146 | The Illegal Legend of Yosemite

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Crouching on the edge, he places his hand against the granite,
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spreading his fingers wide and feeling the day's heat radiating
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back into his palm. Below him, more than 7,000 feet
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of empty air yawns open, like it is just beginning
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to wake up as the night begins. In the valley,
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trees begin to blur in the fading light. And the
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immersed river winds through the shadows like a thread of
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energy connecting the rugged landscape to the country beyond. On
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the horizon, the yellows and the oranges from the sun
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bleed into red. And as the sky stretches overhead, the
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purples give way to tiny bulbs of light scattered throughout
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the black. Even though he has seen this sunset a
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million times, it never gets old. Checking his gear one
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more time, he stands and looks to his friend.
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Ready? He asks.
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And the only acknowledgement he receives is a nod of
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the head. What they are doing is illegal, and they
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already have a plan in place for when they land,
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for trouble is never very far away. For a moment,
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he just breathes, in through the nose, out through the mouth.
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The voices running through his head are filled with doubt,
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nearly shouting that face jumping is not about if you die,
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but when. Instead of giving them space to expand, he
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steps to the edge and looks out at the ridge below.
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This silences the noise. Before them, there is a V-shaped
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notch in the ridge. That is their target location. His
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toes hang over nothing. The wind hits him full on,
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no shelter, just the raw push of air rising up
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from the valley floor. He buckles his helmet, gives it
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a gentle tug to make sure it is secure, and
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then he leans into it slightly, testing.
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Steady.
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Good. The world narrows as his friend bends his knees
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and springs into the open air.
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And something in his chest unfolds.
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He counts and then he himself shifts his weight. The
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edge seems to crumble under his feet as he too jumps,
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leaning forward so that way he can soar. Wind screams
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past his ears, roaring so loud it becomes almost silent,
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like a special form of white noise made specifically for
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his type of adrenaline. His body knows what to do,
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arms and legs stretching to stabilize in the air. allowing
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the windsuit to do its job and allow him to glide.
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The sunset wraps around him, but he hardly notices. It
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is the ridge that has his full attention. Everything is perfect.
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His friend's silhouette before him, though, seems to be tracking off.
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Something isn't just right. There's a sensation, a prickling, a knowing.
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In the space that exists between control and chaos, He
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feels himself leaning hard on the ladder side. The V-shaped
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cavity in the ridge is closing in on them. Shock
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waves through him as he watches his friend collide with
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the ridge. The window of time for him to do
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something shifts, it narrows, and time runs out. Welcome back
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to Tragedy with a View.
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Hi, welcome back.
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I am your host, Kayla, and I have a plan.
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And I will keep it short and sweet for you.
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I will be starting monthly episodes in January, releasing on
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the third Wednesday of each month. And then subscribers, you
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will be getting a bonus monthly episode on the first
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Wednesday of every month, just as normal. And you can
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gain access to those by subscribing through Patreon, Apple, or
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Spotify if you are not there already. And then finally,
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for those of you who are members of the Trailblazers
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tier on Patreon, I'm going to be giving you guys
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extra episodes. I might be doing like a multi-episode type story,
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like a deep dive thing. So basically, in short, the
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Patreon bonuses are not changing. You're still going to get
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the same amount of content. The only shift is happening
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for the main episodes that are being released to the public. Also,
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you may have noticed I turned on ads. And if
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you want to get those ad free, you can start
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by joining us on Patreon. The lowest tier actually does
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get you those, the entire catalog of all Tragedy with
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a View episodes, whether they're some of the more recent
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ones that I've put a ton of work into, or
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if you like a particular host, I try to name
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who was co-hosting episodes with me when I was doing that.
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I also have, you know, going all the way back
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to when the audio kind of really sucked. So depending
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on what you're looking for, if you want a full
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evolution of of the podcast.
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You can start with one.
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If you want the good stuff, it's like, I don't know,
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double digits.
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Somewhere in the.
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Double digits is where you got to get through to
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get to the good, good, better audio. Anyways, moving on,
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I will also have one more episode coming for you
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this year, still probably releasing in November.
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So that is coming.
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The last episode I did made me realize how much
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I miss this. And so I'm excited to be coming
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back in some capacity, just trying to find the right
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balance for me. And one of those things that made
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me really excited to do this episode in particular is
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that I read an article and one of the first
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sentences had like the bold letters, there are no rules.
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And it made me think of that commercial. I think
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it's a pizza commercial where the.
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Guy is like, there's no rules.
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And he's ripping his shirt off and someone like back
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behind the camera is like, put your shirt back on.
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And he's like, there is one rule.
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And that is something that is somewhat applicable to this story,
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because even though Yosemite National Park has many rules, one
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of the big ones is that no base jumping is allowed.
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And that was a rule that, among others, Dean Potter
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loved to break. This is a name that you might
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have already heard. Dean was an idol to many rock
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climbers in the 90s and the early 2000s. One of
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the things that drew him to rock climbing was the
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lack of rules and the lack of structure in how
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you were supposed to get things done.
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Instead, you just did it.
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Born on April 14, 1972 to Patricia Dellert, Dean was
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an ambitious child. His father, who has not been named publicly,
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moved the family to Jordan, where he was serving as
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an army colonel in 1977. Outside their home, they had
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a stone wall, and when Dean was only five years old,
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he decided to scale it. Hand over hand, he climbed
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until he slipped and fell and landed on his head.
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He was okay.
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As a mother, I sure would be worried about that.
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But it seemed to be that he found the driving
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point of his life, and he never stopped climbing after this.
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Another example is as a teenager, he saw a metal
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spike high on a cliff and climbed up to investigate it,
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only to later find that he was hundreds of feet
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up with no clear way down. His natural talent became
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evident when he kept his head on and figured it out,
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something that would serve him well over the next few decades.
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He moved to Yosemite National Park in the 1990s after
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dropping out of college and quickly made a name for
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himself among the climbing community. He navigated not only the
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park trails but the routes from base to summit on
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any of the rocks he could find.
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Becoming one of the best.
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Climbers within just a few short years. He got creative
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in his routes and he took on solo ascents as
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well as free solo ascents. A solo ascent just means
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that you are climbing alone without a partner, which can
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still include using rope and self-managing systems for safety. Whereas
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free solo is more.
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You're not climbing with any sort of protection. And so
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if you fall, you fall. That's it.
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Dean was the first person to free climb Half Dome
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and El Capitan in less than 24 hours. And he
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set speed record after speed record on many routes. For
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two decades, while he lived mostly in Yosemite, his passion
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and intensity for the wall inspired others like Alex Honnold.
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as well as many other professionals and recreational climbers who
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wanted to climb walls with the same creativity and curiosity
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that he did. In 1998, he free soloed Half Dome
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and then set and reset speed records on El Cap.
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In 2006, he and his then-wife, Steph Davis, free soloed
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Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Utah, which ended
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up getting him dropped by... his sponsor Patagonia, because this
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was controversial due to the stone's fragile state. Delicate Arch
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is made of sandstone, so it breaks down much easier
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than granite. You are not allowed to climb Delicate Arch,
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and in an attempt to preserve and protect the rock
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for as long as possible for all people to.
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Enjoy, it's illegal.
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And speaking of Patagonia, he also climbed here as well
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as in the Swiss Alps. So though he lived in
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Yosemite for 22 years, He didn't always stay there. Dean
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frequently looked for new ways to explore the outdoors and
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that expanded with rock climbing and then shifted into slacklining
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where he could be found walking ropes that stretched between
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two cliff points. Then he started experimenting with climbing a
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wall only to push off after he reached more than
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a thousand feet and releasing a parachute on his way down.
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Then clearly this led to base jumping. Now there is
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a very important detail here that likely played a huge
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role in Dean's pursuit and the evolution of his experience
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of adrenaline. And that was that he had some mental
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health challenges that he was constantly navigating. And this mental
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side of things, which we can't really define is likely
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the link between the great climber that Dean would have
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been regardless, and the climber that catapulted him into the
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extraordinary and brave athlete in not just climbing, but slacklining
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and base jumping. His endeavors eventually earned him the nickname
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the Dark Wizard. Sometimes he would be insightful and funny,
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and like a switch flipping, he would shift the conversation
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to something more abrasive, almost like a dark cloud had
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came over him. This shift in personality, while most of
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the time people loved to be around him, was the
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cause for others to feel uncomfortable being there for too long.
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They never knew when that mood was going to change.
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Dean began to freak out before jumps or big climbs,
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and he started to push people away.
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It was likely a bit.
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Of vulnerableness and a sense of like, I'm putting myself
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at risk here. This could be the point where I die,
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which can make anything really hard to process. Then when
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you have others talking to you on top of that,
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it is easy to snap at them and kind of
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force them away unintentionally. It was clear in his videos
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that he took to document his climbs and his jumps
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that he was struggling with what he was doing and
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why he was doing it. Experts who have evaluated this
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footage kind of clump this with runner's high, but bigger.
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Those of us who have experienced runner's high know that
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we don't really want to go out for that run.
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But when we are done, there's a sense of euphoria
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that comes over us.
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And there's this false sense of thinking that the next
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run is going to be easier for us to get
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out and go do. This is kind of similar, but
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on a much more life-threatening level. All of his accomplishments
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are tied to struggle, and while he was incredible and
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shined brilliantly in the public's eye, he had insecurities that
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he privately struggled with that would bring anyone to their knees.
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Dean would roll through periods of really big highs, and
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then this absolute collapse where he would descend into darkness
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before rising out of it again, and the ride would
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begin anew. Again, we cannot diagnose him, but it sure
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seems that he might have been experiencing something more intense
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than just anxiety and depression.
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He still had this desire in him to be great,
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to be the best, and he certainly was that.
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He was successful and admired, and he kept seeking out
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the next big thing, and that also included trying to
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find ways to cope with his mental health. He would
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visit many different doctors throughout his life, trying anything short
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of taking actual antidepressants. Generally speaking, he liked his mind
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and how it pushed him to think outside the box
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and take risks, and he was worried that all would
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stop if he started to take medicine. He called his
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adventures dark arts, which I think is pretty cool, to
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have these things you do and then turn them into
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something that you've created and cultivated for yourself.
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And that's the thing about base jumping.
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You get this intense high during the flight, and it
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peaks when you land your feet back on solid ground.
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But after a while, that high fades and for people
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who base jump as a sport, they have to chase
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that high again.
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In order to feel it at.
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That same intensity, they have to continue to do bigger
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and cooler and more dangerous things. While next to you,
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your friends are dying. Dean knew the risks. He had
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friends dying, but he continued to make jumps. He even
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went as far to acknowledge in his journal, though my
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body is warm inside my nylon suit, I start to
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shiver and wonder if what we're doing is right. Wingsuit
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base jumping feels safe for me, but 25 wingsuit flyers
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have lost their lives this year alone. There must be
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a flaw in our system, a lethal secret beyond my comprehension.
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And I think that this is a really interesting piece
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of insight. And I would like to ask him more
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about the comment on the flaw in the system and
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what system.
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He's referring to.
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If it's just like base jumping in general, if it's
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the person and their mindset, if there's something about the
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people who are base jumping that has them coming back
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for more, even though they know the sport is deadly.
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But still, he is recognizing that the sport is lethal.
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Yet this recognition does not slow him down. Even though
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he is living in Yosemite, Dean traveled to the Eiger
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in Switzerland and base jumped there multiple times where the
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rules for base jumping are much more lax. And he
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does this with his favorite partner of all, Whisper. and
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Australian cattle. Now, before you go feeling any type of
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way about this, Dean took really good care of Whisper.
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He had her fitted with very specific harnesses from professionals
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in the field, and he did multiple test jumps with sized,
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appropriate stuffed animals on his back before he.
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Ever put her in the harness.
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And if you are watching this on YouTube or Patreon,
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I'm going to include a video here that is from
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Dean's YouTube page where he puts a camera on Whisper,
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and let me tell you, this is one happy dog.
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You can tell, and you can tell how much he
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adored her. Ready? Three, two, one, see ya. The very
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first jump that he took with her off Half Dome,
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he said that she was just such a happy dog.
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And look, us dog people know when.
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We see a happy dog and it is a good feeling.
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Dean was also in the process of making a helmet
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for her to protect her ears and her eyes better
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during jumps. since he was conscious that the sound of
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the wind roaring by was probably a lot for a
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dog who has more sensitive hearing than humans do. Whisper,
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as I already mentioned, was an Australian kettle dog, which,
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as you can imagine, they are very high energy. They
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are a type of dog that needs a job, and
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they are unapologetic about it. When they were in Yosemite,
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Dean would often have to hold her mouth shut to
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protect her from barking at rangers as they tried to
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hide in the brush because, again, base jumping was illegal,
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And it's also very relatable and endearing. Whisper was often
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found hiking with Dean and going on these grand adventures
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with him, but that isn't all. As we already discussed,
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Dean struggled with his mental health and nothing helped him
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more than Whisper. Others had commented on how he just
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seemed to melt with her, taking this hard, dark arts,
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brave and bold exterior and allowing it to become something
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a little bit softer with her. Dean had her by
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his side through all of the attention he was receiving.
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He was a global leader in base jumping circles being
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talked about all over the world as he set record
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after record. He was named Adventurer of the Year by
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National Geographic in 2009. He was featured in short films
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such as the Mountain Film Festival and recently Dark Wizard
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was released on HBO. In interviews, Dean was straightforward about
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00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:56.710
recognizing the high risks that he was taking, but also
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controlling what he could by making sure his gear was
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in great condition and well taken care of, spending the
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00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:06.500
money to buy high quality items, and doing everything he
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could to eliminate human error.
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Base jumping, though, is one of, if not the most
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dangerous sports out there.
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In 2025, there were between 29 and 38 deaths, depending
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on what source you look at. According to skydivingguides.com, the
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past eight years have held relatively steady with how many
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deaths occur in base jumping, with going from 2018 to 2025,
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those numbers being 28, 25, 12, 18, 24, 27, 22,
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and 29. The year of the 12 and the 18
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00:17:30.849 --> 00:17:48.549
were during 2020 and 2021 COVID shutdowns. BASE is an
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acronym for the objects that are, I will say, acceptable
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to jump from, but it's essentially a fixed object. So
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B for building, A for antenna, S for spans, so
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bridges and arches, and then E for earth. Unlike skydiving,
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these altitudes are much smaller than a person leaping from
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a plane, meaning that they have a small window to
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free fall and then deploy their parachute to come to
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the ground, which also means that the death rate of
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face jumping is high, 43 times higher than skydiving, in fact.
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The question in base jumping is not if you are
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going to die, but when. Base jumping was banned by
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the National Park Service due to the risks that came
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with it, and Yosemite was no stranger to this. Yosemite was,
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and still is, a place that is sacred to climbers.
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Many meet here on an annual basis for some of
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the best climbing the United States has to offer. and
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some even live here all year round, navigating the rules
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and rangers in order to stay. Located in the Sierra
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Nevada mountains in California, Yosemite was established as a national
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park on October 1st, 1890. It holds nearly 1,200 square miles,
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or roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island,
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within its boundaries. Here you will find some of the
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most pristine blue waters raging over the 25 named waterfalls
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within the park, There are old growth forests, redwoods stretching
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into the sky, meadows of tall grasses, and during the
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right seasons, blooming with thousands and thousands of brilliantly colored flowers.
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The stargazing here is unlike anywhere else, thanks to the
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lack of light pollution. Yosemite holds space for anyone and everyone.
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Here you can hike, mountain bike, trail ride on horses,
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go fishing, rafting.
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And of course, climbing.
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There are 750 miles of trails, and generally speaking, you
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are safe. Wolves and bears used to roam the grounds,
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but while there are no established wolf packs in Yosemite,
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a lone wolf can occasionally be seen. Yosemite holds some
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of the most spectacular climbing spaces, cliffs, and drop-offs that
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one will find in North America. This is thanks to
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the hulking glaciers that carved through the granite, and as
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they receded, they left behind the iconic structures we see
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00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.599
today of El Cap, Half Dome, Taft Point, and many others.
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That we are aware of There were four glaciers in Yosemite,
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with only two remaining today, but they are projected to
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melt away between the years of 2050 and 2100. Lyle
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Glacier has lost 60% of its volume and has stopped moving,
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while McClure Glacier is noted to be rapidly shrinking and
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is also no longer moving. There truly is something here
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for everyone, including those who like to get their hearts
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racing by leaping off of cliffs, which started in Yosemite
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in the summer of 1966 with Mike Pelkey and Bryant Schubert,
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who were climbing the summit of El Cap with bags,
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carrying their parachute equipment.
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And then they jumped.
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And this began a long history of Yosemite National Park
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facing off with base jumpers. Some of the stories are funny,
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like the very first jump where Bryant and Mike ended
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up getting bustled about by the wind and injured their legs,
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not badly.
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On landing. Park rangers accompanied the men.
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To the hospital and while they still had to do
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their job, they were excited to talk to them about
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what the jump was like. But this opened up the
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floodgates for jumpers everywhere. Later, there were people just being
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funny and having fun and soaring into the air on
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pogo sticks and stilts and skateboards. They were just Living
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the dream. Because base jumping was illegal in the park,
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rangers would have to stake out and basically arrest jumpers
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when they landed, which resulted in some not-so-great stories, including
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00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:37.279
in the June of 1999 when Frank Gamboli II landed
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00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:40.700
in Yosemite Valley after jumping from El Cap. He unbuckled
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00:21:40.750 --> 00:21:43.730
his parachute and left it behind as he ran off
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00:21:43.869 --> 00:21:46.750
with Rangers right on his tail. The Rangers ended up
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00:21:46.809 --> 00:21:50.109
losing him at Merced River, where Frank had decided to
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jump in to avoid arrest and the $ 2, 000.
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Fine, along with potential jail time.
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This, though, ended up being a tragedy when his body
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00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:02.160
was recovered from the river a month later. This opened
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00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:05.700
up the conversation to, you know, Frank and everyone else,
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00:22:06.150 --> 00:22:08.490
wouldn't feel the need to run and escape if base
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00:22:08.529 --> 00:22:11.410
jumping was legal and rangers weren't there to arrest them.
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00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:13.660
And they wouldn't do something.
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00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:16.759
Like leap into a flooded river and drown because if
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00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:19.059
they didn't have to run. But then on the other
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00:22:19.099 --> 00:22:22.740
side of it, I can completely understand where somebody would
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00:22:23.099 --> 00:22:25.799
be able to argue that if you would just follow
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00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:27.920
the rules, then you also wouldn't have to run and
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00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:29.829
you wouldn't have to jump into a flooded river and
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00:22:29.869 --> 00:22:34.089
you wouldn't potentially drown. So there's arguments on both sides,
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00:22:34.289 --> 00:22:36.930
but it wasn't just the arrest and the fines that
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00:22:36.950 --> 00:22:40.450
they were dealing with. Rangers would confiscate their gear as well,
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which was very expensive. There isn't an easy or cheap
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way to replace that. That being said, though, the national
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park's purpose is to conserve natural scenery, wildlife, and historic
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objects while leaving them unimpaired for public enjoyment. which means
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that they protect the lands, the ecosystems, the animals, the wildlife,
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and they provide a place for all of us to
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be able to enjoy the environment and the space as
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00:23:05.210 --> 00:23:07.829
it is. While you can generally predict where you are
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00:23:07.869 --> 00:23:11.309
going to land in base jumping, there are outliers where
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00:23:11.329 --> 00:23:14.009
the wind blows you off course. Repeated landing in the
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00:23:14.029 --> 00:23:17.900
same areas is hard on that specific ecosystem. potentially causing
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it to break down and then spread to other areas.
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Not to mention, not everyone would love to see people
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00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.859
jumping off of cliffs, whether it was for base jumping
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00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:29.140
or I can also see it being, especially today with
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00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:32.200
technology that if someone sees another person jumping off of
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00:23:32.289 --> 00:23:34.430
a cliff and they don't know what is going on,
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00:23:34.910 --> 00:23:37.230
there could be the potential that rangers are being used
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00:23:37.269 --> 00:23:40.769
to check out a situation that is unnecessary and therefore
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00:23:40.890 --> 00:23:44.190
using resources that could be used elsewhere. On the other hand,
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00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:47.920
Say someone falls or purposefully jumps without a parachute. Others
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00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.069
might see the beginning of this and they just kind
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00:23:50.109 --> 00:23:52.130
of brush it off as, oh, this is just another
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00:23:52.170 --> 00:23:55.589
base jumper and not offer any help. And then someone
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00:23:55.650 --> 00:23:59.230
is suffering unnecessarily. I guess what I'm saying is that
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00:23:59.329 --> 00:24:02.450
I see both sides and the park did too. They
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00:24:02.549 --> 00:24:06.690
actually started allowing 12 permits per day in 1980, but
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00:24:06.730 --> 00:24:09.369
they quickly realized that people are still going to jump
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whether they had a permit or not. This idea was nixed,
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00:24:12.670 --> 00:24:14.869
and then the next idea they came up with was
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00:24:14.910 --> 00:24:17.710
similar to what we see in New River Gorge National Park,
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00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:20.740
where they do an event where people could jump on
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00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:24.240
a very specific day. But unlike New River Gorge, this
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00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:27.299
wasn't an event, it was a protest. The caveat was
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00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:30.099
that the five people who jumped would be arrested. they
447
00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:32.180
would give up without a chase, they would not fight
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00:24:32.339 --> 00:24:35.119
being arrested, and their gear would be surrendered as well.
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00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:37.940
This leads to a really tragic tale of BASE jumping
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00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:40.700
history as hundreds of people crowded into the valley to
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00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:44.019
watch the spectacle. Four men and one woman were situated
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00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:47.880
and ready to go on October 22, 1999, where Jan
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00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:51.400
Davis was representing women everywhere. She was making her way
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00:24:51.529 --> 00:24:54.109
to the cliff edge in an iconic black and white
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00:24:54.230 --> 00:24:57.990
pinstriped suit wearing poking fun at what they were doing
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00:24:58.089 --> 00:24:59.990
and the fact that she was going to be arrested.
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00:25:00.089 --> 00:25:02.970
Jan was known for being a spectacle by dressing in
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00:25:03.049 --> 00:25:07.369
crazy outfits as she had previously jumped in red lingerie.
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00:25:07.569 --> 00:25:09.450
And because she knew that her gear was going to
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00:25:09.490 --> 00:25:12.490
be confiscated, she asked to borrow gear so that hers
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00:25:12.569 --> 00:25:16.210
would not be taken. Unfortunately, the ripcord for the parachute
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00:25:16.250 --> 00:25:18.490
release was on the side of her leg in this
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00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:21.160
new gear, which is very different from her own gear
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00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:23.079
where the cord was at the small of her back.
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00:25:23.140 --> 00:25:25.460
The media was here for the event, and in the
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00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:28.000
video footage, you can see as Jan steps to the
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00:25:28.099 --> 00:25:30.599
edge of the cliff as she stretches her arms out
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00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:34.420
and leapt. For seconds, there are cheers and everyone is excited,
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00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:37.220
but as the camera zooms in, you very quickly get
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00:25:37.259 --> 00:25:40.549
the sense that everything is going wrong. Jan is clutching
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00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:42.660
at the small of her back for the cord.
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00:25:42.329 --> 00:25:43.430
That isn't there.
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00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:46.599
And as time seems to slow down and no parachute
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00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:49.619
is released, everyone realizes in the moment where she hits
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00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.309
the ground that the stunt has gone very, very wrong.
476
00:25:53.390 --> 00:25:56.859
The force of Jan hitting the ground after free-falling 3,000
477
00:25:56.859 --> 00:25:59.819
feet resulted in a two-foot crater in the parking lot
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00:25:59.940 --> 00:26:03.440
and the nearby car crash. alarms started going off. So
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00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:07.099
clearly this protest was a failure. And instead of convincing
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00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:10.200
everyone how the national parks and base jumpers could get along,
481
00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:14.019
it just highlighted how devastating base jumping becomes. One of
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00:26:14.059 --> 00:26:17.619
the men frequently jumping with Dean was Graham Hunt. For
483
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.309
at least five years, he had been regularly taking on
484
00:26:20.430 --> 00:26:23.750
new challenges with Dean. While he wasn't very well known
485
00:26:23.890 --> 00:26:26.789
in the climbing or base jumping world as a local,
486
00:26:26.990 --> 00:26:29.950
his name was tossed around with awe. Graham was from
487
00:26:30.130 --> 00:26:33.700
Shingle Springs, California, where he worked all over the western
488
00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:38.359
states fighting wildfires as a hotshot, which is a wildlife firefighter.
489
00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:42.599
But then when he moved to Yosemite at 22 years old,
490
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:45.519
he just kind of wanted to live life. He had
491
00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:49.380
no car, no job, just living and climbing and having
492
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.700
a ball. He is described as kind, courageous, and mindful.
493
00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:55.250
He wanted to be a better human. When Graham and
494
00:26:55.289 --> 00:26:58.529
Dean met, their athleticism made them a clear match to
495
00:26:58.569 --> 00:27:02.609
partner together. They really leaned into wingsuit-based jumping, which not
496
00:27:02.650 --> 00:27:06.380
only requires expensive gear, but it also requires a specific
497
00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:10.759
amount of dedicated training, where a jumper slowly increases height
498
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:13.690
and difficulty of truth. of jumps and terrain over a
499
00:27:13.750 --> 00:27:16.220
long period of time. This is not something that someone
500
00:27:16.269 --> 00:27:19.960
just leaps into, pun intended. The wingsuit has this strip
501
00:27:20.059 --> 00:27:22.299
of fabric between the arms and the legs of a
502
00:27:22.339 --> 00:27:25.299
person and a triangle of fabric between the legs, almost
503
00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:28.630
like becoming a flying squirrel. In Europe, this is much
504
00:27:28.670 --> 00:27:31.549
more common as there are fewer regulations and the jump
505
00:27:31.569 --> 00:27:34.950
locations tend to be a little bit more accessible. Dean specifically,
506
00:27:35.069 --> 00:27:38.349
if not Graham as well, was extremely experienced when it
507
00:27:38.390 --> 00:27:43.140
came to many different types of outdoor recreation activities. Yet
508
00:27:43.339 --> 00:27:46.390
with base jumping, again, it is when, not if. And
509
00:27:46.450 --> 00:27:49.809
wingsuit base jumping is much more deadly than non-wingsuit base jumping.
510
00:27:50.130 --> 00:27:52.529
And this is because wingsuits are used in what is
511
00:27:52.589 --> 00:27:56.019
called proximity flying, where people will fly and soar their
512
00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:59.880
way past and through different terrains offered in a given area.
513
00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:04.880
In Yosemite, That means cliffs and ridges and solid granite stone.
514
00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:08.690
On May 16, 2015, Dean and Graham climbed to the
515
00:28:08.750 --> 00:28:11.289
top of Taft Point with the intent to jump and
516
00:28:11.329 --> 00:28:14.609
sail through a notch in the jagged ridgeline just below them.
517
00:28:15.210 --> 00:28:18.029
It was 7.30 p.m., and this was a normal time
518
00:28:18.069 --> 00:28:20.630
for them to jump. Since it was illegal, Dean was
519
00:28:20.730 --> 00:28:23.980
regularly jumping either early in the morning or later in
520
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.160
the evening to avoid detection. On this day, which was
521
00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:31.599
a Saturday, Dean, Graham, and Dean's girlfriend, Jen Rapp, hiked
522
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.839
the roughly mile-long trail to Taft Point, which stands at 7,700
523
00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:40.710
feet in elevation, or 2,345 meters. From the peak, you
524
00:28:40.730 --> 00:28:44.960
can see El Cap, Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Falls, and the fissures,
525
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.880
which are deep vertical cracks in the granite at.
526
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:48.660
The cliff's edge.
527
00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:52.240
And they just plunge the 3,000 feet or 915 meters
528
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:54.460
to the valley floor. Today, if you were to stand
529
00:28:54.569 --> 00:28:57.769
on Taft Point, you would see Lost Brother Notch standing
530
00:28:57.829 --> 00:29:00.930
out on the ridgeline below. This notch is the 30-foot
531
00:29:01.009 --> 00:29:04.250
wide V-shaped gap that Dean and Graham were going to
532
00:29:04.309 --> 00:29:06.970
soar through. It needs to be mentioned that this notch
533
00:29:07.049 --> 00:29:10.279
is 30 feet wide at the top, Not the base.
534
00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:11.180
It's 7.35 p.m.
535
00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:13.640
And Dean has a camera mounted to his helmet rolling.
536
00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:16.359
He is standing in his red suit and Graham is
537
00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:20.759
just before him in black and yellow. Graham texts his girlfriend,
538
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:22.960
Rebecca Hain, who is waiting for them on the valley
539
00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:25.000
floor in their intended landing spot.
540
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:25.859
Ready?
541
00:29:26.220 --> 00:29:28.640
It reads. And then he zips his phone into his
542
00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:32.369
pocket before turning to the cliff. Graham jumps, followed closely
543
00:29:32.420 --> 00:29:34.910
by Dean. The notch sits around 1000 feet down and
544
00:29:34.910 --> 00:29:37.039
1500 feet out from their starting point or 305 meters.
545
00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:44.759
and 457 meters out. The fabric stretched between their arms
546
00:29:44.819 --> 00:29:47.579
and legs is pulled taunt in the wind. carrying them
547
00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:51.299
down and out, exactly as they want. At this point, Jen,
548
00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.700
while taking photos, loses sight of them, and just as
549
00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:56.470
she turns to head down the trail to meet them
550
00:29:56.490 --> 00:29:59.329
in the valley, she hears a thwack, followed by a second.
551
00:29:59.549 --> 00:30:02.569
The fading sun is eerily silent as she shouts their names,
552
00:30:02.769 --> 00:30:05.039
and the silence stays with her as she rushes back
553
00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:08.099
down the trail. When Jen gets down and finds Rebecca,
554
00:30:08.140 --> 00:30:11.539
she finds that Dean and Graham aren't there. They look
555
00:30:11.579 --> 00:30:14.829
around for a while, texting and texting again, hoping that
556
00:30:14.849 --> 00:30:17.430
they just got off course and landed and are making
557
00:30:17.450 --> 00:30:19.630
their way back to meet up with them. Or maybe
558
00:30:19.650 --> 00:30:22.150
they were so excited about their accomplishments that they decided
559
00:30:22.170 --> 00:30:25.750
to head to a nearby bar for celebratory drinks. But
560
00:30:25.809 --> 00:30:28.150
as evening turns into night and later shifts into the
561
00:30:28.190 --> 00:30:31.369
next day, they finally head to park officials to report
562
00:30:31.509 --> 00:30:34.859
Dean and Graham missing. At first, officials hear this story
563
00:30:34.980 --> 00:30:37.900
and they're like, okay, maybe they're hiding somewhere because they
564
00:30:37.940 --> 00:30:41.019
saw a park ranger and they didn't want to be arrested. Remember,
565
00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:44.920
Space jumping is illegal in the parks. Then they were like, wait,
566
00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:47.480
maybe they did run into a ranger and maybe they've
567
00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:50.940
been arrested. But Sunday morning, regardless, with the rising sun,
568
00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:53.809
officials start their search within the park. Park rangers and
569
00:30:53.849 --> 00:30:57.490
volunteers walk the trails and in the air are helicopters
570
00:30:57.630 --> 00:31:00.789
from the California Highway Patrol. It does not take long
571
00:31:00.970 --> 00:31:03.569
for the crew and one of the helicopters to spot
572
00:31:03.750 --> 00:31:06.680
two bodies on the rock wall. just below the notch
573
00:31:06.849 --> 00:31:09.829
that Dean and Graham had been trying to clear. Their
574
00:31:09.849 --> 00:31:13.869
bodies were recovered and an investigation began to figure out
575
00:31:14.210 --> 00:31:18.329
what happened. What they determined, thanks to Dean's camera, was
576
00:31:18.369 --> 00:31:21.390
that Graham nicked the notch in the upper right-hand side
577
00:31:21.509 --> 00:31:24.230
as he entered it. It is unclear if Dean saw
578
00:31:24.269 --> 00:31:26.750
this and tried to roll or avoid the same path,
579
00:31:27.170 --> 00:31:29.750
or if he had already been on a collision course himself.
580
00:31:30.049 --> 00:31:33.490
Dean then slammed into the bottom of the notch. Both
581
00:31:33.630 --> 00:31:36.980
were going over 100 miles per hour and both died
582
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:42.289
on impact. Their entire final flight lasted less than 30 seconds.
583
00:31:42.490 --> 00:31:45.700
Dean was 43 years old and slammed into the ridge headfirst.
584
00:31:46.150 --> 00:31:48.829
where Graham, who was 29 years old, struck the rock
585
00:31:48.869 --> 00:31:50.990
with the front of his body. It is impossible to
586
00:31:51.089 --> 00:31:54.509
clearly know what went wrong on this jump, but others
587
00:31:54.549 --> 00:31:57.329
have surmised that it could have been any or a
588
00:31:57.369 --> 00:32:03.019
combination of variables, including misjudged distances and elevation, distraction during
589
00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:05.819
the jump, or even air turbulence. It did not take
590
00:32:05.859 --> 00:32:08.319
long for the news of this loss to spread. Park
591
00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:12.680
spokesman Scott Gettyman knew Dean and commented on how much
592
00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:15.210
he loved the park and what it stood for. Even
593
00:32:15.230 --> 00:32:18.470
though he was doing something illegal, he emphasized how tragic
594
00:32:18.529 --> 00:32:21.410
this loss of life was. Friends saw pictures of the
595
00:32:21.470 --> 00:32:24.619
two men circulating and without reading the caption, knew that
596
00:32:24.660 --> 00:32:28.140
the men were dead. Sean Reeder commented on how hard
597
00:32:28.180 --> 00:32:30.279
it is to lose one friend, but two at the
598
00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:33.640
same time is devastating, though he takes comfort in knowing
599
00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:36.180
they died doing something that they loved. Something that they
600
00:32:36.269 --> 00:32:39.329
knew was dangerous. They knew that continuing to base jump
601
00:32:39.430 --> 00:32:42.099
is a ticking time bomb. And that there would be
602
00:32:42.220 --> 00:32:45.069
no docking for cover when it finally went off. They
603
00:32:45.109 --> 00:32:47.990
looked death in the face and they jumped anyways. Friends
604
00:32:48.150 --> 00:32:51.230
in their grief still celebrated their two friends who were
605
00:32:51.289 --> 00:32:54.390
chasing their dream and living their lives to the fullest.
606
00:32:54.569 --> 00:32:57.450
Conversations have been shared on all angles, focusing on the
607
00:32:57.490 --> 00:32:59.829
fact that there are rules and if you break them,
608
00:32:59.869 --> 00:33:02.299
you have to accept the punishment. That rangers are supposed
609
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:04.940
to uphold the rules for which they work. and that
610
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.180
if these people break the rules, the least they could
611
00:33:07.220 --> 00:33:09.519
do is abide by the rangers when they come calling.
612
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:12.539
No matter where you go or what you're doing, someone
613
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:15.660
is breaking rules. This can be seen every day with
614
00:33:15.700 --> 00:33:19.650
the speed limits, red lights, and jaywalking. The park rangers'
615
00:33:19.710 --> 00:33:23.670
jobs are to enforce their rules, just like any other officer,
616
00:33:24.089 --> 00:33:26.569
and just like any other officer, when they find themselves
617
00:33:26.690 --> 00:33:29.519
in a situation where things don't go as planned, They
618
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.500
are the ones cleaning up the body left behind. Not
619
00:33:32.539 --> 00:33:35.349
to mention the environmental impact on the land itself, the
620
00:33:35.380 --> 00:33:38.549
fragile vegetation that sometimes lives only in one area of
621
00:33:38.589 --> 00:33:41.910
the park, and how to do it without creating distraction
622
00:33:42.029 --> 00:33:45.509
or spectacle for all other visitors. There are many who
623
00:33:45.569 --> 00:33:48.230
don't agree with BASE jumpers or think that the choice
624
00:33:48.289 --> 00:33:51.210
they made with their own life was okay. Those who
625
00:33:51.250 --> 00:33:53.730
have been most vocal over the years call Dean and
626
00:33:53.769 --> 00:33:57.109
Graham reckless. Many in the online space have implied that
627
00:33:57.150 --> 00:34:01.890
playing stupid games wins you stupid prizes, insinuating more viciously
628
00:34:02.049 --> 00:34:04.630
that base jumping is illegal for a reason. And if
629
00:34:04.650 --> 00:34:06.990
you don't abide by the rules and you end up dead,
630
00:34:07.130 --> 00:34:10.239
then they don't feel bad. There is so much I
631
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:12.159
could say here, but I don't believe that these men
632
00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:15.519
were being reckless or they clearly did not deserve to die.
633
00:34:15.539 --> 00:34:18.139
They took care of their very expensive gear. They were
634
00:34:18.179 --> 00:34:21.179
mindful and aware of the mistakes and what those mistakes
635
00:34:21.219 --> 00:34:23.659
would cost. They had Jen at the launch point and
636
00:34:23.699 --> 00:34:26.400
Rebecca at the landing spot, putting those they cared about
637
00:34:26.679 --> 00:34:29.429
in a position to witness what they did and would
638
00:34:29.469 --> 00:34:32.429
have been cruel to that, you know, I'm doing this
639
00:34:32.510 --> 00:34:34.269
on purpose, like today's the day I'm going to die
640
00:34:34.329 --> 00:34:36.949
and these girls are going to witness that. Jumping is
641
00:34:37.309 --> 00:34:41.369
always the jumper's choice, yet they still seemed aware of
642
00:34:41.389 --> 00:34:44.449
their own impact on the park around them. When things
643
00:34:44.510 --> 00:34:46.969
go good, there is no question that things could work
644
00:34:47.030 --> 00:34:47.809
out for everyone.
645
00:34:48.289 --> 00:34:49.590
It is when things go wrong.
646
00:34:50.050 --> 00:34:52.349
When search and rescue has to find a missing jumper,
647
00:34:52.789 --> 00:34:55.329
when the rescue turns into a recovery, and when that
648
00:34:55.369 --> 00:34:58.159
recovery is occurring in a really technical area that is
649
00:34:58.199 --> 00:35:00.360
difficult to access, it is hard to keep a clear
650
00:35:00.389 --> 00:35:03.659
head about the reasons behind the adrenaline pump. Jumpers are
651
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:05.940
conscious of their choice, yet there seems to be a
652
00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:08.460
disconnect for when they choose to live a life that
653
00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:11.139
included risk and they manage that risk as much as
654
00:35:11.179 --> 00:35:14.000
they could, just like you and I do driving to
655
00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:16.199
and from work every day. just like we all do
656
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:18.539
when we step on a plane or walk our dogs.
657
00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:21.619
There is risk sitting at our desks, eating lunch in
658
00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.570
our climate-controlled rooms, and going to bed each night in
659
00:35:24.650 --> 00:35:26.969
our homes. As we start to wrap up this episode,
660
00:35:27.070 --> 00:35:28.969
I think it is worth mentioning that no matter what
661
00:35:29.070 --> 00:35:32.510
activity a person is doing, no matter what, a death
662
00:35:32.630 --> 00:35:35.579
is still a loss, even if the person was breaking
663
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:38.340
the rules or doing something that you yourself could never understand.
664
00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:40.179
That loss is still felt.
665
00:35:40.219 --> 00:35:46.570
Somewhere out there, a girlfriend, a wife, a brother, a mother, father, sons, daughters, sisters, friends,
666
00:35:47.510 --> 00:35:49.730
all these people who cared about this person are weeping.
667
00:35:50.309 --> 00:35:52.329
The rescue teams have to step in and mourn yet
668
00:35:52.429 --> 00:35:54.349
another life that they have to bring home in the
669
00:35:54.389 --> 00:35:57.179
most respectful way that they can. It is not just
670
00:35:57.400 --> 00:36:00.000
Dean and Graham who lost their lives. It's everyone who
671
00:36:00.059 --> 00:36:02.880
had plans with them. Alex Honnold, who is a climber
672
00:36:02.940 --> 00:36:06.260
who needs no introduction, wrote something out that I think
673
00:36:06.690 --> 00:36:08.869
clearly sums up this discussion.
674
00:36:09.110 --> 00:36:11.070
And so I am going to read it word for word.
675
00:36:11.150 --> 00:36:14.489
Quote, there have been wildly divided responses to his death,
676
00:36:14.730 --> 00:36:17.750
ranging from deep respect for a man who greatly influenced
677
00:36:17.789 --> 00:36:20.949
his sport to unchecked contempt for someone who threw his
678
00:36:20.989 --> 00:36:24.510
life away. squandering what's most precious in search of the
679
00:36:24.610 --> 00:36:27.860
next cheap thrill. Many people question the value or even
680
00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:31.760
sanity in such risk-taking. They assume that Dean must have
681
00:36:31.800 --> 00:36:34.380
been a selfish monster to hurt his family and friends
682
00:36:34.420 --> 00:36:37.260
in such a way. The most common kind of criticism
683
00:36:37.429 --> 00:36:40.030
was some version of, he owes it to others to
684
00:36:40.090 --> 00:36:43.750
stay alive. These types of comments really rankled me because
685
00:36:43.789 --> 00:36:47.070
they belittle how much thought and effort Dean invested in
686
00:36:47.150 --> 00:36:50.170
his arts. No one spends 20 years at the cutting
687
00:36:50.230 --> 00:36:53.139
edge of their sport by being an adrenaline junkie all
688
00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:56.219
the time. Most people had only seen his climbing and
689
00:36:56.260 --> 00:36:59.340
flying through short YouTube videos and never got a glimpse
690
00:36:59.420 --> 00:37:02.780
of the years of training behind them. Dean actually had
691
00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:06.780
a thoughtful and conservative approach, building up to things slowly
692
00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:10.519
over time as he became physically and psychologically prepared. Some
693
00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:13.380
argued that it was immoral to risk his life. Yet
694
00:37:13.420 --> 00:37:17.159
many Americans risk their health every day through largely avoidable
695
00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:20.190
diet and lifestyle choices. I was 19 when my father
696
00:37:20.210 --> 00:37:23.429
died from a heart attack. He was a 55-year-old college
697
00:37:23.469 --> 00:37:27.090
professor and had led what was, by all appearances, a
698
00:37:27.170 --> 00:37:30.150
risk-free life. But he was overweight and heart disease runs
699
00:37:30.190 --> 00:37:32.809
in our family. No matter the risks we take, we
700
00:37:32.889 --> 00:37:35.659
always consider the end to be too soon. Even though
701
00:37:35.739 --> 00:37:38.760
in life, more than anything else, quality should be more
702
00:37:38.840 --> 00:37:44.150
important than quantity. Dean's pursuits were impractical and unrealistic, and
703
00:37:44.210 --> 00:37:47.710
yet he was romantically devoted to them. And that dedication
704
00:37:48.130 --> 00:37:51.030
is what allowed him to help shape his sport for
705
00:37:51.110 --> 00:37:54.099
almost 20 years. His death has reminded me to reflect
706
00:37:54.199 --> 00:37:57.300
carefully on my own decisions about risk. There's a constant
707
00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:00.820
tension in climbing and really all exploration between pushing yourself
708
00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:03.500
into the unknown, but trying not to push too far.
709
00:38:04.059 --> 00:38:05.980
The best any of us can do is tread that
710
00:38:06.019 --> 00:38:10.119
line carefully. Dean was making his choices clear-eyed. He knew
711
00:38:10.179 --> 00:38:12.199
the risks in his life, and he was still willing
712
00:38:12.219 --> 00:38:14.800
to pursue his dreams. How many of the rest of
713
00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:17.599
us live with that kind of attention?
714
00:38:19.179 --> 00:38:19.860
End quote.
715
00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:21.639
So now we're back to me. Dean was one of
716
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.480
the most iconic climbers of his time, and that translated
717
00:38:24.539 --> 00:38:28.110
well into base jumping and slacklining. He evolved with this
718
00:38:28.139 --> 00:38:31.829
community of those who loved adrenaline, pushing boundaries, and defining
719
00:38:31.869 --> 00:38:34.320
what it felt like to be human. To say that
720
00:38:34.380 --> 00:38:36.699
he was one of the most revered climbers would be
721
00:38:36.780 --> 00:38:40.869
an understatement, yet there is something that still holds more true.
722
00:38:41.010 --> 00:38:43.949
In the world of extreme sports, it doesn't matter how
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00:38:44.050 --> 00:38:46.650
experienced you are, how skilled you are, or how much
724
00:38:46.690 --> 00:38:50.369
you love it, the margins for mistakes are small. So
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00:38:50.449 --> 00:38:53.230
small that in certain cases, the hands on the clock
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00:38:53.250 --> 00:38:56.489
start ticking in your brain. Each tick of a second
727
00:38:56.550 --> 00:38:58.010
seems louder and louder.
728
00:38:58.570 --> 00:39:00.119
Time is moving too fast.
729
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:02.559
By the time you realize that you need to adjust,
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00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:05.860
that things aren't going to pan out, your time is up.
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00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:15.619
Sources for this episode include nps.gov, newyorktimes.com, outsideonline.com, people.com, time.com, alpinist.com, medium.com,
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00:39:15.820 --> 00:39:19.389
and redbull.com. Thank you so much for joining me. And
733
00:39:19.510 --> 00:39:22.250
as I work on a plan for bringing you more episodes,
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00:39:22.329 --> 00:39:24.949
I appreciate your kindness and your patience. If you have
735
00:39:24.969 --> 00:39:26.590
a story of your own to share, whether it be
736
00:39:26.630 --> 00:39:29.829
something funny that happened while camping or your own survival story,
737
00:39:30.119 --> 00:39:35.400
please send me an email at tragedywithaviewatgmail.com or go to
738
00:39:35.420 --> 00:39:39.929
the website tragedywithaview.com and send me an email there. Be
739
00:39:39.969 --> 00:39:42.650
sure to follow along on Instagram and Facebook for episode
740
00:39:42.670 --> 00:39:45.889
photos and become a part of the community by joining Patreon,
741
00:39:46.110 --> 00:39:48.949
where you will gain access to the full catalog of
742
00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:53.010
ad-free episodes, bonus content, exclusive episodes, and all the monthly
743
00:39:53.090 --> 00:39:55.429
episodes to come. If you enjoy the show, please take
744
00:39:55.469 --> 00:39:58.289
a moment to rate and review and subscribe anywhere you
745
00:39:58.329 --> 00:40:01.130
listen to podcasts. Thank you so much for being here.
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00:40:01.150 --> 00:40:02.710
I'm glad to be back. Bye.