Sweaty Palms

Dean Potter died on May 16th, 2015 in a wingsuit accident in Yosemite Valley. For two decades he was the de facto leader of the Yosemite monkeys, and was a pioneer in what he called “the dark arts“ -- free solo and speed climbing, BASE jumping and wingsuit flying, and highlining. Dean combined his pursuits to conceive the idea of FreeBASE - free solo climbing up tall, overhanging walls, with a BASE jumping parachute on his back for a marginal degree of safety should he fall. One of the world’s first freeBASE climbs was this 2008 ascent of The Rostrum, with The Alien Roof finish (). At the time, it was the hardest long free solo ever done in Yosemite. This is a remastered and extended cut of Dean’s historic climb, which was originally featured in an episode of our “First Ascent“ series.