"I have no memory of what happened then"

October 27, 2016 8:19 PM

Vlogger Casey Neistat talks about the difference between risk and recklessness and The Day I Almost Died
posted by the man of twists and turns (14 comments total)

I think when your video includes, "We were two hours past our turn around time and we still hadn't reached the summit, we didn't come half way around the world to turn back." you have clearly, clearly gone into recklessness.

"I Amost Died"? Eh. It's a tall mountain and all, but a whole lot of us who play outdoors have come much, much closer to actually dying.
posted by ITravelMontana at 8:40 PM on October 27, 2016

Guys are extremely lucky. Attempting what they accomplished with as little planning as they did is, indeed, IMHO, extremely reckless. I enjoyed watching the video, though. And, of course, I'm very happy for them that they made it back unharmed.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 8:40 PM on October 27, 2016

My fave video
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 9:25 PM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I really appreciate that this gives me language to respond to the guys who, when I tell them that I hike alone weekly, act super concerned and tell me that I shouldn't do that; I should go with someone else (i.e., a chaperone because being a woman alone in the world is just TOO RISKY). Yeah, it's risky being a woman who leaves the house most days, but measured risk is involved in tons of rewarding life experiences. Also there's a difference between hiking alone on well-trafficked public trails (risk, I guess) and summiting the tallest climbable peak in the world without GPS and not obeying turnaround times (recklessness). Also, fuck benevolent sexism.
posted by quiet coyote at 10:14 PM on October 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

I had been following Neistat for a long time until somewhere into Vlog #100 when it got too repetitive and his personality/channel content started to rub me the wrong way and I unsubbed and blocked him (to avoid seeing him in suggestions).
He has always been about overstepping boundaries, be it personal limits of exhaustion (like this example, or ) or disregarding regulations (Filming with Drones in NYC, setting up a bikestand in front of his office etc).

He is generally reckless and treats every piece of gear he owns like shit (even his car), which is fine if you have as much money as he does, but still irresponsible. To me he is a big rich kid, doing whatever the fuck he wants.

I admire his work ethic (he practically never sleeps) and the way he carved his own niche and created a style of video making that is copied by every other youtuber out there. His advice always boils down to work hard, follow your dreams, don't care what others think, etc which is motivating but also kind not that helpful.

If you only started following him during his Vlog phase go back 2+ years and check out his earlier stuff. It is widly superior in my opinion. Office Tour, Make It Count, NYC Soda Ban, Truth behind Calories.
posted by Megustalations at 12:27 AM on October 28, 2016 [7 favorites]

This really is an undertaking. A serious climb. To approach it with no conditioning, no planning, just seat of the pants "Oh boy, we'll have fun!" goes beyond reckless and into stupid. You get up into air that thin and you begin to make bad decisions, because your brain is compromised, which is why it's A Good Thing to hold to what you'd decided at a lower altitude, in a sane state of mind.

All it would have taken is a storm, and not even a bad one, and you've got two bodies on that mountain. And it wouldn't have needed a storm; had his climbing partner broken a leg when he took that spill, or cracked his skull hard -- Game Over.

I admire the hell out of mountaineers, serious climbers. This guy is neither of those. Still, he did do it, and pushed on through, which is cool. But I can't imagine any serious mountaineers climbing with him, and I sure wouldn't -- what I've read, those ppl I admire, the name of their game is getting off the mountain alive; ego-less climbing.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:53 AM on October 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Well, yeah, that's what he says in the video. He says it was a very reckless thing to do and it could've ended very badly and almost did.
posted by I-baLL at 7:18 AM on October 28, 2016

All it would have taken is a storm, and not even a bad one, and you've got two bodies on that mountain.

Possibly more. There are professionals who would have gone looking for them. There are also possibly amateurs or volunteers who would have gone looking for them. The limits are not just there for you, they are there to diminish the risk to those who have to rescue or return your dumb ass, alive or dead.

Privilege indeed.
posted by aureliobuendia at 7:50 AM on October 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

ITravelMontana: ""I Amost Died"? Eh. It's a tall mountain and all, but a whole lot of us who play outdoors have come much, much closer to actually dying."

This is pretty fukken jaded!
posted by boo_radley at 9:21 AM on October 28, 2016

"We are at 16,700 ft... you can see the curvature of the earth."

No you can't, that's apoxia talking.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:36 PM on October 28, 2016

What a horrible mix of toxic masculinity, privilege and outright stupidity. The apoxia is just what makes it seem so darn funny to them.

Always always always follow the plan. You don't know any better at altitude. And if you don't have a plan and you don't respect the mountain (we were guys that needed a bigger challenge?!? WT actual F), then you don't belong up there.

How do I know? I'm a widow because my husband didn't follow the plan and went full tough guy "I'm gonna bag another while I'm up here."
posted by susiswimmer at 4:35 PM on October 28, 2016 [7 favorites]

And for his next trick...
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:14 PM on October 28, 2016

"We are at 16,700 ft... you can see the curvature of the earth."

No you can't, that's apoxia talking.

It really does seem a little curved from up high. (I used to spend a lot of time atop a fourteener.)
posted by mochapickle at 9:22 PM on October 28, 2016

I would have thought MeFi would have had a bigger take on Neistat. I only came across him a month or so ago but he's been a good postcard-sized videostream in the corner of the work day. YouTube had been for a great long time been suggesting guys trolling police checkpoints and walking downtown with guns so Neistat was a breath of fresh air.

I haven't subscribed: YouTube constantly suggests videos often in meaningful but not necessarily contiguous blocks. The video mentioned in historical reference in a given video will be available in the queue. Why subscribe when you can random walk?

The viewership on his videos is phenomenal. I was like Wow when I saw that pop megastar Beck's videos ran about as many views -- 2.3 million -- as Neistat pulls down daiily.

His video quality is on fleek. His use of drones is judicious (but yeah, kinda reckless). The shows are episodic and weirdly consistent across months. The editing is occasionally twee but tight. He travels quite a lot and puts together a great video postcard.

There's no argument he's not everyone's cuppa. He seems like the sort of dude you'd want to have about the average exposure most of his irregulars seem to. Maybe if he wasn't hermited up with his video production he'd be insufferable or something.

I wish for a greater soundtrack variety but its a signature thing.

His various philosophies are kind of indulgent, shallow and non-scaling but, damn, they are the occasional motivational background noise I need in my work/lack-of-work dystopia.

Nice to see someone enjoy what they do and how they are living.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:37 AM on October 30, 2016