UKC

In August, the American climber Dean Potter made a "BASE solo" (or FreeBASE) of Deep Blue Sea (7b+, 300m, Rathmaier-Ruhstaller, 2001) on the west side of the north face of The Eiger, Switzerland, (UKC News Report: Aug 10).

The question asked by many climbers was when would somebody make a BASE solo of a big wall, particularly in Yosemite, perhaps of The Nose or the Salathé Wall?

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=11&year=2008#n45452

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Not long before an ejector versions of the suits are seen at weekends at Stanage then?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Interesting, that to comply with the law, a successful BASE Solo would not be possible, as the 'chute is worn for back-up, a successful solo would require that the jump is voluntary, thus breaking national park laws.

Unless of course the climber claimed, having successfully solo'd that they were about to downclimb and slipped, necessitating the use of the 'chute.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

An inspiring and creative style of climbing - I wonder if it will catch on ?

BTW The Rostrum is a superb route but it isn't an 800ft crack as your write-up suggests.

This is quite a lot less impressive than actually soloing the thing.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Are there any reports that anyone actually used their parachite in an emergency?

In reply to Simon Lee:

Erm I suspect not... There are base jumping websites that have very very very long lists of people killed whilst trying it, and that is jumping in more control that a solo fall. To me it sounds about as safe as deep water soloing an 800ft cliff.

In reply to NickD:

Is it? "assuming you can orient yourself properly mid-air, deploy your chute and fly away from the wall rather than into it. All of this, of course, before hitting the ground"

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Having no real grasp of the difficulties associated with deploying the rig during an unexpected/uncontrolled fall I can't really comprehend the seriousness of this undertaking. I saw the Eiger stuff on the Sharp End DVD and it doesn't look like he's too keen to test the process.

Anyone care to put odds against the chances of deploying the rig? Would you expect a sucessful outcome most times? 9/10? 99/100? What's the minimum height you'd need to have a decent chance?

In reply to superfurrymonkey:

Yes. If you were properly soloing, you could all of those things and still leave a crater.

In reply to NickD:

Maybe less impressive, but I wouldn't say a lot less.

In reply to Owen W-G: At least 37% less, I'd say.

Also, surely we need a new grading system to cover the possibility of using a parachute?

In reply to NickD: Also, surely we need a new grading system to cover the possibility of using a parachute?


Now you're talking - wait a sec not required - it will be 'X'.

If only the 'E' grade was so versatile.

In reply to Simon Lee: The E grade is broken and can't be fixed RAAAGHHHH

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
Reminds me of a great story my dad's paragliding instructor always used to tell when they got him a bit drunk.
He BASE jumped off the top og half dome, and before he even landed he could see the dust of the ranger's vehicles approaching. He was obviously fairly keen to dive into their getaway car, but got stopped by an elderly American couple. The woman grabbed him and exclaimed to her husband "gee Fred, did you just see that, this man just fell of that cliff, but would you fancy the odds, he had a parachute with him"

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Interesting - in reply to some of the posts, I was talking to a couple of friends of mine who BASE jump and climb. They were off the opinion that it was very very risky, as if you actually fell/slipped (as opposed to a controlled jump/exit) it would be very difficult to get stable enough to safely deploy the chute etc.

In reply to ClimberEd:
Because you don't get chance to throw your pilot chute and you#re close to the rock as well, or just because you're properly tumbling through the air without a hope?

What sort of height do you have to get above before this is an effective safety net? People have based high rock at cheddar (about 100m), and the chute seems to deploy pretty quickly, but what sort of reaction time are you counting on?

Has anyone thought of BASE jumping on gritstone? This being gritstone you're obviously not allowed to use a parachute, but one or two bouldering mats are allowed. There could be a whole new grading system and everything. Right Unconquerable would once again be in the LGP list.

Just a thought.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

hey,

basejumping is a serious under taking on its own even if you stood at the top ot the cliff and jumped off your body position is difficult enough to get right. considering the close proximity to the rock when climbing you would want to be damn good to clear the wall and on top of this if you did slip while climbing you would need instant reaction time to realise you need to go into base jump mode - 800ft would be at the most ten seconds to the ground and this is only if you slip at the top - if you slipped say at 600ft - you would have 3-4 seconds to turn around and clear away from the wall to open at a safe altitude to consider ladning safely -

i say a big respect to a guy who is willing to do something like this

In reply to NickD: I think that this is still a solo of a very serious route, using a chute and climbing in this style has its own difficulties like climbing solo with that extra weight, I think you are seriously miss guided if you can't give a massive amount of respect to dean for climbing a very hard route in this style!