US daredevil Dean Potter Dies in BASE Jumping Accident

Extreme athlete Dean Potter and another man were found dead Sunday in Yosemite National Park after what appeared to be a BASE jumping accident, park officials said.Potter and Graham Hunt were jumping Saturday night from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot peak above Yosemite Valley, park spokesman Scott Gediman said. After the pair did not respond to radio calls or come to a preset meeting point, their spotter alerted park officials about their disappearance about 9 p.m.Graham Hunt also died when their attempt to fly at high speed through a narrow gap in the skyline went wrong. Rescuers found the bodies soon after contact had been lost with the men. No parachutes had been deployed, reports say.Potter was regarded as a hugely innovative rock climber.Potter was 43, and Hunt was 29.Potter was renowned for his bold and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, in which he would parachute from a fixed structure or cliff. BASE jumping is illegal in Yosemite. Potter completed solo ascents and tightrope walks across some of the world's most famous rocks, and he recently appeared in a film BASE jumping with his dog.