BURSTDean Potter, one of America’s most iconic climbers and the focus of the new docuseries The Dark Wizard, accomplished many never-before-done ascents in the mountains, but few people know about his remote alpine rock first ascent in western Canada. A climb that he later BASE jumped off for a documentary.
In 2011, Potter teamed up with Wayne Crill, Damien Kelly, Jimmy Marinello and Mikey Schaefer for a new route up the west face of Mount Bute in B.C.’s Coast Mountains during a National Geographic–funded expedition, following a line that starts on the Foweraker-Serl route and then continues further to the left. The Foweraker-Serl was first climbed in 1986 by Greg Foweraker and Don Serl, only to be repeated three days later by Fred Beckey, Kit Lewis, and Jim Nelson. It wasn’t climbed again until 2010, and it was finally free-climbed in 2013 at 5.12 by Blake Herrington and Madaleine Sorkin.
While no topo was ever made publicly available for the new route that Potter and team climbed, Kelly did say, “We free-climbed a line to the left of Don’s at 5.11+. The rock was absolutely amazing and the climbing was spicy enough to be pretty exciting at times.” The climb was featured in a film called The Man Who Can Fly, which was released in June 2014, less than a year before Potter died in a BASE jumping accident in Yosemite.
The Man Who Can Fly was even screened on Cortes Island, a small Canadian island not far from Bute Inlet and Mount Bute. The advertisement for the Cortes Island event said, “The second Cortes Island showing of this National Geographic special filmed in our backyard of Bute Inlet. Acclaimed climber Dean Potter and his team scale Mt. Bute and then he jumps off for a world record wing suit (flying squirrel suit) flight. A great story that features our spectacular Coast Range Mountains and mainland inlets.” Here’s the poster:
And in a 2012 National Geographic story, here’s what Potter had to say about The Man Who Can Fly: [It] captures my quest for true human flight. This pursuit of the unknown and following dreams that may or may not be attained are the most important principles we portray in the National Geographic Special. During this time period, I strive to improve the design and glide of the wing suit. First I visit ‘bird scientist’ Brett Tobalski at the University of Montana and learn about wing shape and flight efficiency. Then I hang out with Tony Uragallo at his shop, Tonysuits, in Florida. Tony makes me a custom wing suit and teaches me how to fly it effectively while skydiving together. Shortly after I meet up with my friend and master rigger Pete Swan, in Acampo, California. Pete custom tailors my wing suit and smoothes out the back curve of the airfoil by integrating the BASE container to the suit itself.
Creativity and exploring new ideas is also a major theme of this show. I also pioneer a new route on El Capitan, where I free solo the most exposed portion of the 3,000-foot wall by down climbing a route called Lurking Fear, traversing across Thanksgiving Ledge, and then finishing up the last 600 feet of the route Freerider, to the summit of El Capitan. Then I free solo the “moonwalk” highline on Cathedral Peak. Shortly afterwards, my closest companion-dog-friend, Whisper, and I travel up the West Cost to Squamish, British Columbia. There I free solo across a much more demanding highline on the Chief and also refine my wing-suit technique, by flying from the beautiful cliff tops to the sea. Then I team up with my friends Wayne Crill, Damien Kelly, and Jimmy Marinello, for the first free ascent of the massive big wall Mount Bute, in the British Columbia coastal range. And finally, I wing-suit fly off of Mount Bute for one of the most amazing flights of my life.
Mount Bute is also home to a 50-pitch rock climb called School of Rock, which was first climbed in 2009 by Martinello, Bruce Kay and Jason Sinnes, and first freed in 2015 by Jason Ammerlaan, Nathan MacDonald and Luke Neufeld – more info here.
The Dark Wizard is a four-part HBO series, of which episodes one and two have been released. Enjoy the trailer for The Man Who Can Fly below.
The Man Who Can Fly Trailer
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