Dean Potter
I've made the safest slack line ever using Vectran. It's the strongest flexible fabric in the world.
It's going to hurt if I fall. I don't want to deal with that, I want to prove that it can be done for a long life, until I'm an old man.
I have this unbeatable move where no matter what happens I can catch the line - it's the number one thing I practice - so my philosophy there is martial arts based, never putting myself in a position where I can receive a lethal blow. I haven't missed catching the line for over fifteen years.
Yosemite really brings out my creativity. It's such a powerful place, there's some sort of amazing energy going on that fuels me.
People think I'm a lunatic or adrenaline junkie, but that's not what's going on with me. The beauty is what I'm most concerned with.
The deaths of such skilled fliers like my very good friend Sean Leary make me see that if there's ever a question of safety, it's always better to wait or walk down.
Wing-suit flying can be safe if you are highly practiced and skilled and follow the fundamental rules of questioning yourself and waiting or walking down when something doesn't seem 'right.'
None of my friends, or anyone I know, told me not to jump with Whisper. Anyone who knows me knows that I would never put my dog in harm's way.
I love the idea that I can change the worst possible thing to the best possible thing: dying to flying.
I was having all these thoughts, not really sure what I was doing in school. And I just said, 'I'm gonna go out and climb.' I had this great day with a friend, bouldering and rooting each other on, and I came back thinking, 'I don't like the way it feels to be competitive. I don't want to be ruled by it.'
I've never tried to be the leader. All I focus on is climbing.
I know I'm not a cutting-edge free climber. Free soloing, I'm comfortable to 5.10-plus or 5.11a. But if I was a grade higher I could do some amazing things.
In 'The Prophet,' Kahlil Gibran says something about perfection only being reached by stripping something to the point of nakedness. That's the ultimate project: the naked climber doing the greatest climb.
I've never had a serious injury.
My mom was a yoga teacher back in the 1960s, so I observed a lot of the practice. It's movement of the body with awareness to the breath, which you can do with running, push-ups or walking on a piece of nylon tied between two trees.
With my height in high school, I was really thinking basketball. But I guess I wasn't that good, because my sophomore year I didn't make the team. That was a really brutal moment for me.
I know it's kind of a strange thing I'm talking about, but another part of me truly believes I can fly, like somehow my mind can figure it out.
Most people in my life who didn't follow their dreams weren't happy. Their lives seem so strange.
I think my dad's dream really was just to have a good family, treat them well, to keep them together, and he did everything in his power and it just fell apart on him.
In climbing, if you injure just one finger you can't do it. But with slacklining as long as you can walk, you can walk the line.
If you're thousands of feet up with just a thin piece of webbing that you're standing on, it's really a sensation of being at one with the air.
I consider myself a rock climber but the definition of rock climbing as has changed.
The knowledge that in a split second that I could be dead almost overwhelms me. But it is through constant exposure to that fear that keeps me alive and lets me do what I love.
When you do things that are different and extreme, some people like it and some people don't. I don't really care if I am liked or not liked.
When I think about doing something, I think: Will I survive a million out of a million times?
When I do stuff where death could be a real consequence, it makes me want to live right.
I want my health to be perfect when I'm pushing the edge.
I do yoga. I meditate, and when I'm not climbing, I focus on breathing deeply all day long.
I hydrate obsessively, limit processed foods, and make a conscious attempt to eat and drink pure things, organic foods. I've noticed that these things stay with me longer than processed foods and that I'm more consistent in my climbing and my life - there aren't so many highs and lows.
We call the rangers 'the tool.' They're just kind of a tool of the government machine. They don't use their own mind.
With everything that I'm doing I'm trying to become more free.
When there's a death consequence, when you are doing things that if you mess up you die, I like the way it causes my senses to peak. I can see more clearly. You can think much faster. You hear at a different level.
Chasing after the unattainable is the fun part.
Part of me says it's kind of crazy to think you can fly your human body. Another part of me thinks all of us have had the dream that we can fly. Why not chase after it?
I got a lot of inspiration and encouragement from my friend and ultra-runner Scott Jurek.
I know my family's adventures must scare a lot of you who have rarely or never been into the wild or are afraid of heights and exposure.
I'm not saying take your dog wingsuit flying. But if we can take Whisper BASE jumping or climbing, maybe you can take your dog places you didn't consider. Just find better ways to take your dog with you. They just love to be with their people and their pack.
Free soloing is just the most natural way man can climb. It's just using your hands and feet without any use of protection or rope to ascend.
I regret the negative press that has come with my climb of the Delicate Arch, but I think that there is a bigger picture. And I would hope that it could open the eyes of the public and the community to the bigger problem of what's going on, which is the mismanagement of our wild lands and the national park.
I also know for a fact of at least two other ascents of the Delicate Arch. But when 'Outside' did their research, the other two climbers wouldn't admit to it, and I admit to it because I don't see anything wrong with a man climbing a rock.
Often in normal life I'm just constricted to what I see, maybe, and hear. But when I climb and when I'm out in the wild, other senses come to me and Delicate Arch was a free solo climb, which means I didn't have any protection and often, when I put myself in these situations, it brings out this heightened awareness which I crave so much.
Doing things with serious consequences, whether it's death or seriously mangling myself, puts me in a hyper-aware state, and has become somewhat of an addiction for me.
I'm not so good at sitting on the floor and meditating.
Any time I'm having difficulty, I focus on the breath, on relaxed breathing.
If I have a combination of calm and fear, I access mental states way beyond normal consciousness. That's why I choose to do scary things.
I had trouble focusing as a child and I still sort of do, but when you climb and you're going to die if you fall, you have 100 percent focus. That's a rarity in life and a gift to have something that brings you that clarity.
I can calm myself by an intense will, and also by the simple ability to focus in the most dangerous situation on breath and nothing else.
I know I'm just as mortal as everybody else and I think about that quite a bit, but I really do feel like everyone lives with this - they're just not aware of it.
My dad was in the army for most of my youth. He was very regimented and I learned to train from him.