"You're just like, 'What am I doing?'"
January 27, 2012 7:22 AM Subscribe
That is so much cooler than what I'm doing right now. Damn it!
posted by heyho at 7:27 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by heyho at 7:27 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm not too worried about the equipment - they use standard climbing gear (Although they really should have used two anchor points instead of one). I AM worried about the swinging jump between jagged rocky faces.
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:28 AM on January 27, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:28 AM on January 27, 2012 [5 favorites]
I AM worried about the swinging jump between jagged rocky faces.
This.
posted by Fizz at 7:28 AM on January 27, 2012
This.
posted by Fizz at 7:28 AM on January 27, 2012
"There's a Mr. Darwin on Line 2 for you."
posted by fijiwriter at 7:30 AM on January 27, 2012 [11 favorites]
posted by fijiwriter at 7:30 AM on January 27, 2012 [11 favorites]
The first comment on the video pretty much sums it up.
posted by DU at 7:31 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by DU at 7:31 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Wow that's stupid.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:35 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:35 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
I AM worried about the swinging jump between jagged rocky faces.
No kidding. I would also worry slightly about the chain of caribiners around the square post -- they are incredibly strong in a straight pull, but not so much if levered across a 90 degree sharp corner. Some logging chain would worry me a lot less.
posted by Forktine at 7:36 AM on January 27, 2012 [4 favorites]
They should have done this on the Williamsburg bridge.
posted by carter at 7:45 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by carter at 7:45 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
...eponysterical?
posted by obscurator at 7:46 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by obscurator at 7:46 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
That is so much cooler than what I'm doing right now. Damn it!
I'm writing this on my smart phone while base jumping off a OOOF.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:49 AM on January 27, 2012
I'm writing this on my smart phone while base jumping off a OOOF.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:49 AM on January 27, 2012
I am going to start a Google news alert for "Mike Wilson" and "Death."
posted by zzazazz at 7:50 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by zzazazz at 7:50 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Gotta agree with the Youtube commenters here, terrible as that sounds. That is a shitty, shitty anchor and he's amazingly lucky it didn't snap. At 1:41 you can see he's got aluminum carabiners locked together at a right angle over the corner of an iron post. This is horrible practice. Carabiners are not designed for strength again bending and twisting forces, especially when you concentrate the force on a sharp angle. Those quickdraws are the absolute wrong piece to use here.
If he keeps this up, spending about five seconds setting up a single anchor for a jump, he will die. If he's lucky. If he's unlucky he breaks his spine in half and spends the rest of his life in a group home eating from a G-tube.
posted by echo target at 7:53 AM on January 27, 2012 [10 favorites]
If he keeps this up, spending about five seconds setting up a single anchor for a jump, he will die. If he's lucky. If he's unlucky he breaks his spine in half and spends the rest of his life in a group home eating from a G-tube.
posted by echo target at 7:53 AM on January 27, 2012 [10 favorites]
Retire your rope immediately if it suffers a fall that approaches factor 2 (a fall that is twice the distance as the amount of rope run out from the belay)!
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:53 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:53 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
Splat.
posted by scottatdrake at 7:54 AM on January 27, 2012
posted by scottatdrake at 7:54 AM on January 27, 2012
It's all fun and games until your bungee cord snaps and you fall 365 feet into a crocodile-infested river, black out on impact, then have to swim to shore through the rapids with a broken collarbone and your feet still tied together.
posted by argonauta at 7:56 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by argonauta at 7:56 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
> t's all fun and games until your bungee cord snaps and you fall 365 feet into a crocodile-infested river
Here's the video for that story.
And another...
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:11 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Here's the video for that story.
And another...
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:11 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Am I right in assuming that the majority of people doing this sort of thing (ie BASE jumping, wingsuits, etc.) are trust fund kids? Who else has the money and time to spend?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 8:17 AM on January 27, 2012
posted by sevenyearlurk at 8:17 AM on January 27, 2012
That implies there was any calculation at all, Burnhanistan.
posted by bonehead at 8:18 AM on January 27, 2012
posted by bonehead at 8:18 AM on January 27, 2012
Am I right in assuming that the majority of people doing this sort of thing (ie BASE jumping, wingsuits, etc.) are trust fund kids? Who else has the money and time to spend?
In my experience, no they're not. But they do spend all of their money and free time on this stuff and usually have related jobs.
posted by atrazine at 8:20 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
In my experience, no they're not. But they do spend all of their money and free time on this stuff and usually have related jobs.
posted by atrazine at 8:20 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Am I right in assuming that the majority of people doing this sort of thing (ie BASE jumping, wingsuits, etc.) are trust fund kids? Who else has the money and time to spend?
I've know a few climbers and similar types over the years and they all came from modest / ordinary backgrounds and had jobs / students (one was unemployed). They probably didn't spend all their free time doing it either especially during winter (but it was always their main hobby)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:39 AM on January 27, 2012
I've know a few climbers and similar types over the years and they all came from modest / ordinary backgrounds and had jobs / students (one was unemployed). They probably didn't spend all their free time doing it either especially during winter (but it was always their main hobby)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:39 AM on January 27, 2012
I was worried he'd get the rope tangled around his neck. Glad he pulled it off.
posted by etherist at 8:59 AM on January 27, 2012
posted by etherist at 8:59 AM on January 27, 2012
Wonderful!
Next up, these guys will star in the next article, where we make frowny faces at them for being Darwin Award winners.
posted by clvrmnky at 9:06 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Next up, these guys will star in the next article, where we make frowny faces at them for being Darwin Award winners.
posted by clvrmnky at 9:06 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Watching this, I feel the same kind of resentment I feel towards those kids in my neighbourhood who don't wear a proper coat in the winter. I mean, where do they get off, right??
posted by beau jackson at 9:22 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by beau jackson at 9:22 AM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Wow, that guy clearly has no idea how to rig anything safely. He's really lucky not to be dead or maimed. Someone posted a video of the same guy yesterday rigging something in California (can't find it now) but it looked like the most contrived, scariest system I had ever seen and from the video of him setting it it was clear he had no business doing what he was doing. Won't be surprised when he dies, whoever he is.
posted by alpinist at 9:51 AM on January 27, 2012
posted by alpinist at 9:51 AM on January 27, 2012
It's all fun and games until your bungee cord snaps and you fall 365 feet into a crocodile-infested river...
The crocs obviously declined the free meal as they could see there were strings attached.
posted by wannalol at 9:55 AM on January 27, 2012 [3 favorites]
The crocs obviously declined the free meal as they could see there were strings attached.
posted by wannalol at 9:55 AM on January 27, 2012 [3 favorites]
I should have been tipped off by seeing the video was about a man who "gets rad." I don't hope he dies, but I hope that when he does it's well publicized.
See, the thing about bungee jumping to a higher degree than any of these extreme "sports" is that if you do get killed or hurt, you've done so in just about the dumbest way possible. "How'd you break your collarbone, there?"
"I was getting rad and I jumped off a bridge with."
posted by cmoj at 10:06 AM on January 27, 2012
See, the thing about bungee jumping to a higher degree than any of these extreme "sports" is that if you do get killed or hurt, you've done so in just about the dumbest way possible. "How'd you break your collarbone, there?"
"I was getting rad and I jumped off a bridge with."
posted by cmoj at 10:06 AM on January 27, 2012
Anyone want to confirm/deny if they're using a normal climbing rope for this? Further, my understanding is that falls like this (even one and not even this extreme) basically render such a rope unsafe for further use.
So he's flirting with disaster about 400 different ways instead of just 399 I guess? No big whoop.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:16 AM on January 27, 2012
So he's flirting with disaster about 400 different ways instead of just 399 I guess? No big whoop.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:16 AM on January 27, 2012
Yeah, this is moronic. On the other hand, it also looks like exactly the sort of thing 12-year-olds get up to, on a smaller scale. "Look, mom and dad! Up here!" (Just before jumping into a hay pile.)
posted by maxwelton at 11:01 AM on January 27, 2012
posted by maxwelton at 11:01 AM on January 27, 2012
RolandOfEld, he's taking a factor 1 fall, which won't kill a rope, but it certainly isn't something you want to do repeatedly.
I'd like to see the anchor they're using. All I could see from the video was two or three quickdraws daisychained around a pole. Hopefully that's not all they were using. Right? Right?
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:58 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
I'd like to see the anchor they're using. All I could see from the video was two or three quickdraws daisychained around a pole. Hopefully that's not all they were using. Right? Right?
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:58 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]
Further, my understanding is that falls like this (even one and not even this extreme) basically render such a rope unsafe for further use.
Climbing friends I used to know who would do similar stuff to this would use a rope that was a) going to be retired b) had not already had any serious falls on it
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:14 PM on January 27, 2012
Climbing friends I used to know who would do similar stuff to this would use a rope that was a) going to be retired b) had not already had any serious falls on it
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:14 PM on January 27, 2012
Is it this Mike Wilson?
If so, it seems as if he has quite a bit of experience at what he's doing.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:17 PM on January 27, 2012
If so, it seems as if he has quite a bit of experience at what he's doing.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:17 PM on January 27, 2012
the Human Slingshot
There's stupidity here, too. Look at the guy who's launching a basketball or other large ball at one of the participants' as they speed through the recoil. Something like that, intersecting with someone going at speed, can be unbelievably dangerous. I hope this guy and his friends (who, obviously, think he can do no wrong) don't get hurt.
This is one more proof (outside the lab) showing that those portions of the neocortex that are responsible for calculating forward consequences form one's actions don't fully develop in some people until the mid 20's.
posted by Vibrissae at 12:28 PM on January 27, 2012
I imagine the kids in your neighbourhood never ruined the lives of their families nor incurred millions of dollars in medical bills they couldn't pay by not wearing their winter coats.
You imagine correctly. My comment was mainly about myself and the absurd way I find myself resenting people who "get" to do irresponsible things. I'd say I even envy these guys- "Why do they have the right to do something to fun and so incredibly stupid?".
Of course it's not a matter of "having the right". I could also choose to do-it-myself bungee jump, but there's no way in hell I would.
I'm just getting to know my inner crank.
posted by beau jackson at 12:37 PM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
You imagine correctly. My comment was mainly about myself and the absurd way I find myself resenting people who "get" to do irresponsible things. I'd say I even envy these guys- "Why do they have the right to do something to fun and so incredibly stupid?".
Of course it's not a matter of "having the right". I could also choose to do-it-myself bungee jump, but there's no way in hell I would.
I'm just getting to know my inner crank.
posted by beau jackson at 12:37 PM on January 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Am I right in assuming that the majority of people doing this sort of thing (ie BASE jumping, wingsuits, etc.) are trust fund kids? Who else has the money and time to spend?
Wow, you're really reaching. You should probably seek help for that projection before you sprain something with it.
posted by rodgerd at 1:08 PM on January 27, 2012
Wow, you're really reaching. You should probably seek help for that projection before you sprain something with it.
posted by rodgerd at 1:08 PM on January 27, 2012
There's stupidity here, too. Look at the guy who's launching a basketball or other large ball at one of the participants' as they speed through the recoil. Something like that, intersecting with someone going at speed, can be unbelievably dangerous. I hope this guy and his friends (who, obviously, think he can do no wrong) don't get hurt.
Those look like soft rubber kickball-type balls. Definitely not unbelievably dangerous.
Good god, there's such sourpussery in this thread. Okay, unsafe climbing anchors, yeah, that's a no no. but the "my god how could anybody have fun that is so irresponsible" tongue-clucking is going a bit overboard!
posted by entropone at 2:17 PM on January 27, 2012
Those look like soft rubber kickball-type balls. Definitely not unbelievably dangerous.
Good god, there's such sourpussery in this thread. Okay, unsafe climbing anchors, yeah, that's a no no. but the "my god how could anybody have fun that is so irresponsible" tongue-clucking is going a bit overboard!
posted by entropone at 2:17 PM on January 27, 2012
I feel the same kind of resentment I feel towards those kids in my neighbourhood who don't wear a proper coat in the winter.
It's important to always wear a warm coat when DIY bungee jumping in winter, like these Russian kids.
posted by homunculus at 2:56 PM on January 27, 2012
It's important to always wear a warm coat when DIY bungee jumping in winter, like these Russian kids.
posted by homunculus at 2:56 PM on January 27, 2012
Good god, there's such sourpussery in this thread. Okay, unsafe climbing anchors, yeah, that's a no no. but the "my god how could anybody have fun that is so irresponsible" tongue-clucking is going a bit overboard!
Yeah, this is criminally irresponsible. Dipsticks even dumber than this moron will see this, and imitate this idiotic "let's break every single rule of responsible rigging " method. Hopefully this video will come to the attention of the bridge authority, and he'll be charged with criminal trespass.
He probably learned his rigging from the Captain of the Costa Concordia. He's a clueless, irresponsible, asshole.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:28 PM on January 27, 2012
Yeah, this is criminally irresponsible. Dipsticks even dumber than this moron will see this, and imitate this idiotic "let's break every single rule of responsible rigging " method. Hopefully this video will come to the attention of the bridge authority, and he'll be charged with criminal trespass.
He probably learned his rigging from the Captain of the Costa Concordia. He's a clueless, irresponsible, asshole.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:28 PM on January 27, 2012
If so, it seems as if he has quite a bit of experience at what he's doing.
Being a hot shot movie in bounds resort skier does not equate to knowing how to safely rig anything. At all. I'm all about taking risks, just not being a complete dumbass about it.
posted by alpinist at 6:19 PM on January 27, 2012
Being a hot shot movie in bounds resort skier does not equate to knowing how to safely rig anything. At all. I'm all about taking risks, just not being a complete dumbass about it.
posted by alpinist at 6:19 PM on January 27, 2012
"it seems as if he has quite a bit of experience at what he's doing."
Apparently so.
"Dan Osman is that Osman died because he took a stupid risk - jumping again weeks after first setting up his equipment and performing his jump."
According to the man that performed the analysis: "Dan's rope was cut by his own rope sliding against itself". In other words, rigging. Nothing to do with the weathering or condition of the rope.
Since he was the foremost practitioner of this art, it doesn't make sense to call it stupid unless you intend to disparage the entire endeavour. Even the best can miscalculate. (Warning: Video depicts serious injury)
posted by Manjusri at 7:01 PM on January 27, 2012
Apparently so.
"Dan Osman is that Osman died because he took a stupid risk - jumping again weeks after first setting up his equipment and performing his jump."
According to the man that performed the analysis: "Dan's rope was cut by his own rope sliding against itself". In other words, rigging. Nothing to do with the weathering or condition of the rope.
Since he was the foremost practitioner of this art, it doesn't make sense to call it stupid unless you intend to disparage the entire endeavour. Even the best can miscalculate. (Warning: Video depicts serious injury)
posted by Manjusri at 7:01 PM on January 27, 2012
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posted by defenestration at 7:24 AM on January 27, 2012 [2 favorites]