One shot is taken from directly overhead while he's making an ascent.Īs of midweek, Park Service investigators declined to say whether they had found signs of damage to the arch. Outside saw a copy of the trailer, and it leaves no doubt Potter wasn't by himself atop the arch. Some of that footage was included in a trailer for Potter's new movie, tentatively titled Aerialist, which aired before audiences at last weekend's Telluride Mountain film festival. At least one of them captured Potter's moves on video. Two men who accompanied him during the adventure, ≻rad Lynch, 35, and Eric Perlman, 55, ascended fixed ropes to the top. Though Potter did free-solo Delicate Arch (as many as six times), he rehearsed the moves first, with protection from a top rope draped over the formation. That may depend on how you define “purest.” Extensive interviews with Potter, two friends who helped him video the climb, an Outside editor who was present for the latter portion of the episode, Arches officials, climbers, supporters, and critics paint a different picture.
#Arch rock accident pro#
His wife, 33-year-old pro climber Steph Davis Potter, told at least one colleague that the climb was “a beautiful ascent in the purest of style.” Potter says his ascent, a “free solo” in climber lingo, was a legal, ethical, leave-no-trace effort and that he did nothing more than blow “a little dust off” the smallest handholds. And if you saw the footage he released to TV newspeople immediately after the Delicate Arch climb, you saw a bare-chested daredevil going up one side alone, with only a chalk bag dangling from his capri-style pants. Potter is best known for risking do-or-die routes with no protective gear to catch a fall. As Outside has learned, it wasn't, and there's even a chance Potter did permanent damage to Delicate Arch's famously soft sandstone.
What has remained a mystery, though, is exactly how Potter conducted the climb, and whether it was quite as delicate as many believe.
Potter's climb touched off a storm that has led to condemnation from close friends and mentors, virulent criticism from many climbers, and strict new climbing regulations in the park itself.
#Arch rock accident professional#
Those questions have percolated in the climbing world since May 7, when Potter, a 34-year-old professional climber who splits his time between Moab, Utah, and Yosemite National Park, scampered to the top of Delicate Arch, a fragile landmark in southern Utah's Arches National Park. Tourists at the base of 60-foot-tall Delicate Arch.
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