#BASE JUMPING LINE TWIST MOVIE#
#BASE JUMPING LINE TWIST FREE#

He would say, “anyone can do it, let’s party”! Have you kept in touch with Chongo? He didn’t want to be the only one standing on it getting all the attention. Chongo was the first person I know who wanted to give away the techniques of slack-lining. Part of the reason slack-lining took off was because of Chongo. Slack-liners walk on webbing or spectra, and tight-rope walkers walk on high tension cable. Slack-lining started in the late 70s / early 80s where climbers started walking on webbing - which is the main distinction between slack-lining and tight-rope walking.

#BASE JUMPING LINE TWIST FREE#

ĭean free soloing A Dog’s Roof (5.12b), Yosemite What’s the history behind slack-lining? It’s made out of Spectra, has a breaking strength of 20 000 lbs, and doesn’t stretch at all. These days I use a single piece of 3/4″ Amsteel Blue, which is used for sailing. It’s also not a bad idea to tape a climbing rope to the underside, which isn’t under tension. I’d use three pieces taped together, with each piece on a separate anchor. I’ll fall and people will say “cool trick dude,” but it’s not on purpose, it just kind of happens. Yeah I don’t know how it happens, but it’s like a special move I have.

#BASE JUMPING LINE TWIST MOVIE#

In your Aerialist movie there’s a scene where you fall, spin around, and end up sitting back on top of the line. I practice it a ton, and that’s the only reason why I can go out there leashless. I don’t grab it with my hands though, I grab it first with the back of my leg and then my hands. It’s quite scary being out there unattached, but I feel quite confident that I can grab the line if I fall. The slack-line is the biggest jug ever for a climber. If he falls he’s going to grab onto that line, and there’s no way he’s letting go.” Regarding your tetherless high-lining, Chongo once said, “Dean’s a big strong guy. Yeah, I had a chute malfunction while BASE jumping in the Cave of Swallows, but was able to grab onto a rope to prevent hitting the ground.ĭean high-lining at Taft Point in Yosemite. Lodi California, it’s the cheapest drop zone in the country. It’s way social, way fun, and they accept everybody no matter how weird you are. Now Steph and I schedule little vacations just to go skydiving. I never thought I’d enjoy skydiving that much, but I found that I quite enjoy hanging out in a plane with a bunch of weirdos.

I still skydive a lot in order to keep my skills up, and to keep the BASE jumping safe. I jumped out of planes hundreds of times before I did my first BASE. I learned skydiving with the intention of BASE jumping.

“You go to places like Chamonix or the Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, where Base jumping is legal and very popular,” says climber Cedar Wright, “and there are fewer fatalities per Base jumper.”ĭean will be missed - by those who he inspired through his amazing talent and feats, and those who were lucky enough to partake in them with him.]ĭean on a wingsuit fly-by for Telluride Mountain Film Festival. Some friends and fellow BASE jumpers attribute the additional risk of jumping in poor visibility to avoid detection as a factor in their death. Dean was very current in the valley as well.”īASE jumping is illegal in US National Parks. Graham was hyper current and had just returned from a trip opening many exit points in Moab including wingsuiting dragons nest. In the best case scenario, this is still an extremely challenging flight. It is impossible to know if Dean was burbled, or was just very low in the notch already. Its unclear if graham made the turn intentionally, because he thought he could not clear the upper ridge, to set himself up for a line through the notch, or because of some unknown weather condition. Dean made it through the lower portion of the notch to the downhill side, but likely impacted a tree. He passed in front of dean and slid into the right side of the notch where he impacted. Graham made a sudden hard right towards the notch for unknown reasons. Graham passed dean early in the flight and was setting up on the left side. Dean exited first with Graham a second or two later. Dean had flown through it twice previously, Graham several more than that.”ĭean’s girlfriend was on exit taking photos. If you look at the notch from exit, it looks absolutely impossible, and we used to joke that we would know wingsuits are ridiculous when we can fly over that. If you have a perfect exit and perfect glide, you will pass over the ridge at around 200ft. This location is not particularly small, but does require an exit and flight that very few people in the world are capable of. “Coming from a jumper who was closest to both jumpers in this double fatality…they chose to fly a line through what had been nicknamed ‘the notch’. [Update: On May 16th, 2015, Dean Potter and Graham Hunt died in a wingsuit flying accident at Taft Point in Yosemite National Park.

Base jumping line twist