We all know that the French are the most extreme at everything. They invented the the whole “extreme” genre and they have all the terrain and insane humanoids to perform at a high level within said genre.
But…We’ve got Dean Potter & Dean Potter is wild animal. He rock climbs the most difficult routes in the world, solo free climbs (ie no ropes) big lines, BASE jumps, slacklines without a safety rope (ie no ropes again), wingsuit flies, and is possibly the best in the world at a few of those things. Dean is America’s answer the the crazy Frenchman.
National Geographic just had a special on Dean’s trip to Canada’s Mt. Butte. The plan: climb Mt. Butte and then BASE jump off it. Beautiful.
Did any of you see the special on Dean? How was it? We’re hoping it airs again soon.
“Potter generated controversy by climbing Delicate Arch, for which he lost his sponsorship from the Patagonia clothing company. “There wasn’t any legal reason for me not to climb it,” Potter said of Delicate Arch, despite well-established tradition forbidding climbing named features in the park. This incident resulted in a blanket ban on the activity within Arches National Park. Potter had previously created conflict with Park authorities by slacklining between the Three Gossips.[3]” – wikipedia