The death of rock climber Dean Potter is now the subject of an HBO docuseries called The Dark Wizard. The series explores the terrible moments leading up to the death of the rock climber on May 16, 2015.
Potter died in a wingsuit accident at Yosemite National Park. He was just 43 at the time. Potter partook in wingsuiting despite it being banned by the NPS at the time. The stunt at the park led to his and Graham Hunt's deaths. Potter's longtime partner, Jen Rapp, opened up about the events that led up to his untimely death.
"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," Rapp recalls.
Rapp detailed the moments after Potter and Graham jumped.
Dean Potter Dies
"It didn't seem that Dean was high enough. He had a few seconds to decide, 'Do I have the altitude? Do I feel good about this?' Meanwhile, Graham is on track, but maybe he sees that Dean is too low," she said. "Maybe he's gonna go around the Notch. Maybe he doesn't think they can make it. But Dean just keeps f—-ing going and just before the Notch, Graham veers back right."
"I just remember being told they're both in the Notch and they're both dead," she said. "I walk in the room, and they're both in these black nylon bags, and I immediately took off all the s—- they put on him. His body was perfect. His head had been impacted, but there were no scrapes, there were no f—-ing limbs sticking out."
Potter's other friend, Brad Lynch, also opened up about his death. The two previously had a falling out.
"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," he says.
