RIP Dean Potter

Died in a wing suit accident in Yosemite.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/1...ber-dies-in-jumping-accident-at-yosemite.html

 

Fresh off the wake of all those "The Thrill is Gone" headlines,
here come all those "They died doing what they loved" eulogies.

RIP to the wing-suiters. Looks like fun, but it takes a lot of guts, too.

 

BASE jumping, which is essentially parachuting from a fixed structure or cliff, is illegal in the national parks, and Yosemite officials have tried to curtail the practice. But Potter fought and flouted the rules for many years.

Rules are stupid, I guess.

 

Shit-for-brains attention whore who should have been charged with animal cruelty. I'll never get my tax dollars back for would-be rescuers who had to put their own safety at risk to scrape up this retard's remains after his ILLEGAL jump. Fuck that guy, I wish instead he'd jumped into a biker shootout in Waco.

 

Why bother with the expense of body recovery? They liked the outdoors so much, let them be part of the food chain and get shit by a bear.

 

No kidding.

The glowing tributes about this guy make me want to puke. BASE jumping is illegal, especially in national parks. I'm sure the same people lighting candles in his honor today would be lighting torches in protest if I rolled into Yosemite with a oil drilling rig.

 

Some of those people actually knew the guy and were his friends.

I've followed his climbing career for a long time. Once he got into BASE and then wingsuits, most people assumed he'd die like this. The wingsuit guys have zero margin for error when they start doing close passes like that.

 

I am surprised at the harsh replies to his death. These people only really hurt themselves and I think humanity needs those outliers to push the envelope and see what people are capable of doing. I guess I can't get worked up about the illegality of what he was doing.

 

I'm not trying to be harsh. There's just a whole Darwinian Award thing about it that doesn't lead to much sympathy.

 

Darwinian? So you'd have been the guy bashing the Wright Brothers for pushing the envelope. These guys aren't popping wheelies on motorcycles on the highway in rush hour traffic; those guys deserve to win thinned from the herd. I have no problem with BASE jumping or wingsuit flying bc they're not hurting anyone. They assume the risk. And your tax payer money? Give me a break. You sound a bitter old fuck with that screed.

 

Like these wingman suits are going to lead to a whole new form of transportation, provided of course, you climb to the top of a mountain first in order to start your commute. Wright Brothers, BS. These BASE jumping law breaking folks are out for their jollies. Not research. It says something that sponsors were starting to drop them.