead in Yosemite.
00:06:58I would send pieces that I would find in Santa Barbara.
00:07:02For a while, Dean and I were just friends.
00:07:07But once I realized we had feelings for one another, it was like, all right, it's time to end my
00:07:15marriage.
00:07:16But all signs pointed to, like, this is a really bad idea.
00:07:22I happened to be a spokesperson and publicist for the company that famously fired Dean.
00:07:27All my friends, especially at Patagonia, were going, what the fuck are you doing?
00:07:33Have you gone crazy and left your husband for Dean Potter?
00:07:40You're ruining your family, you're ruining your career.
00:07:44Despite all that, when I was with Dean, I just felt good about myself.
00:07:53I've never felt more, you know, alive.
00:08:00And so, one minute, I'm being a mom and working in Santa Barbara.
00:08:06The next minute, I would find myself on the rock wall with Dean.
00:08:11He'd blame me, afraid I was gonna die.
00:08:15There you go.
00:08:17Yeah, perfect.
00:08:19The excitement and risk.
00:08:21Your job.
00:08:22I realized I needed that.
00:08:27Holy shit, Dean!
00:08:30Step back up, dude! Step back up!
00:08:35We were genuinely in love.
00:08:39Like, at that time in my life, I had not experienced something like that.
00:08:45Hey, buddy. Good thing I'm not jealous.
00:08:49Dean, in his best moments, is better than anything.
00:09:05So, suddenly, Dean found himself in a relationship with somebody with very young children.
00:09:14And he totally surprised me.
00:09:18He placed such value on the kids.
00:09:21Show me how to jump!
00:09:23Everybody! Woo! Yeah!
00:09:25He very much thought about his role in their life.
00:09:28Nice one, Roro! Yeah!
00:09:30And the impact on them.
00:09:31Happy birthday to you!
00:09:35Hi!
00:09:37I loved bringing the children to Yosemite.
00:09:41Just be playful with it and jump right up on it.
00:09:44Don't worry if you fall 20 times or 100 times.
00:09:47See, now this is the movement.
00:09:50Walk backwards if you want.
00:09:53These kids...
00:09:55They were fascinated by Dean.
00:09:57Jump up on it.
00:09:58I don't know, he seemed like a cool guy to me always.
00:10:00And we'd be real excited when he was gonna come over.
00:10:03Good! Nice!
00:10:05We can go climbing every once in a while.
00:10:08We can go out there and...
00:10:09He was always trying to teach us how to do stuff.
00:10:11All the way!
00:10:12Dean's unique way of loving.
00:10:15To the next one! Again!
00:10:16I look back and being like,
00:10:17Rowan, climb this, go up 25 feet!
00:10:20You're gonna break both your legs if you fall, so...
00:10:23So be really careful, but do it.
00:10:27I was sitting up there trying.
00:10:30But looking back on it,
00:10:32I don't think risk is bad at all.
00:10:33I think risk is really important.
00:10:35I won't touch it.
00:10:35To grow and try new things.
00:10:38Yeah!
00:10:39Nice, Roro!
00:10:39These kids, they loved him.
00:10:41He was Dee Dee.
00:10:43Great to meet you.
00:10:45Hi, Dee Dee.
00:10:46I love you so much!
00:10:49I think my brother always had that longing for a stable, calm, loving home.
00:10:58And we didn't have that because of my parents' divorce and the stress in their marriage.
00:11:06That helmet's pretty cute.
00:11:08Dean had always been driven in a way that didn't have a lot of space for other people.
00:11:15Whoa!
00:11:16She'll still do okay.
00:11:17And it was quite a process of him learning how to love.
00:11:24Jen and the kids, you know, they were just a beautiful gift.
00:11:32But, of course, Dean still had his struggles.
00:11:37It wasn't all smiles, that's for sure.
00:11:41His whole life he had such severe depression.
00:11:47He didn't have an easy path.
00:11:50I remember he'd come over and sometimes he'd bum out.
00:11:54He'd get real bummed, yeah.
00:11:55Blanket over him and sitting underneath that all day long.
00:11:59For days.
00:12:00Just sitting on the couch.
00:12:02Be a different person at times, that's for sure.
00:12:06Dean knew something was wrong with his brain.
00:12:09There was something chemically off with him that made him struggle more than the average person.
00:12:15And he really wanted to fix it.
00:12:19We saw Western doctors.
00:12:21Eastern doctors.
00:12:24Naturopaths.
00:12:26He went on this fucking mung bean diet.
00:12:30Wheat gives me the walking farts.
00:12:33He wasn't willing to take antidepressants because I think he didn't want to lose whatever edge his mental illness gave
00:12:40him.
00:12:41Like, his drive, his ideas, his dark arts, as he called them.
00:12:47Like, you take the darkness away and, you know, you're just a creepy wizard, not the dark wizard.
00:12:55Come on.
00:12:57Come on.
00:12:58But nothing helped him more than Whisper.
00:13:03Yeah.
00:13:04Good girl.
00:13:08She was his princess.
00:13:11I see the crystal raindrops fall.
00:13:14And the beauty of it all is when the sun comes shining through.
00:13:19Come on, Whis.
00:13:20Dean became a total softie around Whisper.
00:13:23Good girl.
00:13:24When I think of you sometime.
00:13:26And I want to spend some time.
00:13:27We love the doggie.
00:13:30Look at how you use Whisper.
00:13:32We can't make it if we try.
00:13:35Whisper was very much her father's daughter.
00:13:38She's a complete asshole 90% of the time.
00:13:43And the sweetest thing, 10%.
00:13:46Whisper bit the children.
00:13:48Whisper bit a lot of people.
00:13:51Whisper.
00:13:52You don't bite.
00:13:53No biting.
00:13:54But to Dean, she was the most loyal dog on the planet.
00:13:57And Dean needed a lot of validation.
00:14:00Good, good, good.
00:14:02She basically wouldn't let anyone near Dean.
00:14:06She was Dean's emotional support animal.
00:14:08You don't want to crash.
00:14:09So he brought that dog everywhere.
00:14:12Darling, when the morning comes.
00:14:15And I see the morning sun.
00:14:18I want to be the one with you.
00:14:20Good girl.
00:14:23We had to climb with Whisper all the time.
00:14:27She went on the side of El Cap with us.
00:14:29Good girl.
00:14:31Whisper, you like it?
00:14:34Whisper flew to Switzerland eight times.
00:14:38Climb the Jungfrau, rope between us.
00:14:41Went over crevasses.
00:14:42When Dean was like, hey, we might fall in a crevasse.
00:14:45He wasn't like, here's how you save yourself.
00:14:47He was like, here's how you save Whisper.
00:14:56At that time, Dean was laser focused on wingsuit base jumping.
00:15:17That was rad!
00:15:21We would walk up to an exit.
00:15:23And when Dean would jump, Whisper would bark.
00:15:26She would try to run after him.
00:15:29And he thought, that was sad.
00:15:32So Dean was like, hey, if I can climb with her, maybe I can base jump with her.
00:15:37I remember him saying, why am I not jumping with Whisper?
00:15:40And I was like, well, because people don't do that.
00:15:43But, lo and behold, a couple weeks later, we found ourselves working with a designer to develop the Whisper rig.
00:16:01Perfect.
00:16:03Very good.
00:16:04Very good.
00:16:05She'd get in.
00:16:06She'd kind of be calm.
00:16:07You like that.
00:16:09You like it.
00:16:10She'd kind of fall asleep.
00:16:12Dean thought it was like a dog putting their head out of the car on a freeway.
00:16:17They protect those eyes, huh?
00:16:20You're a good dinner.
00:16:22Best friend, Whisper.
00:16:29You ready, sweetie pie?
00:16:32Three, two, one.
00:16:33See ya.
00:16:58The video has gone viral.
00:17:00First face jumping dog.
00:17:02The whole thing was immediately divisive.
00:17:05Some think it's amazing.
00:17:06Others say it's cruel.
00:17:07Should a base jumping dog give us paws?
00:17:10Yeah, I said paws.
00:17:11What a douchebag.
00:17:13This fucking asshole Dean Potter taking his dog base jumping.
00:17:17That's fucking horrible.
00:17:19Someone's making that decision for the dog.
00:17:22How does he know the dog doesn't hate it?
00:17:24But, like, Dean just thought it was the coolest thing ever.
00:17:26Dogs, whether they're sitting with us on the couch or, you know, flying through the air at 100 miles an
00:17:30hour,
00:17:31they've always been men's best friends.
00:17:33He looked at all of the shit online and was like,
00:17:37here's where you can put your opinions about me and my dog.
00:17:45Right now, Dean and I had been together for a couple years.
00:17:50We bought a big parcel of land in Yosemite West in the National Park.
00:17:55We were clearing the land to build our first house on it.
00:18:01I had never seen Dean happier.
00:18:05Something had fundamentally changed with him.
00:18:08He's got Jen, the kids, and Whisper.
00:18:12So there was this base there.
00:18:14I think that was kind of the mood stabilizer he always needed in a lot of ways.
00:18:24He told me, he goes, you know, I'm getting older,
00:18:27and I kind of know some things now that I wish I had known, you know, back then.
00:18:33I've gone through a whole life of emotions,
00:18:38wondering about my life and what life really means.
00:18:42And it certainly isn't just to rock climb.
00:18:45It's like feeling happy, having love.
00:18:47Hi, Dean.
00:18:48Being with Jen and Whisper.
00:18:50These are priceless.
00:18:51Friends and family.
00:18:52Yeah, this is good.
00:18:57That's really the thing.
00:18:59Just try to figure out how to be up more.
00:19:01No way!
00:19:03Not all angst-ridden or depressed.
00:19:07Wow, I got that.
00:19:10I have such a good life, it's hard to realize how I could be down.
00:19:16It seemed like the dark wizard had found the light in a way.
00:19:21Yeah, oh, it's beautiful.
00:19:24Yeah, a little wispy.
00:19:28When I met Dean in 2014, for some park rangers, he was a devil.
00:19:33He was a rascal.
00:19:36But I was a climber, too.
00:19:38So good.
00:19:39And so we'd share time together bouldering.
00:19:42Yeah, buddy.
00:19:43Dean and I became friends.
00:19:46I mean, literally.
00:19:47Dean Potter climbing with the chief of staff at Yosemite,
00:19:49helping him be a better rock climber.
00:19:51It shows that people's minds evolve and mature,
00:19:54and Dean's was definitely going there.
00:19:56I remember one time I had a dinner party in my house in Yosemite Valley.
00:20:01Dean came to the party, and Alex Honnold was there.
00:20:05I went to this get-together of, you know, friends and climbers.
00:20:09Dean and Jen were there.
00:20:11And she was just so much more of an adult than either of us
00:20:14in terms of being well-adjusted and emotionally available
00:20:16and sort of a healthy human.
00:20:19Maybe her being there with him sort of brought out the best in both of us,
00:20:23where we could just be normal adults and chat.
00:20:25Ate and hung out, and it was all kind of lovely.
00:20:29Didn't feel overly competitive in any way.
00:20:32And it was the first time where I could see myself
00:20:35maybe climbing with Dean as a partner.
00:20:37You know, like, oh, let's go do something together.
00:20:38Like, that'd be fun. We could hang out and climb.
00:20:42Dean put up this post paying credence to who Alex was.
00:20:50It seemed like for the first time,
00:20:52maybe Dean was ready to pass the torch.
00:20:59I felt, you know, he was back to the love of things.
00:21:02He was back to why he originally started all this stuff.
00:21:08Dean spent a lot of time in the Yosemite backcountry at night,
00:21:13coming down after climbing or evening base jumps.
00:21:18The moon is fucking beautiful.
00:21:24He figured out the day, hour, moment,
00:21:30that the moon would pass between these two features.
00:21:33the moon would take a lot of time in the years.
00:21:40The moon would pass the moon really quickly
00:21:48to the moon's
00:21:48sittings at night.
00:21:48And the moon would pass through the moon.
00:21:48So it's always been a wonderful thing.
00:21:51I mean, it's a fact that the moon would pass through the moon.
00:21:52Some people know who this sun would pass through the moon,
00:21:53but they would pass through the sun,
00:21:53and to the moon, and to the moon.
00:21:53I mean, it's probably a beautiful day,
00:21:58I'm going to think of a place where the moon would pass through.
00:22:02It seemed like 둘 from the moon's
00:22:03Dean was sort of backing away from,
00:22:05I'm going to be the best of the best,
00:22:07beat the other guys, and do the next achievement.
00:22:10Now it was more like, this is just
00:22:12my creative self-expression.
00:22:15His way of getting closer to nature
00:22:18and his undeniably beautiful vision.
00:22:57I've always wanted to fly with the ravens.
00:23:00Their best wing suit flyers are pretty much the door.
00:23:03compared to the ravens.
00:23:06Deep in his soul, Dean wanted to be a bird,
00:23:10and Dean wanted to fly.
00:23:15It all related directly to the dreams
00:23:18that he used to have as a child.
00:23:21In my dream, I'm in free fall,
00:23:23and these creatures come up next to me,
00:23:26gesturing to do as they're doing, and I'll fly.
00:23:33With wingsuit flying, you shape your body into a wing,
00:23:38kind of create this vacuum on your back that lifts you up.
00:23:44He was exploring new possibilities
00:23:47for how he could fly further.
00:23:54So it mostly would come down to minimizing pressure drag.
00:23:58Dean reached out to scientists
00:24:00studying the movements of birds.
00:24:02From the equivalent of the thumb digit,
00:24:05and a bird would elevate that
00:24:06and help control local flow.
00:24:07You would look at the wings and the structure.
00:24:10So it uses his body to produce a little bit of lift.
00:24:12It helped me visualize what's going on when I'm flying.
00:24:16Wings out of the airfoil.
00:24:18And what needs to happen with the evolution of the wingsuit.
00:24:21Nice, so now the air is just going to flow over there
00:24:23and not be hitting angles and slowing me down.
00:24:25Exactly.
00:24:26I need to figure out how to move my body
00:24:29in tune with that wing shape.
00:24:34All these little idea changes and design changes
00:24:38allow you to push the limits of human flight.
00:24:41When I look at just how young wingsuit flying is,
00:24:45these next years it's going to transform.
00:24:49I can't even imagine where it's going to be.
00:24:52He went to Switzerland and opened up the Heiger,
00:24:55the highest point of the Heiger.
00:25:00At the time, it was the biggest jump in the world.
00:25:02I mean, Dean, he's like a mythological creature, right?
00:25:07I mean, the guy just had to fly.
00:25:09Usually, base jumps last seconds,
00:25:12and now I'm closing in on a three-minute flight.
00:25:15Potter set the record
00:25:17for the longest wingsuit flight by a human being.
00:25:20All my life, I've been rebelling against the dream,
00:25:23but I started realizing
00:25:26maybe it wasn't me falling to my death
00:25:29that I was dreaming about.
00:25:32Maybe it was me flying.
00:25:41Back in Yosemite,
00:25:43Dean was seeing all kinds of possibilities for new exits.
00:25:47Yeah, this is one of the places
00:25:48I've been wanting to fly from for a long time,
00:25:50but I have to escape this gully here,
00:25:52down there to the sandy landing zone.
00:25:54In Yosemite, Dean was flying
00:25:57with this small group of elite wingsuit-based jumpers.
00:26:01Safe flying, safe flying.
00:26:02It was like this magic moment in time
00:26:05where we were starting to figure out
00:26:07all the different flights we could do in the valley.
00:26:12The new wingsuits were allowing people
00:26:14to fly closer to terrain, fly lower.
00:26:20Also, the wingsuit made it easier to avoid getting caught,
00:26:24because you can land somewhere much farther away
00:26:27that the rangers might not see.
00:26:33It seemed like we could almost do anything we wanted.
00:26:36It was just a bunch of kids in the candy store.
00:26:42There was a good little group of us.
00:26:44You guys are ready.
00:26:46And that's where Dean met Graham.
00:26:50Graham Hunt, this sweet, young climber
00:26:54that showed up in the valley.
00:26:55My name's Graham Hunt.
00:26:57I like flying wingsuits, rock climbing,
00:27:01going on adventures.
00:27:03Graham's one of the nicest dudes ever.
00:27:05He was the youngest on the scene.
00:27:08We immediately clicked with Graham.
00:27:10He had this little French bulldog.
00:27:13Whisper and his little Frenchie played together.
00:27:17Whisper, who was totally skeptical of everyone,
00:27:20loved Graham.
00:27:22It takes a lot for Dean to, like,
00:27:24welcome someone into the fold.
00:27:26Poor dude.
00:27:28Graham Boat had immediate entrance.
00:27:32Dean respected his quiet ways.
00:27:36Like, Graham was trying to figure out life still.
00:27:39He literally had, like, ten bucks in the bank.
00:27:42What do you do?
00:27:43Right now, I'm just doing labor.
00:27:46He was working for us on the land.
00:27:49He spent a ton of time at our home in Yosemite.
00:27:54Dean really did think of him as a protege.
00:27:58Fight it, Graham. Fight it, fight it.
00:28:01Woo!
00:28:03Awesome, Graham.
00:28:04It's so hard to do this.
00:28:07You good?
00:28:07Dean and Graham began, you know,
00:28:10partnering up on a lot of these jumps.
00:28:12Okay. Let's do it, bro.
00:28:14Pulling off all kinds of hijinks.
00:28:17Like, the first ever flight.
00:28:18Off of the Lost Arrow Spire.
00:28:21Look like studs.
00:28:27Flying over Tooltown, where all the rangers lived.
00:28:36They really loved flying with each other.
00:28:39They had such camaraderie.
00:28:41Following you.
00:28:43They would do these trips to Europe together.
00:28:48Where they would jump these big mountain exits.
00:28:56They were feeding off each other's stove.
00:29:00Woo!
00:29:01Yeah, brother!
00:29:03This is fucking awesome.
00:29:06At a certain point, Graham began really kind of pushing it.
00:29:12Graham got really comfortable really good quickly.
00:29:16Ready.
00:29:22He definitely flew, like, aggressively.
00:29:27Proximity flying.
00:29:29Proximity flying, you're just skimming the terrain.
00:29:36Flying as close as you can, above slabs and between trees.
00:29:45At first, most of us were like, we're never gonna proximity fly.
00:29:51It's just too crazy.
00:29:54But Graham started going to the extreme.
00:30:05When you're flying close to something, it's like riding in the car.
00:30:08You know, the yellow lines right next to you are just moving real fast.
00:30:13That relativity makes it feel even more so like you're flying.
00:30:18And now that's kind of become the new psych.
00:30:22Up next, a look at wingsuiting.
00:30:24The deadliest sport in the world.
00:30:25With proximity flying, the body count was just breathtaking.
00:30:30One of every 20 have now died.
00:30:32Guys were smacking into stuff all over the world.
00:30:36And they were people Dean knew.
00:30:41I'd interviewed Dean for a magazine about his wingsuit flying.
00:30:46You know, he said to me that he had rules that he followed that would protect him.
00:30:50Dean was the most opposed to any sort of proximity flying.
00:30:54It seemed like Dean was always, like, still being really conservative.
00:30:56Flying away from the wall.
00:30:59Not flying next to terrain.
00:31:01Long glides that would mitigate the risks.
00:31:05But as Graham got better and he was able to do more and more technical fights.
00:31:15And exceeded Dean.
00:31:19This pure mentorship that Dean had with Graham shifted.
00:31:25A little sketchy.
00:31:26I think Dean felt like he had to maybe keep up with Graham.
00:31:36That's when Dean's competitive nature started bubbling up again.
00:31:40Did you see me come by you?
00:31:42Like, oh, you're doing all these badass things.
00:31:46I could do them too.
00:31:48I think in Dean's head, it starts to escalate.
00:31:52And then Dean, at some point he crossed that line,
00:31:56started proximity flying.
00:31:59Like, getting as close to stuff as he could.
00:32:23Yeah, buddy. Nice.
00:32:26I don't know.
00:32:27There's a certain point in people's careers where you're like,
00:32:30He's made it. He's good.
00:32:33I thought, Dean was past all that,
00:32:35where there's still a danger to themselves.
00:32:37I was like, he's covered. He's smothered and covered.
00:32:40He's not gonna be somebody who burns in.
00:32:45But the minute you throw in competition,
00:32:47it becomes ego-driven.
00:32:50Fly these lines, and you're getting lower and lower,
00:32:54and you're like, oh, my God.
00:32:57More is possible. Everything's possible.
00:33:05And that's where you get in trouble.
00:33:08It's such a weird sport. You have to believe.
00:33:11You gotta believe in yourself so much.
00:33:14Now, that's some fucking human flight for you.
00:33:17But, you know, your ego's not your amigo, right?
00:33:22Ah! Fucking intense.
00:33:26I don't think I get too close.
00:33:28This time I fucking might rip your head off.
00:33:33I'm wild.
00:33:36Oh, it was fucking ledges in my face.
00:33:47That spring, Graham took a trip to Moab.
00:33:51Dean had told Graham about all these towers and features
00:33:56that had never been jumped with a wingsuit.
00:33:59Right in the middle of the horizon line.
00:34:03The jumps in Moab are from off of all these smaller cliffs.
00:34:07So you need to start flying forward fast.
00:34:11You know, you've gotta jump off, get started,
00:34:14and have enough glide to clear the terrain at the bottom.
00:34:17Yeah, here we go.
00:34:21Come on.
00:34:24Come on.
00:34:28Fuck yeah.
00:34:29If you can nail that start,
00:34:31you get this insane proximity flight skimming these huge talus slopes.
00:34:47Holy crap!
00:34:48Oh, my God.
00:34:50Graham didn't know this at the time,
00:34:52but Dean had really hoped to be the first wingserter to open these exits.
00:34:59opening new exit points.
00:35:01First jumps.
00:35:04Who was gonna get to lay claim to these pioneering moments and experiences?
00:35:10Oh, my God. That's sick.
00:35:12One after another.
00:35:14Graham jumped off every tower.
00:35:20Holy shit.
00:35:23Grandma, dude.
00:35:24Just a silent solo killer.
00:35:28Mission accomplished.
00:35:30Worst things than running around the desert.
00:35:32Better than kicking the nuts.
00:35:35Graham came back to Yosemite on fire.
00:35:38He was so proud, so excited to share this with his mentor.
00:35:45But Dean didn't take it that way.
00:35:48Dean said he was pissed that Graham had, like, done all these tower exits
00:35:52that someday Dean thought he was gonna open first.
00:35:57He never let on to Graham that he might be feeling jealous or competitive with him.
00:36:03He was also mad at himself for feeling that way.
00:36:08Having problems with my ego.
00:36:12A lot of competition still in me, unfortunately.
00:36:17I feel, like, jealous or envious.
00:36:21Wanting to be the best and stand alone.
00:36:25But that's hard, hard on me and makes me wanna push super hard.
00:36:32The ironic part of this whole thing is here's a guy
00:36:36that inside was living in darkness for so fucking long.
00:36:41He even gave in to that darkness.
00:36:44And then he pulls himself out.
00:36:46He struggles.
00:36:47He claws.
00:36:49He climbs.
00:36:52He gets to a place where finally he's gonna get the peace that he needs.
00:37:02You think the demons are gone, they're just waiting.
00:37:06And he gets pulled right back into it.
00:37:11He's gonna go.
00:37:12Taft Point is this majestic overlook.
00:37:16Graham and Dean would go there all the time for evening base jumps.
00:37:20There's two ways you could jump.
00:37:23If you go left, it's the safe route.
00:37:25You have this long, beautiful flight down to the valley.
00:37:30But to the right is the notch.
00:37:36The notch is this obvious feature where the ridge from the rim comes down.
00:37:43For years, all the guys would joke around.
00:37:46You know, we'll know when suits are getting really good,
00:37:49when we can fly through the notch.
00:37:51Let's do this.
00:37:53But the skills and technology advanced.
00:37:56And people started trying to do it.
00:38:00It's a dangerous proximity flight.
00:38:07The notch was like the gnarliest line ever.
00:38:11It was perfect or dead.
00:38:14If you barely made it, you would go skimming between boulders, tree branches going by.
00:38:23It was one of the riskiest flights done at that time.
00:38:30You've gotta get your suit flying as fast as possible.
00:38:33And decide if you're high enough to clear it.
00:38:37If you're too low, you have to do this turn maneuver
00:38:40to get out of there.
00:38:49Otherwise, you're gonna splatter.
00:38:52I noticed that the really experienced wingsuit flyers
00:38:55just decided that it's not worth it.
00:38:57Like, the margins are too slim.
00:38:59One of the first people to fly through the notch was Graham.
00:39:03And that became Dean's next big objective.
00:39:08I think his mindset was like, I'm just gonna show you I can fly the same line you can fly.
00:39:16Dean always jumped first.
00:39:19And Graham would film Dean.
00:39:22Are you gonna go for it?
00:39:24Yeah, it's good.
00:39:25Feels really good.
00:39:26Nice and easy.
00:39:29Have fun, brother.
00:39:33Ready?
00:39:33Yep.
00:39:34When Dean exits, he's a big guy.
00:39:38He sinks for a while.
00:39:39You know, it takes a few seconds to get going.
00:39:42So he would be too low for the notch and have to bail out.
00:39:48But Graham would just go scraping through.
00:39:56And then he would actually do the second notch.
00:40:08Graham had the talent.
00:40:10He had the technical skill that Dean did not have.
00:40:23Dean just couldn't keep up.
00:40:31And ultimately, I think that competitive side that he was trying to control for so many years, like, got the
00:40:40best of him.
00:40:47It was a beautiful spring day.
00:40:53Graham came over to work on the land with us.
00:40:56And the boys decided they wanted to go do an evening base jump.
00:41:01So we drove up to Taft.
00:41:05The vibes seemed extremely chill.
00:41:09Both of them were like, this is such a beautiful night.
00:41:12Like, neither of us even care if we jump.
00:41:14They weren't hell-bent on going through the notch.
00:41:17They were just like, let's see what happens.
00:41:22Dean and Graham are getting ready.
00:41:25They're suiting up.
00:41:26And they didn't even bring a camera.
00:41:29So Dean had just his iPhone facing backwards to film Graham following behind him.
00:41:38I, being the photographer and, like, trying to figure out the frame.
00:41:49They're at the exit point and unceremoniously to jump.
00:41:57And I realized, oh, oh, they're going for the notch.
00:42:04Graham had a faster start and immediately gets above Dean.
00:42:10It didn't seem that Dean was high enough.
00:42:14He had a few seconds to decide, do I have the altitude?
00:42:18Do I, like, feel good about this?
00:42:20Meanwhile, Graham is on track.
00:42:23But maybe he sees that Dean is too low.
00:42:25All of a sudden, Graham makes an aggressive left turn.
00:42:29Like, maybe he's going to go around the notch.
00:42:32Maybe he doesn't think they can make it.
00:42:34But Dean just keeps fucking going.
00:42:41Just before the notch, Graham veers back right.
00:42:46I lost track of Graham.
00:42:49But I saw Dean go through the notch in my photos.
00:42:52Like, that's who I was following.
00:42:54Like, fuck yes, they've made it.
00:42:57Then I heard, like, a, fuck.
00:43:00Like, and I was like, holy shit, someone panic pitched.
00:43:04A panic pitch is like, something's going wrong.
00:43:07I need to pitch my parachute.
00:43:08And I'm standing there on the edge looking for a parachute,
00:43:12and I didn't see anything.
00:43:14There was no parachute.
00:43:15I ended up going, like, fuck, what do I, what do I do?
00:43:18I just turned and started running back to the car.
00:43:23I'm texting Dean, calling Dean, being like something feels really off.
00:43:27Like, where the fuck are you guys?
00:43:29And I go down to the valley floor to our meeting spot.
00:43:33Neither of them were there.
00:43:37And I was like, fuck, something happened.
00:43:42I just, like, started running.
00:43:44And ran to, like, the base.
00:43:47The, the, the climb.
00:43:49And I was just like, I'll go find him.
00:43:53And I just remember, like, yelling for him.
00:43:57And just thinking, like, he probably could hear me.
00:44:00Like, which is just so ludicrous.
00:44:02Like, he couldn't have.
00:44:04Um.
00:44:06And.
00:44:09Still didn't, like, I just knew something was really wrong,
00:44:11but I just didn't think he was dead.
00:44:14That night, around 10.30, I heard a knock.
00:44:17It sounded urgent.
00:44:19Opened the door.
00:44:21And I saw Jen.
00:44:24And immediately I saw the terror on her face.
00:44:27I knew what had happened.
00:44:29Or I felt I knew what was probably had happened.
00:44:30So we reported Dean and Graham missing.
00:44:35It was a really long night.
00:44:41They had to bring in a heli.
00:44:46I still don't like the sound of a helicopter.
00:44:53Search and rescue spotted two bodies
00:44:56and the wingsuit equipment.
00:44:59They were able to, um, confirm the fatalities.
00:45:06I don't even remember who told me that they were.
00:45:10I just remember being told they're both in the notch.
00:45:14And they're both dead.
00:45:21I remember really wanting to watch Dean come down.
00:45:26And when he's down, I want to go see him.
00:45:28Like, I want to go and, like, be with him.
00:45:31And they were like, no, no, no, no.
00:45:32It's not good, Jen.
00:45:34Like, he impacted with his head.
00:45:37And I was like, I don't give a shit.
00:45:38I want to go see Dean.
00:45:42I walk in the room and they're both in these black nylon bags.
00:45:46I immediately, like, took off all of the shit they had put on him.
00:45:51His body was perfect.
00:45:55His head had been impacted, but, like, there's no scrapes.
00:45:58There's no fucking limbs sticking out.
00:46:00Like, they...
00:46:03When someone dies, the only thing you have is them.
00:46:07Like, their body.
00:46:12As weird as that sounds, like, I didn't want to let go of his body.
00:46:15I felt very, very, very protective of it.
00:46:19I didn't want to let it go.
00:46:27I was driving to the Grand Canyon.
00:46:31A friend called.
00:46:32And he said, did you hear?
00:46:35Dean died.
00:46:37I was like, whoosh.
00:46:40And I took a bunch of really deep breaths.
00:46:44And, uh, turned around and drove to Yosemite.
00:46:52There were a lot of questions about what had happened.
00:46:58A friend and I descended from the top into the notch.
00:47:05I was really afraid going down there.
00:47:07That I wouldn't be able to handle it emotionally.
00:47:11Top of tree laying right there.
00:47:15Top of tree missing.
00:47:18There was, like, a single tree sticking up.
00:47:22That Graham probably wouldn't have been able to see.
00:47:25Because of the way he was facing.
00:47:27He had done this big turn.
00:47:29Back over the top of where Dean was.
00:47:33And that's when he clipped the tree.
00:47:35And then hit the wall.
00:47:39Then we went down further and we could see, like, little pieces of fabric.
00:47:44And then we found the spot where Dean impacted head first into the rock.
00:47:51He made it through the notch.
00:47:53But on the other side of the notch, it's very low angle.
00:47:58He was losing altitude so fast that he went into the slab.
00:48:06I felt a presence there.
00:48:08It felt really weird.
00:48:09I, like, not like anything I'd ever experienced.
00:48:16Dean was there, you know, talking to me.
00:48:20And the first thing that came through was, like,
00:48:26dude, I fucked up so bad.
00:48:29Uh, tell Jen I'm so sorry.
00:48:33Like...
00:48:33And it was...
00:48:36It was, like, a super present thing.
00:48:39Like, his voice clear as day talking to me.
00:48:46I was in Santa Cruz.
00:48:49And I got that fucking phone call.
00:48:54I didn't know what to do.
00:48:55And so I just put my clothes on, got in my car, aimed it toward Yosemite.
00:49:05And I just cried.
00:49:08And I got to the valley.
00:49:09And as soon as I got in the valley, as soon as I got there,
00:49:12it started to rain.
00:49:14It just started to pour.
00:49:15And it just fit.
00:49:20And I walked over to the cafeteria.
00:49:21I wanted to see Dean.
00:49:29And he wasn't there.
00:49:32And...
00:49:34I really loved him.
00:49:43Somebody texted me.
00:49:45Did you hear?
00:49:47That's, like, shorthand for someone's dad.
00:49:51And, uh, so I...
00:49:53I was like, no, who is it?
00:49:55And it was Dean.
00:49:57And I remember talking with Jim
00:50:01and being like, man, this, this one really hurts.
00:50:04Like, this one's unusually painful.
00:50:07Um, because all the other deaths, you died resolved.
00:50:12Or they died as your friend.
00:50:14Look, here it is.
00:50:15Oh, you know what we should get?
00:50:16A big-ass box of Cheez-It.
00:50:17It's really helped.
00:50:19With Dean, I'm so disappointed that we couldn't come back together.
00:50:26His death made it then final that there wouldn't be, like, a reintegration.
00:50:37God, swallow, dude.
00:50:39When he died...
00:50:40I'm gonna put that in the film!
00:50:44We hadn't spoken in years.
00:50:47People do things in their life that aren't always right.
00:50:53And sometimes you wreck relationships.
00:50:55Sometimes you don't make the right call.
00:50:57But when you get older, like, that's the time for you to make amends.
00:51:05And I really thought, as much as I knew he could die,
00:51:10I really hoped that he would get to that place
00:51:14and he would make it right.
00:51:17All he would have had to say was,
00:51:19can I forgive you?
00:51:20Can you forgive me?
00:51:21Just something like that.
00:51:25I really, really...
00:51:29I just miss him.
00:51:35Jim, let me hear your voice. Say anything.
00:51:39Stop being a pansy.
00:51:43That's pretty good.
00:51:50What is that moment that you're looking for?
00:51:52Like, how will you know you have it?
00:51:54Like, how do you know you have it?
00:51:56You know, transcending human limitations.
00:52:01That is kind of what I'm obsessed with in life.
00:52:05And I'm obsessed on kind of this flashy way where I fly.
00:52:11But...
00:52:12I see that if I could take that and transcend the really...
00:52:16The main things that matter.
00:52:19Hate.
00:52:21Jealousy.
00:52:23Insecurities.
00:52:24All the negative things that pull you down in life.
00:52:28Maybe right now I'm thinking about flying.
00:52:31But it's just a metaphor to bring me somewhere else.
00:52:37With the power of soul, anything is possible.
00:52:45The bodies of two base jumpers were found in Yosemite National Park yesterday after an illegal jump that went horribly
00:52:51wrong.
00:52:51World-renowned climber Dean Potter and his friend Graham Hunt died during a wingsuit flight in Yosemite.
00:52:58It's a very big loss in the world of extreme sports.
00:53:01He lived life on the edge.
00:53:03Pushing the limits of human experience.
00:53:06You know when Dean would finish the big project and get up there and just do that roar?
00:53:09Roar.
00:53:12Roar.
00:53:13And now on the count of three.
00:53:14One, two, three.
00:53:16Roar!
00:53:19When I was denying my conscience regained so I began my struggle of nothingness strained.
00:53:27Our flash made a time my new form blasted out and it startled me so and I burst out a
00:53:34shout out.
00:53:34I don't think Dean realized how much people admired him.
00:53:41How much people loved him.
00:53:44That outpouring of love from the community.
00:53:48I wish he had seen that.
00:53:50I was torn out and thrown in the sky.
00:53:53And I said all my prayers because surely I'd die.
00:53:57As he flashed down and smashed into earth into dirt.
00:54:00How my skin did explode leaving only my shirt.
00:54:04Dean was a dancer on the edge of life and death.
00:54:10They say that mortality is what gives life its most exquisite line.
00:54:16Dean took it there.
00:54:20Dean's death is an end of an era.
00:54:23Who's going to be the artistic creative mind that's going to give us the next wild thing.
00:54:29His ideas were so far out it's like a sunrise.
00:54:38It illuminates your way forward.
00:54:40Something about Dean was fucking cosmic.
00:54:45He was a fucking flawed genius.
00:54:50That's how I want people to remember him.
00:54:53As someone who gave everything he had to his art.
00:54:57He painted something gorgeous.
00:55:01Across the fucking sky.
00:55:05He would not have wanted to just fade away would he?
00:55:09It was kind of fitting that Dean Potter, you know, went out in a blaze of glory.
00:55:18My brother would say the key to happiness is following beauty and not the urge to be the best.
00:55:28Was he able to always do that?
00:55:31No.
00:55:32Right up to the end that was something he really battled.
00:55:36But in his most centered moments, he knew it was all about listening to your heart and following that.
00:55:46I dreamt about climbing into the night sky.
00:55:49You know, we're all dealt our own weird hand of cards.
00:55:53But through all of his struggles,
00:55:55Dean made a magnificent and beautiful ride.
00:56:00Thinking about stories I have that could make people laugh, cry, make others not feel so freakish.
00:56:08Knowing that some whack job like myself is out there going for it.
00:56:14Fighting with emotions the whole time.
00:56:17But just being me.
00:56:23When I eventually freestyle at El Cap, it was almost exactly two years after Dean Dunn.
00:56:30I think it would have been amazing to talk to Dean about freestyle at El Cap.
00:56:34More than almost anybody else on Earth, he can appreciate what went into it.
00:56:38I mean, Dean was the first person to think about it seriously.
00:56:41And he showed the rest of us what's possible.
00:56:45The climbing world is just not the same without the dark wizard.
00:56:50But every time I see a raven flying by, I think of Dean.
00:57:00You want to come out, Whisper? Come on.
00:57:03Whisper, come.
00:57:05Come on, Whisper Pig.
00:57:11After Dean's death, I did a lot of, like, therapy, trauma therapy.
00:57:18And I think it genuinely helped.
00:57:42A few months after the accident, I remember the park investigator called me and was like,
00:57:48OK, so we got the footage back, Jen.
00:57:51They go into his office and we're going to watch this footage from Dean's phone.
00:57:57Obviously, this is going to be really hard.
00:58:02Dean?
00:58:03You see them exit.
00:58:08Graham flies out of the frame.
00:58:12Dean holds his course.
00:58:22As he goes into the notch,
00:58:26walls on both sides come into view.
00:58:31This raven comes in behind him,
00:58:35right before he impacts.
00:58:53Like, of course,
00:58:55a raven followed him into his death.
00:59:19Hi.
00:59:23Come on, love.
00:59:29I knew he would come.
00:59:31I knew he would come.
00:59:36Everybody misses you.
01:00:05Now in between,
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