Dean Potter “Free Bases” Switzerland’s Eiger

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 in: Current Events

When I go slacklining, it drums up a lot of curiosity from the locals. Some people ask if I mountain climb. In order to avoid confusion and a lengthy explanation, I generally just say “yes,” although I don’t consider myself much of a mountain climber. I’ll also explain that slacklining came from mountain climbing, and mountain climbers will slackline between cliffs hundreds or thousands of feet off the ground.

“Do you use a safety line?”

“Well, I would. That high off the ground, it’s not just a matter of skill or balance anymore. A sudden gust of wind is all it takes to knock you off. 50 feet or 500 feet, you aren’t walking away from that fall. You’d have to be pretty nuts to go it without any safety equipment.”

Dean Potter is pretty nuts.

This is Potter slacklining in Utah’s Arches National Park, sans lifeline. He’s one of the climbers out there pushing the envelope of adrenaline junkies, doing a lot of dangerous stuff without safety equipment. His latest stunt was to climb Switzerland’s 13,000 Eiger and then base jump from the top. Normal parachutes are too heavy to climb with, so Potter designed his own special parachute weighing only 6 pounds. This sort of counts as safety equipment; if he falls or can’t proceed he could use the chute to get to safety, but there are places on the climb where mistakes would be deadly.

This was a practice run on a smaller cliff. Potter successfully completed his “Free Base” of the Eiger (they should reconsider that name), and is preparing for a European tour detailing his adventures. The tour has been temporarily canceled due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland which has grounded flights and made travel difficult in Europe; he’s rescheduling for later this year.

via Dailymail.co.uk

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