More Climbing, and Falling With Dean Potter

A few days back I posted a video of Dean Potter free climbing the Eiger and using a BASE jumping parachute as his safety net. Today we have another video of Dean, this time mixing in a bunch of his passions, including rock climbing, BASE jumping, slack lining, and so on. A word of warning though, there are some amazing shots of Dean climbing, but also some scary drops too. I'm just glad he decided using the 'chute!

Also, after watching this, does anyone else want to know the story between Potter and the cop that takes place part way though? Very interesting! :)

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Dean Potter Free Climbing The Eiger

I caught this video over at Backcountry.com's Goat Blog yesterday and wanted to share it here as well. It's of big wall climber Dean Potter, as he makes an amazing free climb of the Eiger using a BASE jumping chute as his life line in case he falls. Potter has combined two of his major passions, rock climbing and BASE jumping, to ensure that he can get a the challenge of one, while using the other for safety purposes.

Some of the images in this video are simply stunning. Great stuff. I hope you enjoy.

dean potter from cl1 on Vimeo.

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Whoa!

Check out this amazing photo courtesy of the Wend Blog. You see that little black speck? Yep, that's someone going off the top of that mountain. Presumably he or she is wearing a parachute and is doing a little BASE jumping. If not, I don't want to hear about it.

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Shane McConkey Killed in BASE Jumping Accident

There is breaking news tonight, as it is being reported that skier Shane McConkey, age 39, was killed today in a ski-BASE accident in Italy. Ski-Basing is an offshoot of BASE Jumping that has the skier jumping off high cliffs, opening his or her parachute and gliding down to snow below. McConkey was very experienced at the sport, and had been doing it for a number of years.

Shane was in Italy filming an upcoming ski movie, along with his friend J.T. Holmes and a film crew. The plan was to hit a jump, go over a cliff, release both of his skis, and glide to the ground below in a wing suit. Unfortunately, that's not what happened, and he ended up spiraling out of control to the ground below.

You can read a lot more of the details on Shane and what exactly happened, in this article over at The Adventure Life. It's a sad story and my thoughts are with his friends and family. Shane is survived by a wife and three-year old daughter.

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