--- title: Death of Dean Potter and Graham Hunt Hits Climbing Community Hard description: The death Dean Potter, died in a wingsuit BASE jumping accident Saturday, sending shockwaves through the climbing world over the weekend. canonical: https://time.com/3882194/dean-potter-graham-climbing-base-jump-yosemite-tribute/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-18T07:30:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:24:17.454Z article:section: Sports og:title: Death of Dean Potter Leaves Climbing Community Reeling og:description: Potter was a visionary and icon in the sport og:url: https://time.com/3882194/dean-potter-graham-climbing-base-jump-yosemite-tribute/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b2b321d7447bf44/69884cf6428a9e9e27cccf02/143299276.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: American free climber Dean Potter looks on after walking a 41-meter-long and two-centimeter-wide slackline over Enshi Grand Canyon at an altitude of 1,800m on April 22, 2012 in Enshi, Hubei Province of China. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Death of Dean Potter Leaves Climbing Community Reeling twitter:description: Potter was a visionary and icon in the sport twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b2b321d7447bf44/69884cf6428a9e9e27cccf02/143299276.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Deaths of Dean Potter, Graham Hunt Leave Climbing Community Reeling by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden May 18, 2015 7:30 AM UTC  American free climber Dean Potter looks on after walking a 41-meter-long and two-centimeter-wide slackline over Enshi Grand Canyon at an altitude of 1,800m on April 22, 2012 in Enshi, Hubei Province of China. American free climber Dean Potter looks on after walking a 41-meter-long and two-centimeter-wide slackline over Enshi Grand Canyon at an altitude of 1,800m on April 22, 2012 in Enshi, Hubei Province of China.ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden May 18, 2015 7:30 AM UTC The death of rock climbing visionary Dean Potter, considered to be one of the most influential outdoor athletes of his generation, during a wingsuit BASE jump Saturday has sent shockwaves through the extreme sports world. The 43-year-old and his fellow climber Graham Hunt, 29, died from impact after failing to clear granite cliffs off Taft Point in California’s Yosemite National Park, which can be seen across the valley from the infamous “El Capitan” rock formation. Rescuers said neither jumper’s parachutes deployed, according the to Associated Press. “We as climbers are really good at justifying what we do. And those of us who push the safety aspect convince themselves that they are invincible,” said climbing contemporary Tommy Caldwell, who in January made the first ever [free ascent](http://www.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&ved=0CB0QqQIoADAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F3668512%2Ftommy-caldwell-kevin-jorgeson-dawn-wall-el-capitan%2F&ei=xIZZVaPcJce2mAXOjYCADA&usg=AFQjCNH5fwvtFWXur1GwDrYo3u5FDxmPfg&sig2=in1KEG1lyUNoisIc1LZspQ) of the Dawn Wall on Yosemite’s El Capitan. “I definitely felt Dean was invincible and when something like this happens I get shattered and it makes me very introspective and makes us pause and take a reality check.” Caldwell described Potter, a childhood acquaintance who was awarded the 2009 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, as “a total larger than life person in terms of the amount of emotion in him. He believed anything was possible and the times climbing with him were some of the most high-energy times of my life.” Potter was renowned for pushing the limits of extreme sports. He [slacklined](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaqlM7W1HNI) over deadly precipices and [climbed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqEkFBNiP3c) thousand-foot cliffs with no ropes and then BASE jumped from the top. Recently, he became a hit on YouTube for [BASE jumping](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGWiZLy0YuI) with his dog. In 2006, Potter [courted controversy](http://www.outsideonline.com/1828261/official-statement-patagonia-and-dean-potter-delicate-arch-climb) by climbing Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, which was not illegal but drew rebukes as the rock is considered especially fragile. On Sunday, the climbing, mountaineering and extreme outdoor sports community, including free-soloing star Alex Honnold, took to Twitter to pay tribute to a lost icon. > [](https://twitter.com/AlexHonnold/status/600173168939040769) > [](https://twitter.com/psychovertical/status/600070144946241538) > [](https://twitter.com/psychovertical/status/600081197381918720) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3882194/dean-potter-graham-climbing-base-jump-yosemite-tribute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3882194/dean-potter-graham-climbing-base-jump-yosemite-tribute/"},"headline":"Deaths of Dean Potter, Graham Hunt Leave Climbing Community Reeling","datePublished":"2015-05-18T07:30:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:24:17.454Z","description":"\"I definitely felt Dean was invincible\"","url":"https://time.com/3882194/dean-potter-graham-climbing-base-jump-yosemite-tribute/","keywords":["outdoors","National Geographic","Rememberance","adventure"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b2b321d7447bf44/69884cf6428a9e9e27cccf02/143299276.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin McSpadden","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b2b321d7447bf44/69884cf6428a9e9e27cccf02/143299276.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American free climber Dean Potter looks on after walking a 41-meter-long and two-centimeter-wide slackline over Enshi Grand Canyon at an altitude of 1,800m on April 22, 2012 in Enshi, Hubei Province of China.","caption":"American free climber Dean Potter looks on after walking a 41-meter-long and two-centimeter-wide slackline over Enshi Grand Canyon at an altitude of 1,800m on April 22, 2012 in Enshi, Hubei Province of China.","creditText":"ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3882194/dean-potter-graham-climbing-base-jump-yosemite-tribute/","name":"Deaths of Dean Potter, Graham Hunt Leave Climbing Community Reeling"}}]}] ```