Dean Potter Fell to His Death Doing a Jump He'd Done At Least 20 Times Before. Inside the Climber's Death, 11 Years Later

Dean Potter receives his award for World Alternative Sportsman of the Year on May 20, 2003 in Monaco.
Credit: David Cannon/Laureus via Getty

Dean Potter is known as one of the most prolific rock climbers, slackliners and BASE jumpers of all time — but even the extreme sports’ best was vulnerable to its dangers.

Potter rose to fame in the late 1990s when he began navigating Yosemite National Park’s rock routes in creative solo and free-solo ascents. In 2001, he told the Los Angeles Times he loved rock climbing in particular because “there are no rules.”

“Dean was definitely the most intense, driven, inspirational climbers in the past two decades,” climber Chris McNamara told PEOPLE in May 2015. “Everything he did was new."

He continued, "He didn’t follow anyone else and was constantly inventing new approaches to experience the outdoors — whether it be slacklining, BASE jumping or climbing.”

Though BASE jumping was banned by the National Park Service due to the risks associated with jumping off cliff ledges in skintight wingsuits with batwing sleeves and parachutes, Potter continued making jumps — even as many others were dying doing so.

“Though my body is warm inside the nylon suit, I start to shiver and wonder if what we’re doing is right,” Potter once wrote in a blog post on his website, per the Los Angeles Times.

Potter continued, “Wingsuit BASE-jumping feels safe to me, but 25 wingsuit-fliers have lost their lives this year alone. There must be some flaw in our system, a lethal secret beyond my comprehension.”

Potter ultimately died in a tragic accident in the national park he so loved.

Here’s everything to know about Dean Potter's death and final years.

How did Dean Potter die?

Dean Potter crossing the slackline across the Enshi Grand Canyon on April 22, 2012 in Hubei Province, China.
Credit: Quirky China/Shutterstock

Potter died in a BASE jumping accident when he and fellow climber Graham Hunt were attempting to navigate a notch in Yosemite National Park.

Neither Potter nor Hunt were able to clear the steep, rocky ridgeline, and they hit the rock wall before they could deploy their parachutes.

Potter and Hunt had a spotter for the jump, which Mike Gauthier, chief of staff for Yosemite, said occurred around 7:30 p.m. According to Gauthier, the spotter reported hearing a sound that was either the parachutes opening or the climbers making impact with the rock.

She wasn’t sure which, as she didn’t see Potter or Hunt crash, and when she wasn’t able to contact them via text as they had planned, she reported their disappearance and potential accident to park officials.

Officials were first hopeful that the men were safe, initially suspecting that they might have gotten into legal trouble, as BASE jumping is illegal in Yosemite.

“They were optimistic, thinking that the men might have been arrested,” Gauthier told Outside at the time.

The park’s search and rescue team began looking for the men on Sunday morning, with park rangers and volunteers navigating the park on the ground and in California Highway Patrol helicopters.

A helicopter crew spotted Potter and Hunt’s bodies on the rock wall where they had attempted to clear the notch, and the men’s remains were flown out of the park.

When did Dean Potter die?

Potter died on the evening of May 16, 2015.

Where did Dean Potter die?

A view of Taft Point near a memorial for the late Dean Potter and Graham Hunt on May 18, 2015 in Yosemite National Park, California.
Credit: Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty

Potter died after he attempted a wingsuit flight from the 7,500-foot Taft Point promontory that overlooks Yosemite Valley and El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

In a statement following the accident, Parks spokesman Scott Gediman told the Los Angeles Times, “I can’t emphasize enough how tragic this is. Dean just loved Yosemite. He loved the park and everything it stood for.”

How old was Dean Potter when he died?

Potter was 43 years old when he died. He had recently celebrated a birthday on April 14, 2015, just over a month before his death.

What was the public reaction to Dean Potter’s death?

Dean Potter after walking a 41-meter-long and two-centimeter-wide slackline over Enshi Grand Canyon on April 22, 2012 in Enshi, Hubei Province of China.
Credit: Visual China Group via Getty

The climbing community was rocked when they learned of Potter’s and Hunt’s deaths. Potter was so well-known that his accident was also covered by mainstream media.

Fellow longtime rock climber Shawn Reeder was devastated by both men’s deaths and had a hard time digesting the loss of not one, but two of his friends.

“I saw two pictures and I just thought, ‘Oh my God, no please,’” Reeder told the Los Angeles Times. “Losing two people at the same time, it’s hard to even put words to what it feels like.”

Reeder added that, though the loss of life was tragic, both Potter and Hunt died doing what they loved most.

“They were very well-aware of the risks but they chose to live life fully and completely … looking death straight in the eyes,” Reeder said. “I just can’t help but want to celebrate what these two men did. They lived life to the fullest and that’s inspiring.”

In an essay for TIME shortly after the accident, climber Alex Honnold eulogized Potter and his impact on the climbing community.

“Almost everyone in the climbing community posted some kind of tribute to Dean, since we had all been touched by him in some way,” Honnold wrote. “He was a hero of mine growing up, representing everything badass about the climbing world.”

Honnold acknowledged the controversy of Potter’s death, but ultimately sided with Potter chasing his dreams without fear in the face of danger.

“There have been wildly divided responses to his death, ranging from deep respect for a man who greatly influenced his sport to unchecked contempt for someone who threw his life away, squandering what’s most precious in search of the next cheap thrill. Many people questioned the value, or even sanity, in such risk-taking,” Honnold wrote.

He added, “He knew the risks in his life, and he was still willing to pursue his dreams. How many of the rest of us live with that kind of intention?”

What legacy did Dean Potter leave behind?

Dean Potter walks crossed 'slackline' tightrope across Enshi Grand Canyon on April 22, 2012 l in Hubei Province, China.
Credit: Quirky China/Shutterstock

In 1998, Potter’s mother, Patricia Dellert, told the Los Angeles Times her son fell in love with climbing at just 5 years old.

She recalled living in Jordan while Potter’s father, an Army colonel, was stationed in the country and brought the family with him. Potter attempted to climb the stone wall outside their home and fell on his head, but that didn’t deter him in the slightest.

Decades later, Potter had dropped out of college to pursue climbing full-time. He became well-known as one of Yosemite’s best climbers in his mid-20s after he became the first person to free-climb three-quarters of the way up the face of Half Dome, beating the previous record by over 16 hours.

Potter later became the first person to free-climb both Half Dome and El Capitan in less than 24 hours.

Read the original article on People