The Dark Wizard (2026) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Hey, buddy.
You going to fly with me, pal?
Yeah.
Right now,
I'm going down this path
of learning and pushing myself
more in the flying arts.
The wingsuit is basically
a flying squirrel suit.
You got little wings
between your arms and legs
that allow you to glide.
The shape of the suit
changes downward speed
to forward speed.
So I can shoot through the air
at 100 miles an hour.
It's this amazing feeling,
just spreading your wings
and soaring unhindered
by earthly bounds.
It's the evolution
of human flight.
And I don't know
where it's going to lead,
but that's where I'm headed.
- Wow.
- Wow.
In China, Dean was
at the end of the line.
He's done.
He's spent.
I mean, yeah,
I was fucking pissed.
The way he treated me
was so unacceptable.
Right after the walk, Dean
comes up to me,
looks at me,
and he goes, I'm sorry.
And I was like, for what?
I can understand
his anger toward me
was his anger toward himself
because he kind of felt
like he sold out.
He had been driving off
every person in his life.
When we got back
to the States,
he was pretty fucking
vulnerable and very quiet,
not being around anybody.
It's late, around 10:16,
got a good wood fire going.
I don't wanna…I just
wanna escape society,
just go off
into Never Never Land.
Having these massive
snowstorms here in Yosemite,
the valley's closed.
The electricity's out.
Part of me just wants to be
some simple guy
that just lives alone
with a lover girl.
Maybe somehow I'm supposed
to be the spiritual master.
I'm so far from that.
Oh, yeah.
Coffee's an amazing drug,
feeling all sorts of energy,
thinking that a big change
is coming.
I feel guilt about the way
I treated people,
things I've done.
Need to start doing all
the things I know are right.
Maybe this is the beginning.
Back in 2006,
when I worked at Patagonia,
Dean was one
of their ambassadors.
And he was fired for climbing
the Delicate Arch.
After Dean left Patagonia,
I didn't hear much about him
for a while.
And then a few years later,
I ran into Dean
at the Outdoor Retailer show.
He saw me.
It was like, hey,
you know, how are you?
We gave each other a hug,
like, catching up.
And he said that he'd been
through kind of hell and back.
He had lost friends.
He was just, like,
very open about everything.
It was really nice
to reconnect with Dean.
And then he's like,
how's your marriage?
I was like, it's great.
It's…everything's great.
All's good.
Great to see you, Dean.
And then later that night,
I was mad at myself
for not answering honestly.
In reality, I wasn't
happily married.
We were struggling
as a couple,
but we have children.
And I thought I would never
leave that relationship.
After that meeting,
Dean and I,
we ran into each other
a couple times, and, like,
we had so much fun.
We had a similar interest
in arrowheads.
He would send me a picture
when he found
an arrowhead in Yosemite.
I would send pieces that I
would find in Santa Barbara.
For a while, Dean and I
were just friends.
But once I realized we had
feelings for one another,
it was like, all right,
it's time to end my marriage.
But all signs pointed to, like,
this is a really bad idea.
I happened to be
the spokesperson
and publicist for the company
that famously fired Dean.
All my friends, especially
at Patagonia, were going,
what the fuck are you doing?
Have you gone crazy and left
your husband for Dean Potter?
You're ruining your family.
You're ruining your career.
Despite all of that,
when I was with Dean,
I just felt good about myself.
I've never felt more,
you know, alive.
And so one minute,
I'm being a mom
and working in Santa Barbara.
The next minute, I would
find myself on a rock wall
with Dean hip belaying me,
afraid I was going to die.
There you go.
Yeah, perfect.
The excitement and risk…
Good job.
I realized I needed that.
We were genuinely in love.
Like, at that time in my life,
I had not experienced
something like that.
Hey, buddy.
Good thing I'm not jealous.
Dean, in his best moments,
is better than anything.
So suddenly Dean
found himself
in a relationship
with somebody
with very young children.
And he totally surprised me.
He placed such value
on the kids.
Show me how to jump.
- Everyone jump!
- Everybody. Whoo, yeah!
He very much thought about
his role in their life…
Nice one, Ro-Ro.
Yeah!
and the impact on them.
Happy birthday to you ♪
- Nice.
- Yay!
Yay.
I loved bringing
the children to Yosemite.
There you go.
Just be playful with it
and jump right up on it.
Don't worry if you fall
20 times or 100 times.
And see, now,
this is the movement.
Walk backwards if you want.
These kids, they were
fascinated by Dean.
- Jump up on it.
- I don't know.
He seemed like a cool guy
to me always.
And we'd be real excited
when he was going to come over.
Good. Nice.
We'd go climbing
every once in a while.
- Whoa!
- Good job.
We'd go out there,
and he was always trying
to teach us how to do stuff.
All the way.
Dean's unique way
of loving…
To the next one,
again, again.
I look back
at being like, Rowan,
climb this, go up 25 feet.
You're going to break
both your legs if you fall.
So be really careful,
but do it.
I was sitting up there trying.
But looking back on it, I don't
think risk is bad at all.
I think risk's
really important…
to grow
and try new things.
- Yeah.
- Nice, Ro.
These kids, they loved him.
He was Dee-Dee.
We miss you.
Hi, Dee-Dee.
I love you so…
I think my brother
always had that longing
for a stable, calm,
loving home.
And we didn't have that
because of my parents' divorce
and the stress
in their marriage.
That helmet's pretty cute.
Dean had always been
driven in a way
that didn't have a lot
of space for other people.
Whoa.
She'll still do OK.
And it was quite a process
of him learning how to love.
Jen and the kids,
you know,
they were just
a beautiful gift.
But of course,
Dean still had his struggles.
It wasn't all smiles.
That's for sure.
His whole life, he had
such severe depression.
He didn't have an easy path.
I remember he'd come over,
and sometimes he'd bum out.
He'd get real bummed, yeah.
Blanket over him and sitting
underneath that all day long
for days,
just sitting on the couch.
Be a different person
at times, that's for sure.
Dean knew something
was wrong with his brain.
There was something
chemically off with him
that made him struggle more
than the average person.
And he really wanted to fix it.
We saw Western doctors,
Eastern doctors, naturopath.
He went on this
fucking mung bean diet.
Wheat gives me
the walking farts.
He wasn't willing
to take antidepressants
because, I think, he didn't
want to lose whatever edge
his mental illness gave him,
like his drive, his ideas,
his dark arts,
as he called them.
Like, you take
the darkness away,
and, you know,
you're just a creepy wizard,
not the dark wizard.
Come on.
Come on.
But nothing helped him
more than Whisper.
Yeah.
Good girl.
She was his princess.
Come on, Whisp.
Dean became a total softie
around Whisper.
Good girl!
We love the doggy.
Whisper was very much
her father's daughter.
She's a complete asshole
90% of the time…
and the sweetest thing 10%.
Whisper bit the children.
Whisper bit a lot of people.
Ooh!
Whisper, you don't bite.
No biting.
But to Dean, she was the
most loyal dog on the planet,
and Dean needed
a lot of validation.
And a good, good, good.
She basically wouldn't
let anyone near Dean.
She was Dean's
emotional support animal.
We don't want to crash.
So he brought
that dog everywhere.
Come on, girl.
Good girl.
We had to climb
with Whisper all the time.
She went on the side
of El Cap with us.
Good girl.
Whisper, you like it?
Whisper flew
to Switzerland eight times,
climbed the Jungfrau,
roped between us,
went over crevasses.
When Dean was like, hey,
we might fall in a crevasse,
he wasn't like,
here's how you save yourself.
He was like,
here's how you save Whisper.
At that time,
Dean was laser-focused
on wingsuit BASE jumping.
That was rad!
We would walk up to an exit.
And when Dean would jump,
Whisper would bark.
She would try to run
after him.
And he thought that was sad.
So Dean was like, hey,
if I can climb with her,
maybe I can BASE jump with her.
I remember him saying, why am
I not jumping with Whisper?
And I was like, well,
because people don't do that.
But lo and behold,
couple weeks later,
we found ourselves
working with a designer
to develop the Whisper rig.
Perfect.
Very good.
Very good.
She'd get in.
She'd kind of be calm.
You like that.
You like it.
She'd kind of fall asleep.
Dean thought it was like
a dog putting their head out
of the car on a freeway.
They protect those eyes, huh?
You ready, sweetie pie?
3, 2, 1, see ya.
Whoo, Whisper!
Whoo-hoo!
The video has gone viral.
First BASE jumping dog.
The whole thing
was immediately divisive.
Some think it's amazing.
Others say it's cruel.
Should a BASE jumping dog
give us pause?
Yeah.
I said pause.
What a douchebag.
This fucking asshole
Dean Potter taking his dog
BASE jumping.
That's fucking horrible.
Someone's making
that decision for the dog.
See, how does he know
the dog doesn't hate it?
But like, Dean just thought
it was the coolest thing ever.
Dogs, whether they're
sitting with us on the couch
or, you know, flying through
the air at 100 miles an hour,
they've always been
man's best friend.
He looked at all of the shit
online and was like,
here's where you
can put your opinions
about me and my dog.
By now, Dean and I had been
together for a couple years.
We bought a big parcel of land
in Yosemite West
in the national park.
We were clearing the land to
build our first house on it.
I had never seen Dean happier.
Something had fundamentally
changed with him.
He's got Jen,
the kids, and Whisper.
So there was this base there.
I think that was kind of
the mood stabilizer
he always needed
in a lot of ways.
It's like calling me
ungrateful.
Oh, come on.
He told me…he goes,
you know, I'm getting older,
and I kind of know
some things now
that I wish I had known,
you know, back then.
Come on.
Go get some.
I've gone through
a whole life
of emotions,
wondering about my life
and what life really means.
And it certainly isn't
just to rock climb.
It's like, feeling happy,
having love…
Hi, Dean.
being with Jen
and Whisper…
These are priceless.
friends and family.
Yeah, this is good.
That's really the thing
is, try to figure out
how to be up more.
No way.
Not all angst-ridden
or depressed.
Wow.
I got that.
I have such a good life.
It's hard to realize
how I could be down.
It seemed like
the Dark Wizard
had found the light, in a way.
Yeah.
Oh, it's beautiful.
Yeah, little Whispie.
When I met Dean in 2014,
for some park rangers,
he was a devil.
He was…he was a rascal.
But I was a climber too.
So good.
And so we'd share time
together bouldering.
Yeah, buddy.
Dean and I became friends.
I mean, literally,
Dean Potter climbing
with the chief of staff
at Yosemite
helping him be
a better rock climber…
it shows that people's minds
evolve and mature,
and Dean's was definitely
going there.
I remember one time, I had
a dinner party in my house
in Yosemite Valley.
Dean came to the party,
and Alex Honnold was there.
I went to this
get-together of, you know,
friends and climbers.
Dean and Jen were there.
And she was just so much more
of an adult than either of us,
in terms of being
well-adjusted
and emotionally available
and sort of a healthy human.
Maybe her being there
with him sort of brought out
the best in both of us,
where we could just be
normal adults and chat.
Ate and hung out.
And it was all kind of lovely,
didn't feel overtly
competitive in any way.
And it was the first time
where I could see myself
maybe climbing with Dean
as a partner,
you know, like, oh, let's go
do something together.
Like, that'd be fun.
We could hang out and climb.
Dean put up this post paying
credence to who Alex was.
It seemed like,
for the first time,
maybe Dean was ready
to pass the torch.
I felt, you know, he was
back to the love of things.
He was back
to why he originally
started all this stuff.
Dean spent a lot of time
in the Yosemite backcountry
at night,
coming down after climbing
or evening BASE jumps.
Moon is fucking beautiful.
He figured out the day,
hour, moment
that the moon would pass
between these two features.
It seemed like Dean was
sort of backing away from,
I'm going to be
the best of the best
and beat the other guys
and do the next achievement.
Now it was more like,
this is just
my creative self-expression,
his way of getting closer
to nature
and his undeniably
beautiful vision.
I've always wanted
to fly with the ravens.
The best wingsuit fliers
are pretty much the dorks
compared to the ravens.
Deep in his soul,
Dean wanted to be a bird,
and Dean wanted to fly.
It all related directly
to dreams that he
used to have as a child.
In my dream,
I'm in free fall,
and these creatures
come up next to me,
gesturing to do
as they're doing,
and I'll fly.
With wingsuit flying,
you shape your body
into a wing, kind of create
this vacuum on your back
that lifts you up.
He was exploring
new possibilities
for how he could fly further.
So it mostly would come down
to minimizing pressure drag.
Dean reached out
to scientists studying
the movements of birds.
from the equivalent
of the thumb digit,
and a bird would elevate that
and help control local flow.
He would look at the wings
and the structure.
So it uses its body to
produce a little bit of lift.
It helped me visualize
what's going on
when I'm flying…
wings out of the air flow…
and what needs to happen
with the evolution
of the wingsuit.
Nice, so now the air
is just going to flow
over there and not be hitting
angles and slowing me down.
Exactly.
I need to figure out
how to move my body
in tune with that wing shape.
All these little idea changes
and design changes
allow you to push
the limits of human flight.
When I look at just how young
wingsuit flying is,
these next years,
it's going to transform.
I can't even imagine
where it's going to be.
He went to Switzerland
and opened up the higher…
the highest point
of the Eiger.
At the time, it was the
biggest jump in the world.
I mean, Dean, he's like
a mythological creature, right?
I mean, the guy
just had to fly.
Usually BASE jumps
last seconds.
And now I'm closing in
on a three-minute flight.
Potter set the record for
the longest wingsuit flight
by a human being.
All my life, I've been
rebelling against the dream.
But I started realizing,
maybe it wasn't
me falling to my death
that I was dreaming about.
Maybe it was me flying.
Back in Yosemite,
Dean was seeing
all kinds of possibilities
for new exits.
Yeah, this is one
of the places I've been wanting
to fly from for a long time.
But have to escape
this gully here,
down there
to the sandy landing zone.
In Yosemite, Dean was flying
with this small group
of elite
wingsuit BASE jumpers.
Safe flying.
Safe flying.
It was like
this magic moment in time
where we were starting
to figure out
all the different flights
we could do in the valley.
The new wingsuits
were allowing people to fly
closer to terrain, fly lower.
Also, the wingsuit
made it easier
to avoid getting caught
because you can land
somewhere much farther away
that the rangers
might not see.
It seemed like we could
almost do anything we wanted.
It was just a bunch of kids
in the candy store.
Whoo!
There was a good
little group of us.
You guys are rad.
And that's where Dean
met Graham.
Graham Hunt,
this sweet young climber
that showed up in the valley.
My name's Graham Hunt.
I like flying wingsuits,
rock climbing,
going on adventures.
Graham's one
of the nicest dudes ever.
He was the youngest
on the scene.
We immediately clicked
with Graham.
He had this little
French bulldog.
Whisper and his little
Frenchie played together.
Whisper, who was totally
skeptical of everyone,
loved Graham.
It takes a lot
for Dean to, like,
welcome someone into the fold.
Watch it.
Graham had
immediate entrance.
Dean respected his quiet ways.
Like, Graham was trying
to figure out life still.
He literally had,
like, 10 bucks in the bank.
What do you do?
Right now,
I'm just doing labor.
He was working for us
on the land.
He spent a ton of time
at our home in Yosemite.
Dean really did think
of him as a protégé.
Fight it, Graham.
Fight it. Fight it.
Whoo!
Awesome, Graham.
It's so hard to do this.
You good?
Dean and Graham began,
you know, partnering up
on a lot of these jumps…
OK.
Let's do it, bro.
pulling off
all kinds of high jinks,
like the first-ever flight
off of the Lost Arrow Spire.
Look like studs.
Flying over Tool Town,
where all the rangers lived.
They really loved
flying with each other.
They had such camaraderie.
Following you.
They would do these trips
to Europe together…
where they would jump
these big mountain exits.
They were feeding off
of each other's stoke.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
This is fucking awesome ♪
But at a certain point,
Graham began
really kind of pushing it.
Graham got
really comfortable,
really good quickly.
Ready.
He definitely flew,
like, aggressively
in proximity flying.
Proximity flying, you're
just skimming the terrain…
flying as close as you can
above slabs and between trees.
At first, most of us
were like,
we're never
going to proximity fly.
It's just too crazy.
But Graham started
going to the extreme.
When you're flying
close to something,
it's like riding in a car.
You know, the yellow lines
right next to you
are just moving real fast.
That relativity
makes it feel
even more so
like you're flying.
And now that's kind of
become the new psych.
Up next, a look
at wingsuiting,
the deadliest sport
in the world.
With proximity flying,
the body count
was just breathtaking.
1 of every 20 have now died.
Guys were smacking
into stuff all over the world.
And they were people
Dean knew.
I'd interviewed Dean
for a magazine
about his wingsuit flying.
You know, he said to me that
he had rules that he followed
that would protect him.
Dean was the most opposed
to any sort
of proximity flying.
It seemed like Dean
was always, like,
being really conservative,
flying away from the wall,
not flying next to terrain,
long glides that would
mitigate the risks.
But as Graham
got better and he
was able to do more and more
technical fights
and exceeded Dean…
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
this pure mentorship that
Dean had with Graham shifted.
A little sketchy.
I think Dean felt like he had
to maybe keep up with Graham.
Yeah, buddy!
That's when Dean's
competitive nature
started bubbling up again.
Like, oh, you're doing
all these badass things.
I could do them too.
Whoo!
I think, in Dean's head,
it starts to escalate.
And then Dean,
at some point,
he crossed that line,
started proximity flying, like,
getting as close to stuff
as he could.
Yeah, buddy.
Nice.
I don't know.
There's a certain point
in people's careers
where you're like,
he's made it.
He's good.
I thought Dean
was past all that,
where they're still
a danger to themselves.
I was like, he's covered.
He's smothered and covered.
He's not going to be
somebody who burns in.
But the minute
you throw in competition,
it becomes ego-driven.
Fly these lines
and getting lower and lower,
and you're like, oh, my God,
more is possible.
Everything's possible.
And that's where
you get in trouble.
It's such a weird sport.
You have to believe.
Whoo!
You got to believe
in yourself so much.
Now, that's some fucking
human flight for you.
But, you know, your ego's
not your amigo, right?
Fucking intense.
I don't think
I'd get too close.
I'm a fucking…
might rip your head off.
I'm wild.
Oh, it was fucking
ledges in my face.
That spring,
Graham took a trip to Moab.
Dean had told Graham
about all these towers
and features that had never
been jumped with a wingsuit.
Like, right in the middle
of the horizon line.
The jumps in Moab
are from off of all these
smaller cliffs.
So you need to start
flying forward fast.
You know, you've got
to jump off,
get started, and have
enough glide to clear
the terrain at the bottom.
OK, here we go.
Come on.
Come on.
Fuck yeah.
If you can nail
that start,
you get this insane
proximity flight,
skimming these huge
talus slopes.
Holy crap.
Oh, my God.
Graham didn't know this
at the time,
but Dean had really hoped
to be the first wingsuiter
to open these exits.
Opening new exit points,
first jumps…
who is going
to get to lay claim
to these pioneering moments
and experiences?
Oh, my God.
That was sick.
Sick, dude.
One after another,
Graham jumped off every tower.
Holy shit.
Whoo!
Graham came back
to Yosemite on fire.
He was so proud, so excited
to share this with his mentor.
But Dean didn't
take it that way.
Dean said he was pissed
that Graham had, like,
done all these tower exits
that someday Dean thought
he was going to open first.
He never let on
to Graham that he
might be feeling jealous
or competitive with him.
He was also mad at himself
for feeling that way.
Having problems with my ego,
a lot of competition
still in me.
Unfortunately, I feel, like,
jealous or envious,
wanting to be the best
and stand alone.
But that's hard on me
and makes me
want to push super hard.
The ironic part
of this whole thing is,
here's a guy that, inside,
was living in darkness
for so fucking long.
He even gave in
to that darkness.
And then he pulls himself out.
He struggles.
He claws.
He climbs.
He gets to a place
where finally
he's going to get
the peace that he needs.
And you think the demons
are gone.
They're just waiting.
And he gets pulled
right back into it.
Taft Point is this
majestic overlook.
Graham and Dean
would go there all the time
for evening BASE jumps.
There's two ways
you could jump.
If you go left,
it's the safe route.
You have this long, beautiful
flight down to the valley.
But to the right is the notch.
The notch
is this obvious feature
where the ridge
from the rim comes down.
For years, all the guys
would joke around,
you know, we'll know when
suits are getting really good
when we can fly
through the notch.
Let's do this.
But the skills
and technology advanced,
and people started
trying to do it.
It's a dangerous
proximity flight.
The notch was, like,
the gnarliest line ever.
It was perfect or dead.
If you barely made it,
you would go skimming
between boulders,
tree branches going by.
It was one of the riskiest
flights done at that time.
See ya.
You've got to get your suit
flying as fast as possible
and decide if you're
high enough to clear it.
If you're too low,
you have to do this
turn maneuver
to get out of there.
Otherwise,
you're going to splatter.
I noticed that the really
experienced wingsuit fliers
just decided
that it's not worth it.
Like, the margins are too slim.
One of the first people
to fly through the notch
was Graham.
And that became Dean's
next big objective.
I think his mindset
was like,
I'm just going to show you
I can fly
the same line you can fly.
Dean always jumped first…
- I'm on red too.
- Yep.
and Graham
would film Dean.
Yep.
When Dean exits…
he's a big guy…
he sinks for a while.
You know, it takes
a few seconds to get going.
So he would be too low
for the notch
and have to bail out.
But Graham would just
go scraping through.
And then he would actually
do the second notch.
Graham had the talent.
He had the technical skill
that Dean did not have.
Dean just couldn't keep up.
And ultimately, I think that
competitive side that he was
trying to control
for so many years,
like, got the best of him.
It was a beautiful spring day.
Graham came over to work
on the land with us,
and the boys
decided they wanted
to go do an evening BASE jump.
So we drove up to Taft.
The vibes seemed
extremely chill.
Both of them were like,
this is such a beautiful night.
Like, neither of us
even care if we jump.
They weren't hell-bent
on going through the notch.
They were just like,
let's see what happens.
Dean and Graham
are getting ready.
They're suiting up.
And they didn't even
bring a camera.
So Dean had just his iPhone
facing backwards
to film Graham
following behind him.
I, being the photographer,
am, like,
trying to figure out the frame.
They're at the exit point,
and unceremoniously, they jump.
And I realize, oh.
Oh, they're going
for the notch.
Graham had a faster start
and immediately
gets above Dean.
It didn't seem
that Dean was high enough.
He had a few seconds
to decide,
do I have the altitude?
Do I, like,
feel good about this?
Meanwhile, Graham is on track,
but maybe he sees
that Dean is too low.
All of a sudden, Graham makes
an aggressive left turn.
Like, maybe he's going to go
around the notch.
Maybe he doesn't think
they can make it.
But Dean just keeps
fucking going.
Just before the notch,
Graham veers back right.
And I lost track of Graham.
But I saw Dean go through
the notch in my photos.
Like, that's who
I was following.
Like, fuck yes.
They made it.
Then I heard, like,
a thwack, like…
and I was like, holy shit.
Someone panic pitched.
A panic pitch is like,
something's going wrong.
I need to pitch my parachute.
And I'm standing there on the
edge looking for a parachute,
and I didn't see anything.
There was no parachute.
And I'm going like, fuck,
what do I…what do I do?
I just turned and started
running back to the car.
I'm texting Dean,
calling Dean, being like,
something feels really off.
Like, where the fuck
are you guys?
And I go down to the valley
floor to our meeting spot.
Neither of them are there.
And I was like, fuck,
something happened.
I just, like, started running
and ran to, like, the base
of the climb, and I was
just like, I'll go find him.
And I just remember,
like, yelling for him
and just thinking, like, he
probably could hear me, like,
which is just so ludicrous.
Like, he couldn't have.
And I still didn't, like…
I just knew something
was really wrong,
but I just didn't think
he was dead.
That night around 10:30,
I heard a knock.
It sounded urgent.
Opened the door,
and I saw Jen.
And immediately,
I saw the terror on her face.
I knew what had happened,
or I felt I knew
what probably had happened.
So we reported Dean
and Graham missing.
It was a really long night.
They had to bring in a heli.
I still don't like
the sound of a helicopter.
Search and rescue
spotted two bodies
in the wingsuit equipment.
They were able
to confirm the fatalities.
I don't even remember
who told me that they…
I just remember being told
they're both in the notch,
and they're both dead.
I remember really wanting
to watch Dean come down.
And when he's down,
I want to go see him.
Like, I want to go
and, like, be with him.
And they were like, no, no,
no, no, no, it's not good, Jen.
Like, he impacted
with his head.
And I was like,
I don't give a shit.
I want to go see Dean.
I walk in the room,
and they're both
in these black nylon bags.
I immediately, like,
took off all of the shit
they had put on him.
His body was perfect.
His head had been impacted,
but, like, there's no scrapes.
There's no fucking limbs
sticking out.
Like, there's…
when someone dies,
the only thing you have
is them, like, their body.
As weird as that sounds,
like, I didn't want
to let go of his body.
I felt very, very,
very protective of it.
I didn't want to let it go.
I was driving
to the Grand Canyon.
A friend called,
and he said, did you hear?
Dean died.
I was like, whew,
and I took a bunch
of really deep breaths
and turned around
and drove to Yosemite.
There were a lot of questions
about what had happened.
A friend and I descended
from the top into the notch.
I was really afraid,
going down there,
that I wouldn't be able
to handle it emotionally.
Top of tree
laying right there.
Top of tree missing.
There was, like,
a single tree sticking up
that Graham probably
wouldn't have been able to see
because of the way
he was facing.
He had done this big turn back
over the top of where Dean was.
And that's when he clipped
the tree
and then hit the wall.
Then we went down further,
and we could see,
like, little pieces of fabric.
And then we found the spot
where Dean impacted
headfirst into the rock.
He made it through the notch.
But on the other side
of the notch,
it's very low angle.
He was losing altitude
so fast that he…
he went into the slab.
I felt a presence there.
It felt really weird, like…
not like anything
I'd ever experienced.
Dean was there,
you know, talking to me.
And the first thing that…
that came through was, like,
dude, I fucked up so bad.
Tell Jen I'm so sorry.
Like…and it was…
it was, like,
a super present thing,
like his voice clear as day,
talking to me.
I was in Santa Cruz,
and I got
the fucking phone call.
I didn't know what to do.
And so I just put
my clothes on,
got in my car,
aimed it toward Yosemite.
And I just cried.
And I got to the valley.
And as soon
as I got into the valley,
as soon as I got there,
it started to rain.
It just started to pour,
and it just fit.
I walked over to the cafeteria.
I wanted to see Dean.
And he wasn't there.
I really loved him.
Somebody texted me,
did you hear?
That's like shorthand
for "someone's dead."
And so I…
I was like, no, who is it?
And it was Dean.
And I remember talking
with Jim and being like,
man, this…this one
really hurts.
Like, this one's
unusually painful
because all the other deaths,
you died resolved,
or they died as your friend.
Oh, look.
Here it is.
Oh, know what we should get?
A big-ass box of Cheez-Its.
That's really healthy.
With Dean,
I'm so disappointed
that we couldn't
come back together.
His death made it then final
that there wouldn't be,
like, a reintegration.
Swallow, dude.
When he died…
I'm going to put that
in the film.
we hadn't spoken in years.
People do things in their life
that aren't always right.
And sometimes
you wreck relationships.
Sometimes you don't make
the right call.
But when you get older,
like, that's the time
for you to make amends.
And 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.
But I really, really…
I just miss him.
Jim, let me hear your voice.
Say anything.
That's pretty good.
What is that moment
that you're looking for?
Like, how will you know
you have it?
Like, how do you know
you have it?
You know, transcending
human limitations
is kind of what
I'm obsessed with in life.
And I'm obsessed on it
on kind of this flashy way,
where I fly.
But I see that if I could
take that
and transcend the really…
the main things that matter…
hate, jealousy, insecurities,
all the negative things
that pull you down in life…
maybe right now,
I'm thinking about flying,
but it's just a metaphor
to bring me somewhere else.
With the power of soul,
anything is possible ♪
The bodies
of two BASE jumpers
were found
in Yosemite National Park
yesterday after an illegal jump
that went horribly wrong.
World-renowned climber
Dean Potter and his friend
Graham Hunt died during
a wingsuit flight in Yosemite.
It's a very big loss in
the world of extreme sports.
He lived life on the edge,
pushing the limits
of human experience.
You know when Dean would
finish a big project
and get up there and just
do that, like, rah, roar?
Whoo! Whoo!
Now on the count of three.
1, 2, 3!
I don't think Dean realized
how much people admired him…
how much people
loved him.
That outpouring of love
from the community,
I wish he had seen that.
Dean was a dancer
on the edge of life and death.
They say that mortality
is what gives life
its most exquisite line.
Dean took it there.
Dean's death
was an end of an era.
Who's going to be
the artistic, creative mind
that's going to give us
the next wild thing?
His ideas were so far out.
It's like a sunrise.
It illuminates
your way forward.
Something about Dean
was fucking cosmic.
He was a fucking
flawed genius.
That's how I want people
to remember him,
as someone who gave
everything he had to his art.
He painted
something gorgeous
across the fucking sky.
He would not have wanted
to just fade away, would he?
It was kind of fitting
that Dean Potter, you know,
went out in a blaze of glory.
My brother would say
the key to happiness
is following beauty and not
the urge to be the best.
Was he able to always do that?
No.
Right up to the end, that was
something he really battled.
But in his most
centered moments,
he knew it was all about
listening to your heart
and following that.
You know, we're all dealt
our own weird hand of cards.
But through all
of his struggles…
Whoo.
Dean made a magnificent
and beautiful ride.
Thinking about
stories I have
that could make people
laugh, cry,
and make others
not feel so freakish,
knowing that some
whack job like myself
is out there going for it,
fighting with emotions
the whole time,
but just being me.
When I eventually
free soloed El Cap,
it was almost exactly
two years after Dean died.
I think it would have been
amazing to talk to Dean
about free soloing El Cap.
More than almost
anybody else on Earth,
he can appreciate
what went into it.
I mean, Dean was
the first person
to think about it seriously,
and he showed the rest of us
what's possible.
The climbing world
is just not the same
without the Dark Wizard.
But every time I see a raven
flying by, I think of Dean.
Wah!
Do you want to come out,
Whisper?
Come on.
Whisper, come.
Come on, Whisper pig.
After Dean's death,
I did a lot of, like,
therapy, trauma therapy.
And I think
it genuinely helped.
A few months
after the accident,
I remember
the park investigator called me
and was like, OK, so we got
the footage back, Jen.
I go into his office,
and we're going to watch
this footage
from Dean's phone.
Obviously, this is
going to be really hard.
Ready?
You see them exit.
Graham flies out of the frame.
Dean holds his course.
As he goes into the notch,
walls on both side
come into view.
This raven comes in behind him
right before he impacts.
Like, of course a raven
followed him into his death.
Hi.
Come on, love.
I knew you would come.
Everybody misses you.