The wizard uncovered: Dean Potter's story finally arrived!
🔥 For people who’d rather be outside! 🌲
Hello StokedAF fam—
You might’ve noticed we went quiet for a few weeks. Spring break hit, we reset, and now we’re back with fresh energy and a stacked lineup of sends.
Dive into this week’s curated mix of stories, lines, and wild moments… but first a message from Nico in Moab!
On my last Sunday ride, I saw this beauty in the hills above Moab!
🎬 The Dean Potter myth, unfiltered
Dean Potter was never just a climber—he was something far harder to pin down. The Dark Wizard, dives into the full spectrum: visionary, rebel, partner, and a deeply complex human chasing the edge between obsession and consequence.
Three years in the making, the Sender Films crew assembled a four-part, four-hour deep dive into his life—working closely with Potter’s family, accessing his personal journals, and interviewing those who knew him best to piece together what truly kept his fire burning.
Want more? Check out this podcast with Peter Mortimer on the Nugget, talking about how he sourced materials and the Potter-Honnold rivalry in the Valley.
Click here » https://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/peter-mortimer
🚵 The Portal still abides
📍 Moab, Utah
The Portal isn’t getting any easier…. One of Moab’s most infamous lines, turning already exposed moves into no-fall territory that demands total focus, even from riders who’ve been here for years.
Pro rider, Nate Hills, drops in for a top-to-bottom tour to reminds everyone why this trail still commands respect… and why sometimes walking a move is wise.
Length: 8 minutes
🌊 Surfing against the current
📍 Dakar, Senegal
In Dakar, the ocean isn’t just waves—it’s a crossroads. For Pape Fode and Baye Seydi, it’s also a way out that doesn’t require leaving.
Their surf school is building something deeper than technique: a sense of belonging strong enough to counter the pull of dangerous migration routes, turning the Atlantic into a space for future instead of escape.
This beautiful documentary film captures the drive and optimism that connects Pape and Seydi to the ocean. Don’t miss it.
Length: 9 minutes
🛶 Pinned above the void
📍 Río Claro, Chile
Everything was fine—until it wasn’t. A clean line into La Leona turned into a full-on nightmare: pinned, solo, and staring down an 80-foot waterfall just around the corner.
What follows is pure survival mode—ditch the boat, fight for an eddy, and somehow claw back from the edge. One of those stories where luck, grit, and a friend on a rope are the only reasons it doesn’t end differently.
🧗 Herson in the proving grounds
📍 Norway
Connor Herson had never climbed outside the U.S.—so when he finally did, he went straight to one of the hardest trad arenas on the planet.
Norway’s Profile Wall packs two of the world’s most demanding lines side by side, a place where there’s no soft entry, just raw testing ground. No shortcuts here—just commitment, history, and the kind of climbing that decides if you belong.
Length: 16 minutes
🎿 Ocean miles, life lines
📍 Australia
Fifty-five-year-old Heli Murray doesn’t separate life phases—she stacks them. Motherhood, divorce, menopause, endurance racing… all threaded together by the ocean.
As a birth doula and ultra athlete, she uses the sea as both proving ground and refuge, pushing limits in a way that feels less about performance and more about survival, identity, and staying wildly, stubbornly alive.
Length: 6 minutes
⚡ Bonus News ⚡
🏔️ The Arctic expedition season is delivering close calls, including a fatal crevasse fall and a polar bear encounter in separate incidents. Going solo carries its risk!
🧗 Kalymnos just hit pause on climbing—temporarily closing 10 crags for maintenance and safety work following tragic accident.
🚵 Do you like vintage mountain bikes? The 3rd annual Vintage Mountain Bike Show in Toronto celebrates the bikes and culture that once made the sport. It’s a reminder of what there was before carbon and suspension, and you just might your old bike in the photo gallery! Don’t miss this one.
🛶 Trapped under ice with no clear exit—one Michigan kayaker found himself in a full nightmare scenario after flipping in freezing conditions and got a brutal lesson in cold-water survival.
🎿 Cody Townsend, Tommy Caldwell, and Bjarne Salen scored the first-ever winter ski traverse of Norman’s 13, a link of the highest peaks in California’s Sierra Nevada. Eight days, big terrain, no shortcuts.
🧠 Long Reads & Opinions
Heads up, take your time with these ones…
🧗 Climbing Greece, one crag at a time
The duo behind The Crag Journal are methodical, road-tripping climbers who dig deep into every destination they visit. Their 11-week journey across Greece blends detailed beta, local insight, and a love for the process, painting a full picture of a country where limestone, mountains, and the coastline collide.
https://thecragjournal.com/2026/03/01/climbing-in-greece-a-mediterranean-road-trip/
🎿 Can freeride stay wild?
Freeride skiing was born as a rejection of rules—built by icons like Shane McConkey on creativity, freedom, and doing it your own way. Now, with the Olympics on the horizon, the sport is evolving fast—bringing bigger exposure, bigger money, and bigger questions about what gets lost along the way.
The question is can it grow this big without losing its soul?
https://www.powder.com/news/can-freeride-stay-wild
🐊 Face to face with apex predators
Wildlife rangers in Australia’s north are out in the wet season, tracking, trapping, and relocating massive Saltwater crocs in remote, high-risk environments where things can go sideways fast.
The film follows a live operation to move two giants from a fast-moving creek, showing the precision, teamwork, and nerves it takes to manage one of the planet’s most dangerous animals—day in, day out.
🐒 The forest coming back to life in Nigeria
Deep in the wilderness, rare chimpanzees are being seen on camera traps after years of war and silence. With conservation teams returning and protection ramping up, this is a rare story of a wild place—and a species—getting a second chance.
💥 Stay Stoked. Stay Wild.
Before you hit “Next”… Send this newsletter to your outdoor partner and even to that guy who you know shouldn’t be following you into the backcountry!!
See you on the next send!
❤️🔥 The StokedAF fam 🤘
P.S. We’re gonna throw an awesome track your way… check it out!