Renowned BASE jumper Dean Potter and another man were killed Saturday at Yosemite National Park after attempting a wingsuit flight.
A spokesman for the park told the Associated Press that Potter, 43, and Graham Hunt, 29, died after attempting a wingsuit flight from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot rocky promontory overlooking Yosemite Valley.
Yosemite chief of staff Mike Gauthier told Outside the jumpers' spotter said she heard two sounds that may have been impacts or their parachutes opening.
According to the magazine, Potter and Graham were attempting to fly along a ridge that required them to clear a notch.
“It’s kind of a trickier flight to go through this notch,” Gauthier said.
Search-and-rescue crews located the bodies of the two men Sunday in the Yosemite Valley. Neither parachute had been deployed.
BASE jumping, parachuting from a fixed structure or cliff, is illegal in Yosemite, and in the days before his death Potter wrote on Facebook he disagreed with the ban.
"It's an old rule and should be changed to reflect modern day," he said. I'm actively pursuing the legalization of human flight in our National Parks and slowly making progress:) Hopefully more people will lobby with me!!"
Potter was well known for his BASE jumping, rock climbs and extreme tightrope-walking between cliffs, and was the subject of a National Geographic documentary.
Hunt was a BASE jumper who lived near Yosemite area and was a regular in the park.
Last year, Potter produced the film When Dogs Fly, documenting his BASE jumping along with his dog, Whisper.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1AeSNS2
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