Alexander Polli, brought down.
August 23, 2016 9:57 PM   Subscribe

"In the long-run, this can't end well." Previously on Metafilter: A sadness for those who lived not too wisely, but too well.
posted by The otter lady (10 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by pt68 at 10:21 PM on August 23, 2016



1) Wow.

2) In the long-run, this can't end well.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:36 PM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite +] [!]


Well, shit.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:42 PM on August 23, 2016


Previously on MetaFilter -- the deaths of Dean Potter and Graham Hunt. (Also, a flight by Jeb Corliss, who is mercifully still alive.)

I'm one of those people who gets angry at base jumpers. But we all get to decide for ourselves how we should spend our lives and what risks are worth it. In the Potter / Hunt thread, some of the links show Potter thoughtfully discussing the risks he took (for example, the three comments starting here).

Polli definitely had a lot of positivity and joy. RIP.
posted by salvia at 12:19 AM on August 24, 2016


The dual Italian-Norwegian national crashed into a tree shortly after 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) on Monday while jumping in the Couloir Ensa near Chamonix...

Eeesh. I know that area well; been to Chamonix and surrounds often. Think very narrow, rocky valleys with scraggly trees. And friggin' huge mountains, obviously. In North America we tend to see mountains as independent entities because that's what our geology gave us; the Alps are an entirely different beast. Peaks and valleys all jumbled together.

It's beautiful to watch the different sorts of jumpers there, their bright colors dotting the grey-green alpine crags. A lot of preparation goes into it.

31. So young.

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posted by fraula at 1:47 AM on August 24, 2016


MOST guys would risk death for athletic achievement, if their sport called for it. I'd risk death to become a scratch golfer -- probably not BASE jumping odds of death, but somewhere north of biking to work in Manhattan day odds of death.
posted by MattD at 5:00 AM on August 24, 2016


MOST guys would risk death for athletic achievement...

By this definition of risk, anyone who commutes by car is risking for occupational achievement.

This is different. It's a daring I can't really make sense of. But certainly our world is more colorful because of this activity, deathly tho it be.

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posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 6:17 AM on August 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


I wouldn't risk death for any kind of achievement, myself. I only drive a car because I live in the United States and can't afford to not own one. I do not understand at all the appeal. I don't like going on amusement park rides because all I can think about the whole time is who did the last round of maintenance and whether they really checked every bolt as carefully as possible.

It's sad that this person died, and I wouldn't have wanted to stop him from doing what he wanted with his life, but part of the sadness of it, to me, is overspill from perplexity as to why anyone would even do something like this in the first place.
posted by Scattercat at 6:45 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Every last one of us is going to die some day. Very very few of us are going to fly with no wings but our own, and no mechanical aids beyond some well-engineered clothing.

I would not have chosen to take the risks that Polli and Corliss and Hunt and Potter did, but I can't fault them for doing it. Maybe wingsuit flying is not useful, but it is joyful, and amazing, and pushes the boundaries of human experience. I think that should be enough.

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posted by hackwolf at 10:38 AM on August 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


The vast majority fear death. But there are some who fear a life not lived.
posted by notreally at 7:11 PM on August 24, 2016


MOST guys would risk death for athletic achievement, if their sport called for it

lol yeah in their fondest safest masturbatory dreams they would. meanwhile on the front page there's Bethany Hamilton just waving her leftover arm around on her surfboard daring a shark to come eat that one too. nobody has yet commented to say that well duh obviously she does, MOST women have no fear of death or sharks. funny!

but that eagerness to elbow in on other people's idiot glory as long as they're the same sex can be a man thing, if something has to be, I guess
posted by queenofbithynia at 12:07 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


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