Late rock climber Dean Potter’s partner recalls horrifying final Yosemite jump moments before deadly crash

Late extreme sports icon Dean Potter is once again being remembered in a heartbreaking way after his longtime partner, Jen Rapp, shared painful details about the day he died in a wingsuit accident at Yosemite National Park in May 2015. Speaking in the final episode of HBO’s docuseries The Dark Wizard, Rapp recalled the final moments before Potter and fellow wingsuit flyer Graham Hunt crashed while trying to clear the famous Notch at Taft Point. Potter was 43 years old when he died, while Hunt was 29. Both men crashed into rocks and died instantly during the jump. Rapp, who was there that day, said she still clearly remembers hearing the devastating news moments later.

“I just remember being told they’re both in the Notch and they’re both dead,” Jen Rapp said during the documentary. She also spoke about seeing Potter’s body after the accident. “I walk in the room, and they’re both in these black nylon bags, and I immediately took off all the stuff they put on him. His body was perfect. His head had been impacted, but there were no scrapes, there were no limbs sticking out,” she said.

Dean Potter and Graham Hunt crashed during final wingsuit jump at Yosemite

During the episode, Jen Rapp carefully explained what she saw during Dean Potter and Graham Hunt’s final jump attempt. According to her, it looked like Potter was flying too low to safely clear the Notch. For a brief second, she believed he may try to change direction at the last moment. “Maybe he’s going to go around the Notch,” she remembered thinking. “Maybe he doesn’t think they can make it.” But seconds later, she realized Potter continued forward while Graham Hunt suddenly moved slightly to the right.

“It didn’t seem that Dean was high enough,” she explained. “He had a few seconds to decide, ‘Do I have the altitude? Do I feel good about this?’ Meanwhile, Graham Hunt is on track, but maybe he sees that Dean is too low.” Rapp said she lost sight of both men and then heard a loud sound. She expected to see parachutes open, but nothing appeared. That was the moment she rushed for help.

Before his death, Dean Potter was one of the biggest names in rock climbing and extreme sports. He became famous for free solo climbing and also helped create FreeBASE, a dangerous sport that combines free solo climbing with BASE jumping. The documentary also featured emotional reactions from climbers and filmmakers who knew him closely, including Alex Honnold and filmmaker Brad Lynch. Lynch became emotional while talking about their broken friendship and said he always hoped they would reconnect before Potter’s death.

“People do things in their life that aren’t always right,” Brad Lynch said. “Sometimes you wreck relationships, sometimes you don’t make the right call, but when you get older, that’s the time for you to make amends.” He added, “I really thought, as much as I knew he could die, I really hoped that he would get to that place and he would make it right. All he would have had to say was, ‘I forgive you. Can you forgive me?’ Just something like that. I just miss him.”


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