Dean Potter dies in yosemite

Me, I would rather die in the mountains doing what I love, than getting in a car crash or from getting fat on a couch and having a heart attack.
My friends and family have my blessing to say that I died doing what I love, should that happen.

Edited to add that of course staying healthy to an old age and continuing to have adventures would be best…

BTW Dean Potter used to work with Search and Rescue and recovered bodies from base jumpers.

Better at least than "He died doing what he loved, telling someone on the internet they are wrong."

I need some fresh air.

"I hear this platitude all the time. "At least he died doing what he loved." I'm pretty sure most of us would rather LIVE doing what we love. Dying wasn't the goal. I do NOT want to die doing what I love. I want to live to keep doing what I love."

And yet you (we) keep doing the things that you (we) love, in spite of the risks. We take steps to mitigate risk, yet we persist in doing risky things. Because we love to do those things, and we decide that it is worth the risk. Better to have done those things and died than never done them at all. This is what is meant by "at least he died doing what he loved". Not that it is in any way good that he died young, but that if he was going to die young, at least he was true to himself, he lived a full and inspiring life, full of adventure and groundbreaking achievements, and was kind and generous with those around him. That perhaps it is better to live a full, short life than an empty, long one.

Dying is clearly not the goal – living and enjoying life, while being a good person (however we define that) is the goal for most of us. Dying is an eventual and unavoidable outcome of life, no matter how many precautions we take or risks we try to avoid. Sometimes "enjoying life and doing what we love" introduces additional risk, and sometimes the risk itself introduces additional enjoyment. It is really just a matter of degrees, and we each make our own calculation of the level of risk we find acceptable.

"Me, I would rather die in the mountains doing what I love, than getting in a car crash or from getting fat on a couch and having a heart attack."

I would add… or in a hospital hooked up to plastic tubes.

As I have gotten older and seen my parents die in the modern hospital way (hooked up to all kinds of medical contraptions), I have thought about this a lot. My conclusion is that if you spend the majority of your time doing what you love, then you increase your chances of dying while doing what you love. Risk aside, it's just increases your odds. So the more you go backpacking, the more you increase you chances of dying while backpacking as opposed to dying hooked up to tubes in a hospital.

There was an article a few years back about a solo backpacker in Yosemite who died in his tent. They found him in his sleeping bag. Apparently he died in his sleep. The article made it sound like some kind of tragedy. But my reaction was YES! Yahoo!!! Great for him!!! He died in a beautiful place doing what he loved and NOT in a hospital!!! Yahoo!!!

So my plan is to backpack and ski as much as I can… and hope for the 'best' :)

Billy

"This isn't a commentary on Potter specifically but I agree 100% with Jeffrey on this. I hear this platitude all the time. "At least he died doing what he loved." I'm pretty sure most of us would rather LIVE doing what we love. Dying wasn't the goal. I do NOT want to die doing what I love. I want to live to keep doing what I love. One of my great loves involves being in the mountains in winter. I take avalanche safety really seriously, because avalanches scare the daylights out of me. If I ever die in one and someone says "At least she died doing what she loved" I'm going to haunt them, I swear."

I guess folks are looking at this from two different viewpoints, probably agreeing with each other on the main theme but disagreeing on the language. Seems silly to me.

I think we can generally agree that death isn't the purpose of our pursuits, nor was it of Potter's.

I think we can generally agree that it's better to live a life that is meaningful to us, doing the things that are meaningful to us, than not.

I think we can generally agree that life comes with risk, actually living it comes with increased risk of varying degrees depending on what we find meaning in doing, but we mitigate those risks as best we can through knowledge, practice, etc. so we can continue doing what we find meaning in.

So what are we arguing about?

Words. As usual.

Doug – I can't speak for others, but I'm not arguing about Words, I'm arguing about Wordiness. As usual. ;)

but seriously, good points. I should just stop and go do something I love. Hopefully I won't kill myself learning how to sew my own gear.

"I think we can generally agree that it's better to live a life that is meaningful to us, doing the things that are meaningful to us, than not."

That does seem to be a common thread running thru a majority of the posts. Makes me wonder how many of us are actually doing so.

"That does seem to be a common thread running thru a majority of the posts. Makes me wonder how many of us are actually doing so."

I think that if you don't have any particular passion, true passion, for something, then you content yourself with doing meaningful things when the opportunity arises to do so, both in small and large ways, even if you don't feel you're living your overall life in any significantly meaningful way. At least that's what I do.

"I think that if you don't have any particular passion, true passion, for something, then you content yourself with doing meaningful things when the opportunity arises to do so, both in small and large ways, even if you don't feel you're living your overall life in any significantly meaningful way. At least that's what I do."

I have a feeling that it works out this way more often than not. To be able to devote your life to an all consuming passion the way Dean Potter did means foregoing a lot of life experiences and material possessions that most people are just not willing to do without. Passion and compromise do not play well together.

deleted

"Passion and compromise do not play well together."

Phrase has a nice ring to it… but… few things in life do not involve some level or other of compromise…

And some people have a passion for compromise :)

I would suggest it would be more accurate to say, "Extremism and compromise do not play well together."

Billy

Passion and compromise…I don't know. There are surgeons who have a long standing passion that required compromise over many years to achieve the skills that they have. Classical violinists of great passion and talent, ditto. Priests, monks, Martin Luther King: sometimes passion means that you give up all sorts of things that you'd rather do in order to achieve your goals; in fact, most worthwhile things require that you sacrifice your own momentary or longstanding desires in order to effect a larger ambition. Climbing is sort of a beatnik version of not compromising; and I mean that in a positive way, seriously, this is another model. But it's not the only one.

edit: actually I'm sure that there are climbers who have sacrificed along the way in order to develop the skills that they have, just like Olympic gymnasts, and so on. Not beatnik at all. But then this would involve compromise.

Are these extreme athletes passionate or just childish?Making your life pursuit as one who cheats death,seems pretty juvenile.I think these guys are more scared of working than anything else.I mean seriously,climbing and clinging on 2000ft rock faces without ropes?Whats the point?Can you even seriously enjoy it,when you have to challenge yourself everytime by doing the most dangerous route just to cheat death.It sounds like a wreckless addiction like drugs etc.

There are worse things in life than death

Climber Dean Potter’s Wingsuit Death Was Inevitable”

"Are these extreme athletes passionate or just childish?Making your life pursuit as one who cheats death,seems pretty juvenile.I think these guys are more scared of working than anything else.I mean seriously,climbing and clinging on 2000ft rock faces without ropes?Whats the point?Can you even seriously enjoy it,when you have to challenge yourself everytime by doing the most dangerous route just to cheat death.It sounds like a wreckless addiction like drugs etc."

actually, many professional climbers work for gear companies as reps at trade shows, model for ads/commercials, write articles etc They have to earn their sponsorships.

your lack of knowledge about climbing is showing. Not every professional climber does scary routes or solos. most don't. And the ones who do, know what they are doing and are very in control of the situation.

perhaps stick to topics you know about. (especially since Dean died BASE jumping, not climbing)

"Potter was fooling himself. Attempting to fly at 120 mph next to granite cliffs in suits that are slow to maneuver isn’t an extreme sport. It’s suicide."

Because folks just can't ignore the trolls and let a thread that's run its course die…

Doug, I'm pretty sure that boxer has brain damage. Irresponsible attention-seeker. Think of the children!

Anyway, with "juvenile" I think we are solidly into Poe's Law territory. I particularly liked the little touches of illiteracy. Nicely done.

edit: OOPS! forgot the ;-)

Jake,i said extreme athletes.That isnt limited to climbing.Basically any activity where you feel compelled to cheat death everytime.And climbing isnt extreme,but like anything it can be taken to the extreme-which is what Potter pursued.

Again, only a handful of professional climbers solo like Dean, Alex, etc. it is a very very small group. And all of them have JOBS with outdoor companies. So saying that they don't work is false.

again, stick to topics you know about. Just because you don't understand, doesn't mean it is wrong.

Dave: "Are these extreme athletes passionate or just childish?"

This from a guy with a Munster as an avatar? LOL

I don’t know… Strong Swift Durable has an article on what separate outdoors elites from the averages:

Fear by Matt Annetts

Kind of makes sense. Fear is what keep us alive, and being fearless is being reckless.