Dean Potter
(IN PHOTO) American climber Dean Potter walks barefooted on a rope which is connected between two mountain peaks in Enshi, Hubei province April 22, 2012. Dean succeeded in crossing a valley by walking on a 41-metre long rope without any safety equipment between the two mountain peaks which are about 1800 metres above sea level in Enshi Canyon Sunday. Picture taken April 22, 2012. Reuters

Wingsuits failed to protect famous extreme athlete Dean Potter who plunged on Monday to his death while performing a stunt gone wrong after leaping off a cliff in Yosemite National Park. The 43-year-old Potter – considered one of the best climbers in the world – plummeted to his death, together with 29-year-old Graham Hunt.

The fell from the Taft Point, which is 3,000 feet above the valley floor, and then hit an outcrop on the cliff’s face, reports The Telegraph. What the two did, base jumping, is illegal in Yosemite. It involves parachuting from a fixed structure such as a building or a cliff.

In the past, Potter had successfully jumped off a cliff with Whisper, a miniature Australian cattle dog. The animal was strapped on his back.

Potter had admitted to the New York Times in 2008 that part of him thinks it’s crazy for a person to think he can fly, but “Another part of me thinks all of us had the dream that we can fly. Why not chase after it?”

In their Monday last jump, the parachutes of the Hunt and Potter, who was considered a climbing luminary and “in the pantheon of climbing gods,” said Mike Gauthier, the chief of staff Yosemite National Park. Gauthier had climbed Yosemite with Potter.

Meanwhile, in another tourist destination, the Yellowstone National Park, a 71-year-old tourist was luckier than Potter after he survived on May 10 a backward fall after he stumbled backwards when he hit a stone barrier, reports the National Park Service.

The visitor was attempting to take the photo of a sign of the Grand View when the accident happened. He managed to brace himself against a small crevice in the canyon after falling 25 feet, reports Washington Post, sparing his life from tragedy.

Part of his luck was that another tourist same his fall and called 911 for assistance. Two park rangers threw a rope to the tourist. The rope was tied to a sign and tree at the canyon’s top. Later, a dozen park employees helped the tourist.

A rescue went down to the old man’s location and moved him to a safe spot using a pulley system. The tourist was later was flown by a chopper to a hospital for treatment of a possible hip injury.

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