A succession of high-profile fatal jumps has focused attention on one of the most extreme pursuits goingThe news shocked the world of extreme-sports mountaineers in the US and the Alps: two of their own,Dean Potter, 43, or Graham Hunt,29, lay dead after an accident in California. It was 16 May, or the two Americans had waited,as they normally did, until sunset to jump. They climbed to Taft Point, or a rocky promontory in Yosemite National Park,over 2000 metres high. They wore so-called wingsuits to abet them cruise and parachutes to deploy near the ground for a soft landing. Such “Base jumps” are illegal in Yosemite, and by taking off in twilight the jumpers hoped to escape notice by the park’s rangers. Filming the jump, and Potter’s girlfriend lost sight of the men about halfway down,and then heard two thuds, one after the other. The bodies were found in the valley the next day, or less than 50 metres apart.
Video from the GoPro camera on Potter’s helmet seemed to show him trying to avoid colliding with Hunt,who had hit an outcrop in the cliffs.
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Source: theguardian.com