UKC

.should be good

In reply to colina:
It is good, but man he is nuts

In reply to colina: anybody know the company that dropped him

In reply to snorbie:

Patagonia.

In reply to snorbie:

pata-gucci

In reply to colina:

I feel for him struggling with his emotions and the breakup. Hard times all round.

In reply to colina:
Is he going to do it in last 5 mins?

In reply to Graham T:
Have you seen aerialist? it's really good (I thought i should have been the outright winner at kendal 2007 rather than psyche) some pretty crazy stuff but give a lot of background about his brother.
I'll have a look at the current program when i'm near a tv.

In reply to colina:

will look forward to watching it on 4oD..

In reply to colina:

What's with all the camera trickery when he reaches the end of the line? Is there something there that Dean doesn't want us to see?

Enty

In reply to colina:

Just started watching it now...

I'm feeling giddy and sick after 5 mins!! lol

In reply to Enty:

The POV shots are all on roped practice runs - you can just about make out the backup line and the camera setup he's wearing on a couple of occasions... rather obviously they weren't filmed on the real unharnessed runs...

The 'Lost Arrow' sequence is from an earlier short film.

PP.

In reply to PontiusPirate:

I don't know what POV means. The final effort at Taft Point looked pretty genuine.

In reply to Ian Parsons:

(camera's) point of view.

In reply to Ian Parsons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POV_shot

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan:

usually the shot from a helmet cam in outdoor sports.

In reply to Neil Kazimierz Sheridan:

Cheers Guys; you learn something new, etc. But do you agree that it didn't look as if he was clipped to the line?

In reply to colina:

Thanks for the heads up; really engrossing TV.

So if Dean had admitted to himself, ex wife and sponser that it was a mistake to climb the fragile arch would he have got his wife bback? Fact that he didn't speaks for his honesty but also his motivation and aguably blinkered single mindedness; Dean admitted that he would probably do it again.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Will look forward to watching it tomorrow via 4oD. Did he mention the ex in the show then?

In reply to Ian Parsons:

He wasn't.

It's obvious he did the walk un protected from the wider camera shots.
He then used a safety line and did it again with the head-cam.

The two attempts are edited into one piece for our benefit.

In reply to colina:
Wow, that gave me vertigo!!!

In reply to colina:

cheers for the reminder, watching online now... guy is a legend, my hands are already sweating 1min in!

In reply to Carpe Diem:

Cheers - now I understand, particularly the POV bit. Still scared the cr*p out of me though!

In reply to Ian Parsons:
Haha !!

me too.I had to pause it, and check out Wikki just to make sure he was still alive first.lol

In reply to Carpe Diem:

I've no idea what you're talking about (I'm very old) but I think we agree!

In reply to Ian Parsons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Potter

internet thingy

In reply to Carpe Diem:

How did you do that?

In reply to colina:

For anyone who missed it (like I did - although I can't watch live internet TV anyway) -

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/daredevils/4od#2972431

In reply to colina:

While I'm still awake; did anyone figure out where the El Cap line was rigged? Long Ledge to Chickenhead would seem a fairly obvious guess; line-of-sight too, I think. But it's hard to tell from the footage. Thoughts?

Woooaaahh!!! Everyone, you've missed my point!

I'm 100% certain Potter did all his slack line attempts without the safety line.

BUT! - how many bolts did these slack lines require to get a strong enough fix to get the correct tension?
All this philosophy shite, the birds and the bees, finding myself etc etc
Shame there's no Hilti footage.
For most of that documentary I wanted to stick my finger down my throat.

Enty

In reply to Enty:

they could have been using exisiting anchors.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Possibly. I'd like to know more. I'd love to be proved wrong.

Enty

In reply to Morgan Woods:

I think Enty's point is that the load on the anchors of such a highly tensioned line - it's only "slack" when compared to a "tightwire" - far exceeds the safe working load of most climbing belay systems.

In reply to colina:
That wiki entry claims that he left rope marks on delicate arch, i've had a google but I can't find any pics of these mark, does anyone know if or where there are any?

In reply to gethin_allen:

theres some in the video. Wiki claims he never top roped it. The video has him saying the ropes he used were to the right of the marks. The video and photos shown in the documentary also show him soloing... colour me confused!

My guess it the marks are from someone else toproping it. Dean lead the route onsight, then soloed it after, possibly using the rope to get back down.

Either way I admire him for doing it, why not, its a great line! It's not a sacred line any more than any other bit of pretty looking rock is sacred, because it's iconic and representative of Utah, people think that it's untouchable....they need to be brought down a peg or two me thinks.

In reply to Ian Parsons:

Less obvious the more I think about it; they're a long way apart.

In reply to Silum:


I believe it is sacred to Native Americans

In reply to Silum:




The problem with Potter's ascent of Delicate Arch is that climbing it is banned. Not everyone agreed with the ban but most climbers accepted it in order to maintain access elsewhere. A compromise. Other people had climbed Delicate Arch before Potter, but had been discrete about it. If the Park Service knew about these climbs they turned a blind eye but they couldn't ignore Potter. After Potter's ascent the Park Service banned climbing on all named features in Arches National Park. By climbing and, more importantly, publicising his ascent Potter was directly responsible for the loss of access to a considerable amount of great climbing. That's why he pissed-off many US climbers.

A UK analogy would be Tim Emmett soloing a route at Berry Head for TV during the bird ban and subsequently the RSPB stopping all climbing in the area so no-one could do Moonraker.

In reply to MeMeMe:

It is not available in my area

In reply to colina:

Defo a good watch if not just for the scenery.

mh

In reply to TMM:

Was it Patagonia or a different company that dropped their sponsorship of his wife because of his actions? That seemed rather unfair, to say the least.

In reply to Alan_2468:

Yes they dropped both of them.

In reply to colina:

In reply to colina: I agree with enti about sticking his fingers down his throat, could have been a good documentry without all that hippy phsycobabel.

In reply to colina:

Amazing feats and amazing footage. But the guy was just too 'intense' for me to stomach. But I guess they are two sides of the same coin.

I hope he finds a better way to deal with things/life before he dies trying to exorcise his demons.

In reply to ChrisJD:

>exorcise his demons

I think that was the problem: What demons? It was a really poor documentary and I found it almost impossible to empathise.

In reply to duncan:


Did that happen? What route, Caveman?

In reply to Al Evans:

http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/134828869/daredevils?tab=summary

In reply to PeterM:


Yep - I didn't gel with the guy at all. Which is a shame (as a viewer) as he clearly is an extraordinary man (by definition, because of the things he has done).

In reply to ChrisJD:

One gets the uncomfortable feeling that his constant upping the ante with more and more outrageous stunts can only have one ending.

In reply to Silum:

Presumably you can solo it after having top-roped it. Link below to what seems a decent article about this. Don't know how accurate/balanced it is though.

http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200606/dean-potter-delicate-arch-c...

In reply to Queequeg:


'would be'.... no.

In reply to colina:

Brilliant bit of telly, really enjoyed it. Could have done without the voice over's constant use of 'extreme' and 'adrenaline junkie' type sensationalism. But it was a good insight into Dean Potter and some cracking shots. Had me more gripped watching that than any climbing DVD and I could empathise with him plenty. Very sad going through a break up like that.

In reply to colina: I enjoyed the slack line shots, but he came across as a very mixed up fella. I saw it as a cry for help. He is a superb athlete / artist though.

In reply to catt:


Yes, thinking about it, I did feel for him over the trauma of his break up. The section at the trade fair looked pretty tough to deal with.

In reply to Enty:



Yes I found it strange and riddled with contradiction.

I dont doubt his spiritual tendencies but its clear to see he is keenly tuned to realise his commercial value.

Theres nothing wrong with exploiting your commercial value, I just feel I would have had more respect if he wasnt hitting us with the Yoda thing.

Amazing athlete though, oops I mean artist.

In reply to ChrisJD:

Looked pretty hellish anyway, let alone if you have to pop off to sign your divorce papers halfway through.

In reply to ChrisJD:

>trauma of his break up

He's not in secondary/high school, ffs. Although he did imply a certain immaturity in dealing with people. I got the distinct impression that he'd be doing those things regardless of the break-up. Yes it is a bummer when people split up and that happens to less extraordinary people too.

In reply to jazzyjackson: The documentary succeeded as it focused on the relevant parts of his character and outlook that let him do the line walks. Whatever you think about "spiritualism" it is clear that Dean used this out-look to achieve his goals, so it would have been impossible to avoid discussing this and make a complete program. He leart the focus, breathing control etc. needed through study of "Zen" or whatever bracket you want to use, and I think it is doubtful that anyone would accomplish this kind of feat without a similar outlook-approach.

In reply to niallk:
I'd read that but failed to see that it ran to multiple pages, page two having a close up photo of the marks. The brain's not feeling very agile at the moment.

Thought it was really good apart from the voiceover guy. Couple of strange facts they didnt explain; i thought El Cap was just under 3000 feet, not 3600 as they say in the program. Also When they are making the ascent of El Cap "they find evidence of previous ascents" lol. it then takes Dean one hour to climb and the others 13. Overall i really enjoyed it though and felt somewhat saddened by what he was going through.

In reply to GrahamD:

I thought it ended on a bit of a more hopefull note than that, or I got a more hopefull feeling than that, with him saying that above everything else he had a strong desire to stay alive, and how he was trying to find happiness within himself, away from doing things like high slackline walks. I thought it was good on the whole, and that his spiritual stuff was genuine to him, and that it wasn't really contradicted by him doing the documentary and being paid for it, because he need's to earn a living like everybody else does.

Cheers
Tim

In reply to Timmd:

I was also relieved/heartened by what he was saying at the end

In reply to ChrisJD:

Indeed.

In reply to Sankey:

Yes, it was a good program, i didnt say otherwise. Clearly you need to be tuned to be able to deal with these kinds of feats.

I think he could easily break into acting though.

In reply to keithpeck:

I thought that was funny too, two of the most accoplished El Cap climbers in the world are lollygagging for 13 hours while Dean does it in only an hour? Even when Dean does his crazy aid-solo it takes quite a lot longer than that. They also said it was only like 5 hours from Yosemite to Joshua Tree...im guessing they didn't want to make it seem like a big deal for him to go see his mate because I've never done it anything less than 9 thanks to Cali's lovely traffic.

In reply to ChrisJD:

He should settle down and have kids, that should calm the beast within a bit.

Although he would have to find a woman first!

In reply to Jus:


All that time alone in the woods........

In reply to Ian Parsons:

Definitely started from Long Ledge, which has got to be one of the world's best bivi spots.

In reply to Andy2:

Excellent! Could you definitely identify it? The Salathe was 25 years ago for me, so getting a bit hazy. And where to, do you think? Despite my earlier guess The Mushroom/Shield are miles away, in the context that we are talking about; I subsequently wondered whether it could have been from Chickenhead (or Chieftain, whichever's at the right level) across to a topo-ed ledge on The Muir, at the point whence the free version traverses left into The Shield/Mushroom, but this goes out of the window if you're certain about Long Ledge. I seem to have lost my copy of Don Reid's Big Walls - and Supertopo isn't definitive - so can't check whether there's a convenient ledge at the right level on Bermuda Dunes, which I think carries on up the line that The Salathe breaks out of before Sous le Toit. I think, but am not certain, that Pacemaker finishes up Heart, which may be round the corner from The Salathe. Or the target ledge doesn't have to be on an existing route, as long as it's there!

Pause...

Ok; just checked Charles Cole's El Cap and Half Dome commentary in Climbing # 98, october 1986. There's a pretty good photo/topo that shows BD joining The Salathe at Long Ledge, which rules out that idea. Going right, it has nothing until Fat City on Heart; I don't know whether that contains any ledges, or if there's anything on the more recent Golden Gate finish up the wall to the left. Or if either of these are line-of-sight from Long Ledge. It certainly makes Chickenhead look much too low.

Over to you!

In reply to Ian Parsons: Long Ledge is such a distinctive shape - like a shallow bath - which makes it so comfortable and secure. There were a couple of shots in the Dean Potter programme which showed this.

They had a sort of long-distance photo topo at one point which showed the line of the slackline - it appeared to run from the top of the Salathe headwall (= long ledge) rightwards. I'm afraid I've no knowledge of the routes or terrain further right, but I'd be delighted to go and check some day...

In reply to colina: for all you extreme climbers heading to El Cap check this out !
youtube.com/watch?v=LgE8Pcshn9o&

In reply to colina: check out 1 minute 21 secs f**k !

In reply to Andy2:

Is there a good enough belay on Long Ledge to cope with the stresses of Potter's rig?

Enty

In reply to Enty:


A number of bolts IIRC; didn't inspect them closely.

In reply to colina:

legend

In reply to colina: Sharp end is a fantastic film would recommend it to anyone

In reply to Andy2:

Just wondering. I'm not an engineer but looking at that slack(tight)line you'll need a meaty fixing at each end.

Enty

In reply to colina: The entire episode was very entertaining. Extremely talented that Mr Potter!

In reply to colina:

I just watched it on 4od. Far and away the best prog of the series so far, good stuff, if a little painful seeing how he is suffering the breakup of his marriage. The POV shots at the end were pretty gobsmacking.

In reply to colina: Did anyone else think he sounded like Steven Hawking??

In reply to ethicsgirl: I don't know about that, but Stephen Hawking slacklining would be a sight to behold Maybe he'd need two lines, one for each set of wheels!

In reply to Andy2:

Well spotted! Sounds like we should have spent the night there. As I recall I had summit fever and the bit between my teeth!

In reply to Enty:

There's a red-herring A1 crack leading straight up from about the middle of the ledge to bale-out fixed gear just out of sight, marked "no!" on the current topo - the correct route steps right off the righthand end of the ledge before going up; maybe this could be stuffed with equalized gear to provide the principal anchor, to avoid damaging the existing bolts with a load approaching their actual breaking strain.