UKC

Steph Davis is one of America's most famous female climbers. With her free ascent of El Capitan, her sandstone crack climbs in Utah and more recently her BASE jumping exploits, she has been at the forefront of the sport for quite some years now.

For this week's Friday Night Video we see a portrait of her.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67194

In reply to UKC News: That's the best vid for a ages

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant video- So inspiring. Takes climbing back to its roots for me. The idea of fun!

In reply to UKC News:

Very nice, wonder how she'd get on with Yorkshire Gritstone ?

In reply to Roy: She might have a hard ! time base jumping off it

In reply to silo:

^^ What he said +1. One of the best climbing videos I've seen

In reply to UKC News:My desert area.... Great Video...sure beats those lie down start stuff.However the actual town of Moab is way way too busy for me.

In reply to UKC News: Thanks for posting that. Enjoyed it a lot.

In reply to USBRIT: Are you joking on the Moab being busy, I found it to be a small town with big scenery?

In reply to UKC News:

call me cynical but looks more like mid-life crisis than anything.....

base jumping is the post-recession equivalent of a Porsche and a 21 year old girlfriend, assuming u have mountains of dosh and no kids.

In reply to s0458892: I wouldn't call you cynical there must be a better word for a person who judges somebody from a 25 minute video.

In reply to UKC News:

Wow. One of the best climbing videos of all time. So insightful about the big picture of life and climbing.

In reply to ericinbristol:

I thought the most insightful bit was when she just happen to mention "... a book I'm writing... "

Nicely filmed and put together though.

In reply to UKC News: That was a great film - steph Davis is a remarkable person - met her in Kendal a few years back and she came across as very humble and just pursuing a life driven by her own curiosity of what's possible?

In reply to jon:

Which is great news. It has the potential to be an all-time classic book of climbing literature. It also helps to explain why her thoughts show evidence of deep reflection and precision of expression.

In reply to UKC News:

Great video. I always heard a lot about Steph Davis, but never had an idea of what she might actually be like. The film certainly helps to portray her personality and life really well. She seems down-to-earth. It's refreshing seeing a climbing film where people are expressing themselves on a more emotional/personal level instead of something that just portrays the act of climbing/BASE.

I think it's the life stories, experiences and feelings of climbers, the behind-the-scenes, that really make climbing an engaging and artistic pursuit. It would be awesome to see more 'portrait' style films like this for other climbers (or any athlete) in the future as well. Really cool stuff.

In reply to ericinbristol:

Indeed. If she's as honest and open in her book as she is in the film, it's going to kick ass!

In reply to UKC News:

She has a blog which is probably well worth checking out.
http://www.highinfatuation.com/blog/

She had a book published in 2007 Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity'. Don't know if she is writing another.

In reply to UKC News: inspiring deffo worth watching

In reply to Lukeva:Its a smallish town but at times chock full of Jeeps ,bikers, tourists,posers and is one of the main trucking routes south to Arizona.Six weeks ago I was on the Slick Rock Mt Bike trail just outside of town and counted up to 50 jeeps in a single line...Maybe you live in a city and I guess by comparison its small and quiet. It is fairly quiet in summer as its way too hot.However the desert and climbing areas out of and around the town of Moab are really fantastic.

In reply to USBRIT:

Precisely. Moab is a sort of American version of Aviemore: a charmless but convenient dump giving access to fantastic surrounding areas.

In reply to UKC News: to do all that soloing takes serious balls and stephs got plenty or maybe not..

Enjoyed that vid, inspiring stuff and some amazing rock scenery especially Natural Art or whatever it was called.

On the last tower which she 'free soloed' hauling her BASE gear behind her, I was intrigued how that worked. At each 'belay' stance she seemed to have clipped the haul bag to the anchors on the stance (which sounds wise to me - she presumably wouldn't want the bag to suddenly roll off into space and drag her off). But I wondered how she would then release the bag from the anchor to haul up to the next stance? Does anyone have an insight?

I also wondered about the climbing gear which she climbed using orthodox methods - does it just get chucked off the top of the towers to land in a heap in the sand below or does that get its own wee parachute?

In reply to Jack Frost: I'd assume a fifi hook.

In reply to Franco Cookson:Remember many many helpers and film crew right next to her...Fifi hooking is not very reliable. Still an very impressive climbing and base jumping film

In reply to UKC News:

Four towers making a perfect circle?

The film did not appeal to me.