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c wilmot
climber
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It takes 9 months to 9 years to 90- years for many to realize they are just staring at their navel
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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I never had the privilege to meet Graham but I knew Dean and Stanley.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Last week another local wing suiter died and the local paper asked me to write something. This is what I wrote:
Wing Suite Madness
Back in 1984 I was just out of grad school and transitioning from my dirtbag years as a Yosemite-based climber onto the slippery slope of TV production. Long story short, I organized the first national TV coverage of BASE jumping for a network special based on the Guinness Book of World’s Record. Jean and Carl Boenish, the “father of modern BASE jumping,” would leap off Norway’s 4,000-foot-high Troll Wall for the biggest BASE jump ever.
We scouted Troll Wall’s jagged ridgeline for a doable exit point, ruling out Stabben Pinnacle (The Bishop) in the process, and eventually settling for a site that yielded the perfect jump and the best BASE footage we’d ever seen. Then the moment the production was over and the crew had jetted home, Carl hiked back up to Stabben Pinnacle, which he’d earlier called a “suicidal” launch spot, and jumped to his death, believing till his last breath that he’d pull it off, that he’d make it. It was no fun identifying his body, and the memory hung over me like an ax.
In the ensuing thirty years I’ve watched BASE jumping, and it’s most recent iteration, wing-suit proximity flying, do to death (111 BASE deaths in the last 3.5 years) the best in the business, like Sean Leary and Dean Porter, legendary climbers and outdoor athletes who both “went in” this last year. And now the vibrant Malibu local and international action figure, Johnny Strange, is gone as well.
The adventure game changes year to year, as fitness and technology improve and dreams evolve. But for adventurers past or present, the questions remain the same: How much of myself can I put into this? How much risk and fear can I possibly survive? How much adventure do I really want? People have traditionally discovered their answers a foot at a time. But for proximity flyers, the difference between life and destruction is only inches. For top performers, those consciously trying to write history, risk and reward follow parallel tracks. And when a wing suit flyer gets too ambitious, if only by an inch, his days are usually numbered.
The adventure crowd’s always favored the bigger wave and the deeper cave dive, but most of us have been rocked by a BASE fatality. The voices are getting louder: Proximity flying - skimming over mountain ridges, past rock walls, swooping though narrow notches and close-walled canyons where you make it or you die – is simply not sport as we’ve always know it. Push the risk or push the difficulty. Push both at the same time and you’re not asking for trouble. You’re making it. And with proximity flying, the numbers say trouble is found with fatal frequency.
Strangely, disturbingly, the word within proximity flying’s small international community is to “understand” the fatal mistakes, analyze same, make adjustments – then get after greater challenges. See for yourself on Youtube or Edge TV. Many close to action look on and wonder - What the hell?
The “why” per adventure sports is always like shoveling smoke, but maybe not so much with the proximity game. It seems likely that flying your body though a slot canyon at 125 miles per hour triggers the biggest adrenaline rush in the history of mankind. As such it runs the risk of addiction, requiring even greater doses to get the job done, and killing people in the process. In simple language, a lot of folks who have defined themselves through risk taking are saying the whole proximity flying game is f*#king crazy, that it can’t go on. We’re losing too many friends and brothers and heroes.
But what to do?
The action crowd has always known that an element of risk enhances their lives. Dirt bikes, extreme skiing, white water kayaking and rafting, tow-in surfing, binge drinking, unprotected sex – all of these, good or bad, are go-to drills in the adventure world. But people have never been taken out in such high percentages, and so ugly, as with proximity flying. And unlike most other adventure sports, where the best often get out alive, expertise in proximity flying is looking more and more like a death warrant, and proximity flying videos are feeling like snuff-films barely averted.
Adventure first got liftoff in mythology, and legion are the enchantresses singing you into the rocks. To me and many others it feels like too many leading proximity fliers are caught in an enchantment, gripped by the lotus eaters, and hearing no one else. Let’s be clear: the majority of people flying wing suits and BASE jumping are playing it safe, so far as you can with Old Man Gravity. But for those addicted to pushing things a little more, jump by jump, and calling it art, convinced of their scientific approach, the freedom and spiritual rewards – we collectively hold our breath, waiting for the wind to shift, knowing a change of heart can only come from the people wearing the suits. The sooner the better.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Thank you John.
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Rollover
climber
Gross Vegas
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Good stuff JL!
Heavy..
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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I can't argue with that (write-up), seeing as CMAC himself quit cold turkey.
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cavemonkey
Ice climber
ak
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Bump to dean
Who was most def not a tard
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Oct 10, 2015 - 08:29am PT
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Nicely said John....I couldn't agree more.
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bixquite
Social climber
humboldt nation
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Oct 10, 2015 - 08:41am PT
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thank you John, from the heart
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Oct 10, 2015 - 08:48am PT
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Unprotected sex?!
"Adventure first got liftoff in mythology..."
Or else... Adventure first got liftoff in The Chase.
Sometime you should try writing like that on behalf of science - as a protagonist of science - an action adventure game in its own way.
Anyways, good thoughtful post.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Oct 10, 2015 - 09:32am PT
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gripped by the lotus eaters
Another too many. Yeah, lay roses. But with the thorns on.
Thanks for stating that John.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Nov 10, 2015 - 09:25pm PT
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Took this today.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Nov 10, 2015 - 10:05pm PT
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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Nov 10, 2015 - 11:43pm PT
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Alright, a late night post...
The Raven sightings have been mentioned repeatedly. At first I resisted thinking much of it, but now I remember Dean telling a story about an owl that showed up on several occasions at the Cathedral Boulders after Walt Shipley passed away. So there's that.
And then I had a few of my own encounters after Dean passed. During one, my friend Annie and I were walking and talking under the Wheeler Crest about the dreams we each had about Dean. Suddenly a Raven flew overhead and circled us, calling and crackling. What can you say when just a few days before that the Raven were calling loudly during Dean's memorial in the Valley? The logical mind resists, but the spirit speaks.
I think the one that clinched it for me happened at the roadside parking for the Cookie. I was packing my bag with a few Ravens circling above. A van of German tourist ladies pulled up immediately behind me as I continued to organize my things. The women started snapping photos of a Raven that had landed on that enormous boulder that sits next to the road there. The bird was calling loudly, fluffing feathers, raising and lowering his wings. The ladies asked where I was going and i told them that cliff up there is an incredible place for rock climbing. I wasn't paying much attention to the loud Raven on the rock above my head, I started to walk past the ladies as they snapped their photos, eager to meet my friends at the rock. As I walked in front of the the black bird one of the women asked in her German accented English, "Is that your friend?"
And in that moment my rational mind stopped fighting and I said, "Yeah, that is my friend." And for a moment I remembered how Dean opened a door to immense mysteries. And maybe its still open enough for us to see through once in a while.
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illusiondweller
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 31, 2016 - 09:46pm PT
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"Eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong." - Colonel Ryberg, USMC retired.
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brotherbbock
Trad climber
Alta Loma, CA
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"Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end."
-Woody Allen
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Very well written and thoughtful post by Largo.
Very sad that this sport has taken away so many great souls.
My nephews best friend is now dabbling in BASE jumps and wingsuit flights.
I am hoping he doesn't move on to proximity flying.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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A great story from Ryan...
The Raven sightings have been mentioned repeatedly. At first I resisted thinking much of it, but now I remember Dean telling a story about an owl that showed up on several occasions at the Cathedral Boulders after Walt Shipley passed away. So there's that.
And then I had a few of my own encounters after Dean passed. During one, my friend Annie and I were walking and talking under the Wheeler Crest about the dreams we each had about Dean. Suddenly a Raven flew overhead and circled us, calling and crackling. What can you say when just a few days before that the Raven were calling loudly during Dean's memorial in the Valley? The logical mind resists, but the spirit speaks.
I think the one that clinched it for me happened at the roadside parking for the Cookie. I was packing my bag with a few Ravens circling above. A van of German tourist ladies pulled up immediately behind me as I continued to organize my things. The women started snapping photos of a Raven that had landed on that enormous boulder that sits next to the road there. The bird was calling loudly, fluffing feathers, raising and lowering his wings. The ladies asked where I was going and i told them that cliff up there is an incredible place for rock climbing. I wasn't paying much attention to the loud Raven on the rock above my head, I started to walk past the ladies as they snapped their photos, eager to meet my friends at the rock. As I walked in front of the the black bird one of the women asked in her German accented English, "Is that your friend?"
And in that moment my rational mind stopped fighting and I said, "Yeah, that is my friend."
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