Comment by musesum | Hacker News Reader

Comment by musesum | Hacker News Reader

“Right now, wingsuit BASE jumping is, globally, the hottest thing going for the impressionable, 18- to 35-year-old single-male demographic.”

I used to do free-climbing. The first time that I climbed with ropes was with friends. It was also their first time with ropes. They didn't know how to tie a knot. The first time I repelled off a cliff was with a gold line with partner feeding from below. The knot slipped. I felt a vibration and hands instinctively grasped. I was 4 stories up and hanging on literally at the end of my rope. I was 22.

I started to look at my body as a resource. Climbing helped to fine tune a sense of balance. Kept the mind sharp. Then read that Chris Langton (an A-Life pioneer) had a hang gliding accident. Started to make risk-reward assessments. Changed sports.

Your first outing with climbing is like someone going out BASE jumping having never used a parachute before, accompanied by people who had also never done anything remotely akin to skydiving, who also didn't have the foresight to even do some research on how to rig or even put on the parachutes. Yes, that's dangerous.

Climbing has some inherent danger, obviously, but with a bit of knowledge and staying within some reasonable safety limits, the likelihood of dying is nowhere near BASE. I think part of that is that, at least amongst the climbing community, the celebrities aren't wholly people pushing the limits with danger. Sure, we have Alex Honnold, but we also have Tommy Caldwell, Chris Sharma, Adam Ondra, Alex Puccio, and so on, climbers who are pushing the limit in difficulty but not really danger. Perhaps that's because "difficulty" and "danger" are not inexorably linked with climbing. You can have a close-bolted route in good rock with modern bolts that's not particularly dangerous that's still really, really hard. La Dura Dura is the hardest sport climb in the world. I probably wouldn't kill myself on it, even if it's way above my pay grade (assuming I could even reach the first bolt). I don't know that you can do the same with BASE.

Exactly. Trust someone that has survived their 20's. I now ask "So, how many times have you done this?"

I really admire the focus and patience. Back in the 70's, my inspiration was Royal Robins. I like the idea of leaving no trace on the rock. Not sure what modern bolts are like.

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