#video #The Dark Wizard S01E04
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TVTranscript
00:00:08Hey, 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 the 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.
00:01:48But 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 dropped about climbing into the night sky.
00:02:11And I said all my prayers because surely I would 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 air flew through me and said it wasn't that fun.
00:02:26And I replied, I'm sorry if I hurt anyone.
00:02:30She said, better luck next time.
00:02:32Don't worry so much.
00:02:34Without ears I couldn't hear.
00:02:36I could just feel the touch.
00:02:37I could just sleep softly.
00:02:40The edge of the world came on.
00:02:42I should've gone deeper.
00:02:43But 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.
00:03:09He'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.
00:03:25Looks at me.
00:03:26He goes, I'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.
00:04:06Around 1016.
00:04:07Got a good wood fire going.
00:04:10And I don't want to.
00:04:11I just want to escape society.
00:04:16Just go off into Never Never Land.
00:04:24Having these massive snowstorms here in Yosemite.
00:04:28The valley's closed.
00:04:29The electricity's out.
00:04:32Part 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.
00:04:47I'm so far from that.
00:04:52Oh, yeah.
00:04:53Coffee's an amazing drug.
00:04:56Feeling all sorts of energy.
00:04:59Thinking that a big change has come in.
00:05:06I feel guilt about the way I treated people.
00:05:12Things 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,
00:05:37Dean 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?
00:06:19And I was like, it's great.
00:06:21Everything's great.
00:06:22All's good.
00:06:24Great 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, but 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 of 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,
00:07:12it was like, all right, it's time to end my marriage.
00:07:17But all signs pointed to, like, this is a really bad idea.
00:07:22I happened to be the spokesperson and publicist for the company that famously fired Dean.
00:07:27All my friends, especially at Patagonia, were going,
00:07:31what 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,
00:07:48I 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.
00:08:18Yeah, perfect.
00:08:19The excitement and risk.
00:08:21Good job.
00:08:22I realized I needed that.
00:08:27Holy shit!
00:08:35We were genuinely in love.
00:08:40Like, 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.
00:09:22Show 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!
00:09:35Nice! Yay!
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, they 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!
00:10:04We'd go climbing every once in a while.
00:10:07Good job!
00:10:08We'd go out there and he was always trying to teach us how to do stuff.
00:10:11All the way.
00:10:13Dean's unique way of loving.
00:10:15To the next one.
00:10:16Again, again.
00:10:16I look back to being like, Rowan, 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, I 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, Row.
00:10:39These kids, they loved him.
00:10:41He was Dee Dee.
00:10:43Wait, 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.
00:11:46He 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.
00:12:24Naturopath.
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.
00:12:56Come on.
00:12:58Come on.
00:12:59But nothing helped him more than whisper.
00:13:03Yeah, good girl.
00:13:08She was his princess.
00:13:11I see the crystal raindrops fall and the beauty of it all is when the sun comes shining through.
00:13:19Come on, whist.
00:13:20Dean became a total softie around whisper.
00:13:24Good girl.
00:13:26We love the doggie.
00:13:30We all use whisper.
00:13:32We can't make it if we try.
00:13:36Whisper was very much her father's daughter.
00:13:38She was 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, you don't bite. No biting.
00:13:53But 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.
00:14:08We don't want to crash.
00:14:10So he brought that dog everywhere.
00:14:13Darling, when the morning comes.
00:14:15And I see the morning sun.
00:14:18I wanna be the one with you.
00:14:20Good girl.
00:14:21Good 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, do you like it?
00:14:34Whisper flew to Switzerland eight times.
00:14:39Climbed 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.
00:14:49He he he.
00:14:56At that time, Dean was laser focused on wingsuit base jumping.
00:15:20He would walk up to an exit, and 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.
00:16:02Perfect. Very good. Very good.
00:16:05She'd get in, she'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, dinner.
00:16:23Best friend, Whisper.
00:16:29You ready, sweetie pie?
00:16:32Three, two, one, see ya.
00:16:58The video has gone viral.
00:17:00First base-jumping dog, the whole thing was immediately divisive.
00:17:05Some think it's amazing. Others say it's cruel.
00:17:07Should a base-jumping dog give us paws?
00:17:10Yeah, I said paws.
00:17:12What a douchebag, this 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,
00:17:29flying through the air at 100 miles an hour,
00:17:31they've always been men's best friend.
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.
00:17:45By 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.
00:18:25He told me, he goes, you know, I'm getting older, and I kind of know some things now that I
00:18:30wish I had known, you know, back then.
00:18:33I've gone through a whole life of emotions, wondering 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.
00:18:59Let's try to figure out how to be up more.
00:19:01No way!
00:19:03Not all things 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, he 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, helping him be a better rock climber.
00:19:51It shows that people's minds evolve and mature, and 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 in terms of being well-adjusted
00:20:15and emotionally available and 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.
00:20:26Ate and hung out, and it was all kind of lovely.
00:20:29Didn't feel overtly competitive in any way.
00:20:33It was the first time where I could see myself maybe climbing with Dean as a partner.
00:20:37You know, like, oh, let's go do something together.
00:20:39Like, that'd be fun.
00:20:39We 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, maybe 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,
00:21:12coming 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.
00:22:01It seemed like...
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,
00:22:12this is just my creative self-expression.
00:22:15His way of getting closer to nature,
00:22:18and his undeniably beautiful vision.
00:22:22What?
00:22:43I love it.
00:22:51Well, schauen.
00:22:57I've always wanted to fly with the ravens.
00:23:00Their best wingsuit flyers are pretty much the dorks compared to the ravens.
00:23:06Deep in his soul, Dean wanted to be a bird, and Dean wanted to fly.
00:23:15It all related directly to dreams that he used to have as a child.
00:23:20In my dream, I'm in free fall, and these creatures come up next to me, gesturing to do as they're
00:23:28doing, and I'll fly.
00:23:33With wingsuit flying, you shape your body into a wing, kind of create this vacuum on your
00:23:40back that lifts you up.
00:23:44He was exploring new possibilities for how he could fly further.
00:23:55So it mostly would come down to minimizing pressure drag.
00:23:58Dean reached out to scientists studying the movements of birds.
00:24:03From the equivalent of the thumb digit, and a bird would elevate that and help control
00:24:06local 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 air full.
00:24:18And what needs to happen with the evolution of the wingsuit.
00:24:21Nice.
00:24:21So now the air is just going to flow over there and not be hitting angles and slowing me down.
00:24:25Exactly.
00:24:26I need to figure out how to move my body in tune with that wing shape.
00:24:34All these little idea changes and design changes allow you to push the limits of human flight.
00:24:41When I look at just how young wingsuit flying is, these next years it's going to transform.
00:24:48I can't even imagine where it's going to be.
00:24:52He went to Switzerland and opened up the Heiger, the highest point of the Heiger.
00:25:00At the time it was the biggest jump in the world.
00:25:02I mean, Dean is like a mythological creature, right?
00:25:07I mean, the guy just had to fly.
00:25:09Usually base jumps last seconds and now I'm closing in on a three-minute flight.
00:25:15Potter set the record for the longest wingsuit flight by a human being.
00:25:20All my life I've been rebelling against the dream.
00:25:24But I started realizing maybe it wasn't me falling to my death that I was dreaming about.
00:25:32Maybe it was me flying.
00:25:41Back in Yosemite, Dean was seeing all kinds of possibilities for new exits.
00:25:47Yeah, this is one of the places I've been wanting to fly from for a long time.
00:25:50But I had to escape this gully here, down there to the sandy landing zone.
00:25:55In Yosemite, Dean was flying with this small group of elite wingsuit-based jumpers.
00:26:01Safe flying. Safe flying.
00:26:02It was like this magic moment in time where we were starting to figure out all the different
00:26:08flights we could do in the valley.
00:26:12The new wingsuits were allowing people to 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 that 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.
00:26:45And that's where Dean met Graham.
00:26:49Graham Hunt, this sweet, young climber that showed up in the valley.
00:26:56My name's Graham Hunt.
00:26:58I like flying wingsuits, rock climbing, going on adventures.
00:27:03Graham's one of the nicest dudes ever.
00:27:06He was the youngest on the scene.
00:27:08We immediately clicked with Graham.
00:27:11He had this little French bulldog.
00:27:13Whisper and his little Frenchie played together.
00:27:17Whisper, who was totally skeptical of everyone, loved Graham.
00:27:22It takes a lot for Dean to, like, welcome someone into the fold.
00:27:27Poor 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.
00:27:57Okay.
00:27:58Fight it, Graham.
00:27:59Fight it.
00:28:00Fight it.
00:28:01Woo!
00:28:03Awesome, Graham.
00:28:04It's so hard to do this.
00:28:07You good?
00:28:08Dean and Graham began, you know, partnering up on a lot of these jumps.
00:28:12Okay.
00:28:13Let's do it, bro.
00:28:14Pulling off all kinds of hijinks.
00:28:17Like, the first ever flight off 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.
00:29:22He 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 going to proximity fly.
00:29:52It's just too crazy.
00:29:55But 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.
00:30:19And 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.
00:30:33Guys 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, not 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.
00:31:47Yeah!
00:31:48I think in Dean's head, it starts to escalate.
00:31:52And then Dean, at some point he crossed that line, started proximity flying.
00:31:59Like, getting as close to stuff as he could.
00:32:23Yeah, buddy! Nice!
00:32:26I don't know, there's a certain point in people's careers where you're like,
00:32:31he's made it, he's good.
00:32:33I thought, Dean was past all that, where 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, it becomes ego-driven.
00:32:51Fly these lines and getting lower and lower.
00:32:54And you're like, oh, my God.
00:32:57More is possible.
00:32:58Everything's possible.
00:33:05And that's where you get in trouble.
00:33:08It's such a weird sport, you have to believe.
00:33:12You 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'd get too close.
00:33:28I'm a 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.
00:33:52Dean 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.
00:34:08So you need to start flying forward fast.
00:34:11You know, you've got to jump off, get started, and have enough glide to clear the terrain at the bottom.
00:34:17Okay, here we go.
00:34:21Come on.
00:34:24Come on.
00:34:29If you can nail that start, you 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 going to get to lay claim to these pioneering moments and experiences?
00:35:10Oh, my God. I'm sick.
00:35:13One after another.
00:35:14Graham jumped off every tower.
00:35:20Holy shit!
00:35:23Graham, dude, just a silent solo killer.
00:35:28Mission accomplished!
00:35:30Worst things than running around the desert.
00:35:32Still into kicking the nuts.
00:35:35Graham came back to Yosemite on fire.
00:35:38He was so proud and so excited to share this with his mentor.
00:35:45but dean didn't take it that way dean said he was pissed that graham had like done all
00:35:51these tower exits that someday dean thought he was going to 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 a lot of competition still in me unfortunately i feel like jealous or
00:36:20envious wanting to be the best and stand alone but that's hard hard on me and makes me want to
00:36:29push super hard the ironic part of this whole thing is here's a guy
00:36:36that inside was living in darkness for so long he even gave into that darkness
00:36:45and then he pulls himself out he struggles he claws he climbs
00:36:52he gets to a place where finally he's going to 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
00:37:11but he's not going to get to me and i think that's a point that he just doesn't find that
00:37:15the
00:37:16thing is going to go to the road to the road to the road to the road to the road
00:37:29to the road to the
00:37:37The notch is this obvious feature where the ridge from the rim comes down.
00:37:43For years, all the guys would joke around, you know, we'll know when suits are getting
00:37:48really good when we can fly through the notch.
00:37:51Let's do this.
00:37:53But the skills and technology advanced, and 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 got to get your suit flying as fast as possible and decide if you're high enough
00:38:36to clear it.
00:38:37If you're too low, you have to do this turn maneuver to get out of there.
00:38:49Otherwise you're going to splatter.
00:38:52I noticed that the really experienced wingsuit flyers just decided that it's not worth it,
00:38:57like the margins are too slim.
00:38:58One 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 going to show you I can fly the same line you can
00:39:13fly.
00:39:16Dean always jumped first.
00:39:19And Graham would film Dean.
00:39:34When Dean exits, he's a big guy, he sinks for a while, you know, it takes a few seconds to
00:39:41get 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.
00:39:57And then he would actually do the second notch.
00:40:08Graham had the talent, he 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.
00:41:02So 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.
00:41:15They weren't hell-bent on going through the notch.
00:41:17They were just like, let's see what happens.
00:41:23Dean 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, they jump.
00:41:58And I realize, 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.
00:42:26All 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.
00:42:46And I 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 and I didn't see anything.
00:43:14There was no parachute.
00:43:15And I'm 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, uh, the climb.
00:43:49And 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.
00:43:59Like, which is just so ludicrous.
00:44:02Like, he couldn't.
00:44:04Um.
00:44:06And.
00:44:09Still didn't, like, I just knew something was really wrong, but I just didn't think he was dead.
00:44:14That night, around 1030, 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, or I felt I knew what was probably had happened.
00:44:31So we reported Dean and Graham missing.
00:44:36It was a really long night.
00:44:42They 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 in 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, I 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, it's not good, Jen.
00:45:34Like, he impacted with his head.
00:45:37And I was like, I don't give a shit.
00:45:39I 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.
00:46:03When 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 back 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. It felt really weird.
00:48:08Like, 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.
00:48:28Uh, 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,
00:49:01aimed 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.
00:49:35I really loved him.
00:49:43And I was like...
00:49:44Somebody texted me.
00:49:45Did you hear?
00:49:47That's, like, shorthand for someone's debt.
00:49:51And, uh...
00:49:52So I...
00:49:53I was like, no, who is it?
00:49:55And it was Dean.
00:49:57And I remember...
00:49:58talking with Jim.
00:50:01And being like, man, this one really hurts.
00:50:03Like, this one's unusually painful.
00:50:07Um...
00:50:08Because all the other deaths...
00:50:10You died resolved.
00:50:12Or they died as your friend.
00:50:14Oh, look. Here it is.
00:50:15Oh, know what we should get?
00:50:16A big-ass box of Cheez-It.
00:50:19With Dean, I'm so disappointed that we couldn't come back together.
00:50:26His death made it then final.
00:50:30That there wouldn't be, like, a reintegration.
00:50:36God, 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...
00:50:51that aren't always right.
00:50:53And sometimes you wreck relationships.
00:50:55Sometimes you don't make the right call.
00:50:58But when you...
00:51:01get older...
00:51:02Like, that's the time for you to make amends.
00:51:05And I really thought, as much as I knew, he could die.
00:51:08I...
00:51:10I really hoped that...
00:51:12he would get to that place.
00:51:14And he would make it right.
00:51:17All he would have had to say was,
00:51:19I forgive you, can you forgive me?
00:51:22Just... something like that.
00:51:25I really, really...
00:51:29I just miss him.
00:51:35Jim, let me hear your voice.
00:51:37Say anything.
00:51:39Stop being a pansy.
00:51:40No!
00:51:43That's pretty good.
00:51:50What is that moment that you're looking for?
00:51:53Like, how will you know you have it?
00:51:54Like, how do you know you have it?
00:51:56You know, transcending human limitations
00:52:01is...
00:52:03kind of what I'm obsessed with in life.
00:52:05And I'm obsessed on kind of this flashy way
00:52:08where I fly.
00:52:10But...
00:52:12I see that if I could take that
00:52:15and 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.
00:52:29Maybe right now I'm thinking about flying.
00:52:31But it's just a metaphor to...
00:52:34to bring me somewhere else.
00:52:37With the power of soul,
00:52:40anything is possible.
00:52:45The bodies of two base jumpers were found in Yosemite National Park yesterday
00:52:49after an illegal jump that went horribly wrong.
00:52:51World-renowned climber Dean Potter and his friend Graham Hunt
00:52:55died 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
00:53:08and get up there and just do that, like,
00:53:10roar?
00:53:10Roar.
00:53:13On the count of three.
00:53:14One, two, three.
00:53:19When I was denying my conscience regain
00:53:23So I began my struggle
00:53:25A nothingness strained
00:53:27Our flash made a time
00:53:29My new form blasted out
00:53:30And it started on me so
00:53:32And I burst out a shout out
00:53:35I don't think Dean realized
00:53:37how 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.
00:53:50That I was torn out and thrown in the sky
00:53:53And I said all my prayers
00:53:54Because surely I would die
00:53:56As we 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
00:54:09And death.
00:54:10They say that mortality is what gives life
00:54:13Its most exquisite line
00:54:16Dean took it there
00:54:20Dean's death is an end of an era
00:54:22Who's gonna be the artistic creative mind
00:54:26That's gonna give us the next wild thing
00:54:28His ideas were so far out
00:54:32It's like a sunrise
00:54:38It illuminates your way forward
00:54:40It illuminates your way forward
00:54:41Something about Dean was
00:54:44Fucking cosmic
00:54:45He was a fucking flawed genius
00:54:50That's how I want people to remember him
00:54:52As 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
00:55:19My brother would say
00:55:20The key to happiness is following beauty
00:55:23And not the urge to be the best
00:55:28Was he able to always do that?
00:55:32No, right up to the end
00:55:33That was something he really battled
00:55:36But in his most centered moments
00:55:39He knew it was all about listening to your heart
00:55:44And following that
00:55:45I dreamt about climbing into the night sky
00:55:49You know, we're all dealt
00:55:50Our own weird hand of cards
00:55:53But through all of his struggles
00:55:55Woo!
00:55:56Dean made a magnificent and beautiful ride
00:56:00Thinking about stories I have
00:56:02That could make people laugh, cry
00:56:05Make others not feel so freakish
00:56:08Knowing that some whack job like myself
00:56:11Is out there going for it
00:56:14Fighting with emotions the whole time
00:56:16But just being me
00:56:18I should've gone deeper
00:56:20But I'm not surprised
00:56:23When I eventually freesale at El Cap
00:56:26It was almost exactly two years after Dean died
00:56:30I think it would have been amazing
00:56:32To talk to Dean about freesale at El Cap
00:56:34More than almost anybody else on Earth
00:56:36He can appreciate what went into it
00:56:38I mean, Dean was the first person
00:56:40To 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
00:56:47Without the dark wizard
00:56:50But every time I see a raven flying by
00:56:51I 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
00:57:13I did a lot of, like, therapy, trauma therapy
00:57:19And I think it genuinely helped
00:57:42A few months after the accident
00:57:45I remember the park investigator called me
00:57:48And was like, okay
00:57:49So we got the footage back, Jen
00:57:51I go into his office
00:57:53And we're gonna watch this footage from Dean's phone
00:57:57Obviously this is gonna be really hard
00:58:03You see them exit
00:58:09Graham flies out of the frame
00:58:12Dean holds his course
00:58:14Dean holds his course
00:58:22As he goes into the notch
00:58:27Walls 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 you would come
00:59:36Everybody misses you
00:59:38Everybody misses you
01:00:01I knew you
01:00:29And I knew me
01:00:31You know I knew you
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