優勝美地的墜落者 Lost Brother in Yosemite

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Afternoon gave way to evening, and the parade of restless clouds and the occasional bursts of rain had moved on from Yosemite Valley. In their wake was the empty quiet of Taft Point, 3,000 feet above a famous green valley going gray in late-day shadow.

加州優勝美地國家公園——夜幕開始降臨，天上的行雲和間歇的降雨已經移出了優勝美地山谷。塔夫點懸崖從3,000英尺的高度俯瞰這個有名的翠綠山谷。懸崖被一片孤寂籠罩，在遲暮中變成灰色。

There were no tourists, only a raven, black and unhurried, circling at the edge of the cliff. It spiraled upward, a silent signal of rising air. A good sign for BASE jumping and wing-suit flying.

這會兒一個遊人也沒有。只有一隻黑色的烏鴉，緩緩地在懸崖邊盤旋。烏鴉打着轉上升，這暗示着有上升氣流，是定點跳傘和翼裝飛行的好兆頭。

Dean Potter, a 43-year-old professional climber and jumper, considered one of the world’s best in a wing suit, stood a few feet from Graham Hunt, 29, his apprentice and flying partner.

43歲的迪恩·波特(Dean Potter)是一位職業登山者和跳傘者，世界頂尖翼裝飛行高手之一。這會兒他穿着翼裝，站在他的徒弟和飛行夥伴，29歲的格雷漢姆·亨特(Graham Hunt)幾英尺遠的地方。

About 20 feet to their right was Jen Rapp, Potter’s longtime girlfriend, and the couple’s dog, Whisper. Rapp held a camera. She framed the photos so that El Capitan, across the valley toward the setting sun, was in the background.

在他們右上方20英尺的地方是波特交往了很長時間的女友簡·拉普(Jen Rapp)和他們的狗狗維斯普。拉普拿着一臺相機。山谷對面太陽下山方向就是酋長巖，她的照片就是以它爲背景。

BASE jumping is illegal in the national parks. But that did not keep people from surreptitiously doing it, at the risk of being caught, especially in Yosemite, where the sheer cliffs make it the best place on the planet to do it, some believe.

在國家公園裏定點跳傘是違法的。但是這並沒有阻止愛好者們冒着被抓的危險偷偷進行這項活動——尤其是在有着垂直懸壁的優勝美地。一些人認爲此處是進行定點跳傘的全球最佳地點。

“Anywhere else you go is a compromise,” Potter would say.

“去別的地方就是打了折扣，”波特會這麼說。

The men had jumped from dozens of spots around Yosemite Valley, but they knew this route well. At the end of a 1.1-mile downhill trail from a small parking lot on Glacier Point Road, Taft Point is marked by a railing meant to keep tourists from falling. Potter and Hunt preferred jumping from an edge about 100 yards left, to the west. They would drop hundreds of feet with their arms and legs spread, the webbing between their limbs and the baffles inside their suits filling with air until falling turned to soaring.

波特和亨特在圍繞着優勝美地谷的幾十個地點都跳過傘。但是這條路徑是他們所熟悉的。冰川界點上的一個小停車場往下，有一條1.1英里長的登山步道，盡頭就是塔夫點。這裏被圍欄圈起，以防遊人落下。波特和亨特喜歡從這裏西側的100碼處起跳。他們把手腳展開，向下墜落幾百英尺。他們四肢之間的翼膜和翼裝的遮護物充滿了空氣，使他們的墜落變成滑翔。

They would fly right, toward the heart of the valley. There is a sloping rib of a ridge there, a relatively unremarkable feature called Lost Brother. It is not marked on the park maps handed to visitors. It juts downward into the valley before it ends abruptly into a vertical wall known mostly to climbers. In that ridge is a notch, a V like a rifle sight.

他們計劃向右飛，朝向山谷的中心。那裏有一條像肋骨一樣突出的山脊。這一處叫“迷路的兄弟”的地貌不是很有名，在給遊客的地圖上並沒有標出。山脊斜坡向下，與山谷連接處是一個垂直的崖壁。大多數登山者都知道這裏。在山脊上有一個V字形的槽口，就像步槍的準星。

Potter and Hunt had made the jump many times, sometimes together, sometimes not. Hunt had done it without Potter several days before. He would usually steer himself through the notch. Potter had been through the notch a couple of times, but he usually went around the ridge to the left. It depended on how well they maintained altitude once they began to fly.

波特和亨特像這樣跳過多次，有時一起，有時單獨行動。幾天前，亨特一個人跳了一次。他通常會飛過槽口。波特也飛過槽口幾次，但是他通常會繞過山脊向左飛。採取什麼樣的路徑要看他們起飛後能否很好的掌控高度。

The men were zipped into their suits. They did not wait for the full cloak of dusk. A breeze from behind caught their attention but did not send a strong enough warning to pause. It was 7:25 on May 16.

他們並沒有等暮色完全降臨就穿上了翼裝。 他們注意到了從身後吹來的一陣微風，但風並沒有強到成爲停止行動的警告。這時是5月16號的晚上7點25分。

“I don’t mind if I’m on the record,” Potter wrote in an email in March, discussing the decades-long fight to legalize BASE jumping within National Park Service sites, and especially at Yosemite, with its unique valley of sheer cliffs.

優勝美地的定點跳傘文化

Yosemite’s BASE-Jumping Culture

“我不介意我說的話被實名引用，”在3月的一封電郵裏，波特這麼寫到。他在電郵裏談到了幾十年來人們爲爭取在國家公園管理局的管轄地界裏定點跳傘合法化而作出的努力——尤其是在有着獨特垂直懸壁的優勝美地。

“I’ve been flying in the park since 2003 and the N.P.S. knows it, but they haven’t been able to catch me or prove anything,” he added.

“我從2003年就在優勝美地飛了，這個國家公園管理局也知道，但是他們還沒能抓到我，也沒有任何證據，”波特補充道。

Potter offered a tour of the BASE-jumping culture at Yosemite, allowing himself to be captured on video leaping, illegally, from the cliffs at dusk or dawn and landing before being detected.

波特自告奮勇爲本報記者充當介紹優勝美地定點跳傘文化的嚮導。他允許我們錄像，拍攝他在傍晚和拂曉非法地從懸崖上跳下，並在被發現之前着陸的過程。

“There are at least 10 local guys who are regularly BASE jumping in Yosemite and probably 50 to 100 others annually traveling to Yosemite from around the world to experience the birthplace of big-wall BASE,” he wrote.

“至少有10位當地人定期地在優勝美地定點跳傘，另外可能有50到100人每年從世界各地來到這裏體檢大巖壁定點跳傘的發源地，”波特在電郵裏寫道。

Potter knew the long history of enforcement at Yosemite. Robin Heid was arrested and charged with jumping off El Capitan in 1979, which helped lead to a midsummer trial run for legal parachuting there in 1980, aborted after six weeks of unruliness. BASE jumping took hold in the global extreme-sports culture of the 1990s, and stories of Yosemite rangers hiding in trees and using night-vision goggles became legend.

波特對優勝美地長久的執法歷史瞭如指掌。羅賓·海德(Robin Heid)在1979年被捕，並因爲在酋長巖跳傘被起訴。這個案子推動了1980年夏天在酋長巖跳傘合法化的試運行，但卻因爲難以管理於六個星期後被終止。定點跳傘在90年代流行，成爲全球極限運動文化的一部分。關於優勝美地巡護員躲在樹林裏用夜視鏡盯梢跳傘者的故事成了傳說。

In 1999, Frank Gambalie drowned in the Merced River after trying to escape rangers. Months later, in a protest of park policy and enforcement, Jan Davis fell to her death from El Capitan without her parachute ever opening; she wore a borrowed rig, not wanting her own gear confiscated. In 2010, Ammon McNeely was caught and subdued with a stun gun.

1999年，弗蘭克·甘勃利(Frank Gambalie)爲了逃避巡護員而淹死在美熹德河中。幾個月後，在一次針對公園政策和執法的抗議活動中，簡·戴維斯(Jan Davis)由於降落傘沒有打開而從酋長巖上跳下摔死。當時她用的是一套借來的裝備，以免自己的裝備被沒收。2010年，艾蒙·麥克尼利(Ammon McNeely)被執法人員發現並被電擊槍制服。

In between, dozens have been arrested, jailed and subjected to thousands of dollars in fines and have had their gear confiscated. Several have gone to court to challenge the National Park Service rules banning the activity, ultimately to no avail.

在這些年裏，幾十名跳傘者被捕送監，並被處以幾千美元的罰款，他們的裝備也被沒收。一些人不滿禁止跳傘活動的條例而把國家公園管理局告上法庭，但是沒有人成功。

It made no sense to Potter, and plenty of others, that climbing was legal, and that falling was legal, but that stopping a fall with a lifesaving parachute was illegal, a result of the application of an arcane law banning the delivery or retrieval “of a person or object by parachute, helicopter or other airborne means.”

在波特和許多人看來，在國家公園裏攀爬合法，摔落也是合法，但是用能救命的降落傘來阻止摔落卻是非法，這實在不可理喻。在國家公園裏，有一條不被很多人知道的法律禁止“用降落傘、直升飛機或別的任何跟空中航行有關的方式運送個人或物體”， 對跳傘的禁令就是依據了這條法律。

But it was 2015. Potter was hopeful. He believed he could be both renegade and diplomat.

但是現在是2015年了。波特充滿了希望。他相信自己既是一個叛逆者，也能運用外交手腕與當局周旋。

“The N.P.S. and the law enforcement have changed a lot in the past year or two,” Potter wrote in March. “Most all of the lead positions in the park service are now held by people who either don’t have a huge problem with BASE or are quite lenient when it comes to catching and prosecuting jumpers. For sure the rangers enforce the law. If they see us, they pursue, but for the most part, they are not hunting us as before and there seems to be a lot more respect on both sides.”

“在過去的兩年中，國家公園管理局和執法人員改變了很多，”波特在一封三月份的電郵中寫道。“大多數擔任公園管理局重要職位的官員並沒有對定點跳傘有很大成見，在抓捕和起訴跳傘者時也比較寬容。當然了，巡護員還是會執法。如果他們發現我們，他們會追來，但大多數情況下，他們不像過去那樣會窮追不捨。較之以前，跳傘者和巡護員之間多了幾分互相尊重。”

A sport that began as a rebel offshoot of sky diving had evolved into a popular and respected derivative of rock climbing. Places in Switzerland, Norway and Italy welcomed BASE jumpers. And Yosemite, the best place — maybe the safest place, with its vertical cliffs and grassy landing areas — had only six known BASE-jumping deaths in its history, and none since 1999, despite thousands of jumps since.

定點跳傘最早是特技跳傘的一個叛逆旁支，後來發展成了攀巖運動的衍生運動而流行開來，並受到認可。瑞士、挪威和意大利都歡迎定點跳傘者前往。優勝美地是定點跳傘的最佳地點。由於有着垂直的崖壁和青草覆蓋的降落區域，可能也是最安全的地點了。在歷史上已知的只有六位跳傘者在這裏遇難。而1999年以後，儘管有數千名跳傘者在此活動，還沒有一人遭到不測。

Into the Dusky Valley

跳入暮色中的山谷

Potter jumped. Hunt followed, like a shadow. Rapp clicked photographs. The men fell out of the frame before her lens caught them falling away, soaring with wings spread.

波特跳了下去。亨特像他的影子一樣跟上。拉普開始拍照。兩個男人從她的取景框消失，然後她的鏡頭跟上了他們的下落。他們張開了翼裝的翅膀，滑翔着。

Hunt quickly passed Potter. His suit was made for speed. Potter had set records for long flights and preferred loft. He had been in Canada working on a design to allow him to land on his belly on glacial ice, no parachute necessary.

亨特很快超過了波特。他的翼裝是爲速度設計的。波特喜歡在高空滑翔，他創造了幾項長時間飛行的記錄。之前他在加拿大參與設計一種翼裝，能讓他不用打開降落傘，而用腹部在冰川的冰面上着陸。

“He’s low,” Rapp thought to herself. “Why is he going toward the notch?” She saw Hunt veer left, as if to go around the ridge, then quickly back to the right. Potter held his line for the notch. They disappeared into the hole that led to the dusky valley.

“他飛的好低啊，”拉普暗自想到：“他爲什麼要朝槽口飛？”她看見亨特往左一偏，好像是要越過山脊，但接着又很快地向右折回。波特朝着槽口過去。他們倆消失在對着暮色中山谷的凹槽裏。

Rapp heard a thwap. Her mind tried to tell her that it was the familiar sound of a parachute deploying. It was followed almost immediately by a duller, heavier sound.

拉普聽到“啪”的一聲。她的理智試圖告訴自己這是降落傘打開時發出的熟悉聲響。這聲過後緊接着又傳來了一聲更悶、更沉重的響聲。

Rapp waited alone on the cliff’s edge for more clues from below. None came.

拉普獨自在懸崖邊等待下面傳來更多的動靜。什麼也沒有。

She clicked through her camera to retrace the flight paths in the photos. In two dimensions, without depth perception, it was hard to tell what happened to the shrinking specks in the frames. There was Hunt, who disappeared into the grayness of the rocks. There was Potter, who made it through the leading edge of the notch, a downward halfpipe, and fell out of sight.

她翻看相機裏的照片，試圖在照片上追溯倆人的飛行路徑。在沒有深度的二維畫面裏，很難觀察到逐漸縮小的兩個點到底遭遇到了什麼。有一個點是亨特，消失在灰色岩石的背景中。另一個點是波特，他飛過了像是一個朝下開口的U形槽的邊緣，就不見了蹤影。

Somewhere far below was Rebecca Haynie, Hunt’s girlfriend of a few months. She had been on a hike when Hunt called saying that he and Potter planned to jump at Taft Point. Meet at the meadow at 7:30, Hunt said. She aborted her hike and went to the lodge area in Yosemite Valley to get a drink and pass the time.

亨特剛交往了幾個月的女友呂蓓卡·黑尼(Rebecca Haynie)就在遠處的山下。當亨特那天打電話給她，說自己和波特要在塔夫點跳傘時，黑尼正在徒步遠足。亨特告訴她七點半在草坪碰頭。她終止了遠足，來到了優勝美地谷的住宿區，在那裏喝酒打發時間。

She did not see a text message that Hunt sent at 6:55 until about 7:25 because of spotty cellular service in Yosemite. He had asked her to turn on her two-way radio so they could communicate. She quickly texted back that she would in a few minutes. She drove around the darkening, forested roads for 90 minutes, waiting to hear from Hunt again.

優勝美地的手機信號時斷時續，亨特在6點55分發來的一條短信，她到了7點25分纔看到。亨特讓她打開她的雙向無線對講機，這樣他們兩人就可以說話了。她很快回復了短信，告訴亨特她過幾分鐘就把對講機打開。黑尼在夜色漸暗的林間道路上開了90分鐘的車程，等待再次得到亨特的消息。

“I was putting my faith in a lot of irrational places,” she said in a phone interview. “Even though I knew what probably happened.”

“那時我想出了許多不合理的解釋，”黑尼在一次電話採訪中說，“儘管我知道可能發生了什麼。”

In the dwindling light, Rapp rushed back up the trail to the parking lot. She drove her car the 13 miles or so back to Wawona Road, made a right and headed the 10 miles down to the floor of the valley.

在漸暗的天色中，拉普匆忙沿着登山步道回到了停車場。她開了差不多13英里，到了瓦沃納路，向右轉，往下開了10英里到達谷底。

She went to El Capitan Meadow, but there was no one there. Her phone had no text messages. Unsure of what to do or where to go, she drove to the rented house that she and Potter shared in Yosemite West, a cluster of homes back up Wawona Road, past the Glacier Point turnoff. The couple recently bought 31 acres nearby and had plans to build their own home. That day, rainy and cool, had been spent clearing trees and brush, and Hunt was there to help, until the clearing skies led to the idea of making an evening jump off Taft Point.

她來到酋長巖草地，那兒一個人也沒有。她的手機也沒有收到任何短信。她不知道該做什麼，也不知道該去哪兒，就朝着她和波特在西優勝美地的租住處開了過去。西優勝美地是一個聚居區，就在過了冰川界點的岔路口、瓦沃納路的盡頭。

The house was dark and empty. Mind racing, Rapp studied the photos and scrolled through various outcomes in her head. Maybe the sounds she heard were Hunt crashing. Maybe Potter saw it happen and was searching for his friend. Maybe Potter crashed and was hurt. Maybe they were both O.K. but were hiding from rangers. Maybe they had been arrested.

屋子裏是黑的，空無一人。拉普仔細研究照片，腦子轉得飛快，設想了種種結果：她聽到的聲響可能是亨特撞擊地面發出的。波特可能看到發生了什麼，現在正在搜尋他的朋友。也有可能是波特掉了下來受了傷。可能他們倆都沒事，這會兒正在躲避巡護員。也有可能他們已經被捕。

Her mind was a tug of war with hope. Maybe they would pull up to the house any minute. A car came at 9:30. Out stepped Haynie. She was alone.

她還抱有希望：他們倆隨時有可能開着車回來。九點半的時候來了一輛車，黑尼下了車，她是一個人。

Discouraging the Spectacle

阻止跳傘場面

A little more than a year earlier, in March 2014, one of Potter’s best friends and flying partners, Sean Leary, was killed BASE jumping at Utah’s Zion National Park. It was only the second known BASE-jumping death at Zion, but the first had come just over a month earlier.

一年多以前，在2014年3月，波特的好友之一、飛行夥伴肖恩·列裏(Sean Leary)在猶他州的錫安國家公園定點跳傘時遇難。這是在錫安國家公園已知發生的第二宗定點跳傘死亡事件，而第一宗就發生在一個月前。

Leary, alone, had apparently jumped off a sandstone tower called West Temple and tried to fly through a gap in the Three Marys, a set of statue-like formations resembling chess pieces. Leary was missing for days, and Potter was among those who rushed to Zion to help find him.

列裏當時是一個人。很顯然，他是從一個叫做“西寺”的砂岩山尖上跳下，並試圖穿過“三個瑪麗”之間的空隙。“三個瑪麗”是一組像雕塑一樣的岩石構造，像棋子一樣排列在一起。列裏失蹤了好幾天，波特是趕去搜救的人員之一。

Potter and a few other climbers reached Leary’s body, but the park service would not allow them to bring it down. Rangers packaged the body, and a helicopter, borrowed from Grand Canyon National Park, lifted it out.

波特和幾個登山者找到了列裏的屍體。但是公園管理處不允許他們把屍體帶下山。巡護員們包好了屍體，一架從大峽谷國家公園借來的直升飛機把它運了出去。

“There are places within the United States that one can BASE jump, but not in Zion,” the park’s then-superintendent said in a news release. “There are many reasons for this, from resource protection, to visitor and employee safety, to Wilderness mandates. BASE jumping is not congruent with the founding purpose of this park.”

“定點跳傘在美國有的地方是合法的，但是在錫安是非法的，”公園當時的主管在一次新聞發佈會上說。“這樣做有許多理由：保護資源，保護遊客和僱員的安全，還有《荒野法》的規定。定點跳傘與錫安國家公園的建園宗旨不符。”

Ray O’Neal, a longtime ranger at Zion, said that the problem with BASE jumping in national parks was not necessarily one of safety or rescue costs, as many jumpers presume.

雷·奧尼爾(Ray O’Neal)是錫安國家公園的老巡護員了。他說，禁止在國家公園裏定點跳傘不一定是像許多跳傘者想的那樣，是出於安全或是搜救成本的考慮。

“The reason we would like to discourage it is not so much because of the danger of it, but the spectacle of it,” O’Neal said during an interview at the park’s Emergency Operations Center. “We like to think that people come here to enjoy the scenery, and not the spectacle of people jumping.”

“我們阻止定點跳傘倒不是完全因爲它的危險性，而是因爲它製造的場面，”奧尼爾在公園的緊急行動中心接受採訪時說：“我們希望人們來這兒欣賞自然美景，而不是來看跳傘。”

Scott Gediman, a Yosemite park spokesman, agreed. On average, 14 Yosemite visitors die each year — from falls or drownings, car accidents or natural causes. Rarely are they BASE jumpers.

優勝美地國家公園的發言人斯科特·蓋迪曼(Scott Gediman)同意這種說法。在優勝美地，平均每年有14個遊客由於摔落、溺水、車禍或別的自然原因喪生，但是他們之中幾乎沒有定點跳傘者。

“We’re not against BASE jumping as a sport,” Gediman said while sitting on a bench at Yosemite, where a rappelling accident had killed a climber the day before. “But we have to look at the big picture and its appropriateness in the park.”

“我們並不反對做爲一項運動的定點跳傘，”蓋迪曼說。他坐在優勝美地的一個長凳上。前一天在這裏有一位登山者在下山途中因繩索事故喪生。“我們需要考慮全局，權衡定點跳傘在這個公園是不是合宜。”

The frustration for Potter and other BASE advocates has been the apparent lack of consistency in park policies. It is generally legal to catch a fish but not to pick flowers. Horses are allowed on many trails, but mountain bikers are not. The Merced River is a jumble of colorful rafts carrying tourists; El Capitan is a dot-to-dot slate of climbers and ropes; and Yosemite even allows hang gliding on a limited basis off Glacier Point, not far from Taft Point. Potter was allowed to string tightropes between formations. But if he fell, it was illegal, in theory, to prevent his own death with a parachute.

困擾波特和其他定點跳傘擁躉的是，公園政策明顯沒有連貫性。捕魚是合法的，但是摘花卻是非法的；許多步道都可以允許馬匹通行，但是卻不允許登山自行車通行。美熹德河上充滿了載客的五顏六色的橡皮筏。酋長巖上到處都是攀巖者和他們的繩索。在優勝美地，雖然有一定限制，但是人們甚至可以在離塔夫點不遠的冰川界點出發進行懸掛式滑翔。波特可以在岩石之間系繃索。但是如果他從繃索上掉下，要想用跳傘來挽救生命卻從理論上來說是違法的。

In 2006, the last time the National Park Service updated its management policies, individual park superintendents were allowed the discretion to pursue approval of BASE jumping. None have. (The exception in the national park system is the annual Bridge Day at New River Gorge, in West Virginia, where hundreds take part in a one-day jumping celebration that dates back nearly 40 years.) Potter thought times were changing. He pondered ways to devise a permit system, to limit the number of BASE jumpers and to ensure that only well-trained jumpers would leap into the valley. He did not have that part figured out yet. But it was his goal. He wanted nothing more than to BASE jump and fly wing suits legally in Yosemite, the place that he loved more than anywhere else.

國家公園管理局於2006年最後一次更新了管理規定。各個公園主管有權自行裁定是否要申請定點跳傘的許可，但是沒有人這麼做。（西維吉尼亞州的新河峽國家公園是國家公園系統中的例外。在那裏， 幾百人舉行一天的跳傘活動慶祝一年一度的“橋日”。這個傳統已經有差不多40年了）波特認爲時代在改變。他構想有無可能設計出一種許可證制度，用來限制跳傘者的人數，同時確保只有訓練有素的跳傘者才能獲准跳入山谷。這後一點他還沒想出方法解決。但是這是他的目標。他最想要的無非是能夠合法地在優勝美地這個他最熱愛的地方定點跳傘和翼裝滑翔。

Seeking Familiar Faces

尋找熟悉的面孔

The women drove back into the black valley. They looked for people they knew — climbers camping or hanging around the village and the bar. There were no familiar faces. At about 10:30, they showed up at the door of Mike Gauthier, Yosemite’s chief of staff, a conduit between park bureaucracy and the climbing community.

拉普和黑尼開車回到了漆黑的山谷。她們在露營或是在村子和酒吧裏消磨時間的登山者中尋找認識的人，但是她們一張熟悉的面孔也沒有找到。在大約十點半時，她們來到了麥克·哥提亞(Mike Gauthier)的家。哥提亞是優勝美地的辦公室主任，負責公園管理當局和攀巖者之間的溝通。

A call to the Yosemite dispatcher quickly deflated hope that Potter and Hunt were in custody. There were no reports of BASE jumpers caught by park rangers.

打給優勝美地警察分局的一通電話破滅了波特和亨特被拘捕的希望。公園巡護員那裏也沒有任何定點跳傘者被抓的消息。

A late-night search was called. Rangers and volunteers from Yosemite Search and Rescue were told that a pair of BASE jumpers were missing off Taft Point. It was not until they saw Rapp that they realized that one of the men missing was Dean Potter. Everyone knew him.

一個深夜搜尋隊被組織起來。巡護員們和從優勝美地搜救組織來的志願者們被告知有兩位定點跳傘者在塔夫點下失蹤。當他們看見拉普時，他們才明白過來有一位失蹤者是迪恩·波特。人人都認識他。

“I hoped he was just hurt,” Rapp said. “Maybe he had two broken femurs. Maybe he was bleeding to death. We just needed to get up there.”

“我希望他只是受了傷，”拉普說：“他可能摔斷了兩根股骨。他可能正流血不止，生命垂危。不管怎樣，我們都要到事故地點找到他。”

She tried to leave the searching to the experts. But at 4 a.m., helplessly waiting, she took binoculars and headed to the base of the canyon below Lost Brother. She scanned the darkness for movement or color. She screamed into the black void above her. She got no response.

她試圖放手讓搜救專家們展開行動。但是時間到了凌晨四點，她再也等不下去。她帶上望遠鏡，來到了“迷路的兄弟”下面峽谷的底部。她在黑暗中查看有無任何動靜，或是有無有顏色的物體。她向上衝着黑暗的空間大喊，沒有人迴應她。

There were still no answers from above by daybreak. A helicopter took off and headed over the top of Lost Brother. Two bodies were quickly spotted. Neither man had deployed a parachute.

直到天亮的時候，谷底上面也沒有傳來任何消息。一架直升飛機起飛來到了“迷路的兄弟”的上空。兩具屍體很快就被發現。兩個人的跳傘都沒有打開。

Hunt had cleared the base of the notch, but having most likely entered the downward funnel on a diagonal path, he had crashed into the right wall.

亨特越過了槽口的底部，但是在一個對角線的路徑上，他很可能遇到了一陣朝下吹的氣流。他撞到了右邊的一堵巖牆。

“Turns out the sounds I heard, I think, were the sounds of Graham hitting a tree and then the wall,” Rapp said.

“我想我聽到的聲響就是格雷漢姆先撞到了一棵樹，然後撞上了巖牆，”拉普說。

Potter was found several hundred feet farther into the notch. Speculation began immediately that maybe the sight of Hunt, or the air disturbance caused by his maneuvers, had affected Potter’s concentration or control. Neither man was wearing a GoPro video recorder, contrary to some news reports, but Potter had jumped with a smartphone strapped to his head. It was heavily damaged, but park service investigators have it, along with Rapp’s photos, hoping to mine them for clues.

波特在離槽口好幾百英尺的地方被發現。很快就有猜測說可能由於看到亨特的事故，或是亨特的飛行引起的氣流改變，影響到了波特的注意力或是他的操控。不像有些新聞媒體報道的那樣，兩個人都沒有戴GoPro攝像機。但是波特在跳的時候把一個智能手機綁到了自己的頭上。手機毀壞嚴重，但是公園管理局的調查者們拿到了手機和拉普的照片，希望能從它們得到線索。

Rapp returned to Taft Point three days after the accident. By then, there was a memorial at the cliff’s edge, where Potter and Hunt had made their final jump. El Capitan sits across the valley a little to the left; Yosemite Falls can be seen a little to the right, over the top of the brown, down-sloping ridge with the notch. The memorial included feathers, a beer can, Tibetan prayer flags and a photograph of Potter.

事故發生的三天後，拉普回到了塔夫點。波特和亨特的追思會已經在懸崖邊他們最後跳下的地方舉行。在左邊一點，酋長巖屹立在山谷對面。往右邊一點， 順着那個有槽口的山脊頂端，能看到優勝美地瀑布。追思會留下了羽毛、啤酒罐、西藏的經幡和波特的照片。

Rapp sat alone on a rock. A raven appeared. Unflinchingly, it approached and patiently ate a piece of salami out of her hand. It had never happened to her before.

拉普獨自坐在一塊石頭上。一隻烏鴉飛了過來。它毫不懼怕地飛近拉普並耐心地吃起了她手上的一片意大利香腸。拉普從來沒有遇到過這種事。

“The way the raven looked at me, so intently, so. …,” Rapp said, the thought drifting, unfinished. “Yeah, it was Dean.”

“這烏鴉看着我的樣子是那麼專注，那麼……”拉普若有所思地說：“對，它就是迪恩。”