Posts Tagged ‘eiger’
Swiss climber Ueli Steck trekking up the Eiger mountain at a record pace of 2:47:33
UPDATE: Swiss alpinist Dani Arnold has set a new speed record on the north face of the Eiger. http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/swiss_climber_breaks_eiger_speed_record/ but there may be some controversy (see comments)
Breath, life, vitality of the spirit.
Dean Is Featured In The September 2010 Issue of Playboy Magazine (article people, article)
You can vote for Dean in National Geographic Adventurer’s 1st Readers Choice Award at http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/best-of-adventure/readers-choice-award
Dean Potter will be featured as part of the World of Adventure Sports Series on NBC this Sunday November 8th at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT.
The episode will cover Potter’s first “FreeBASE” ascent of the North Face of the Eiger. Potter, a leading climber, attempts the first solo ascent of a 5.12d on the Eiger, carrying a BASE-jumping rig on his back in case of a fall.
Potter was also the first person to free climb up El Capitan’s The Nose and Half Dome in a day, and has climbed major routes in Patagonia.
Please check local listings for broadcast schedule. Show times are subject to change.
For more information, photos and video clips from past episodes please visitwww.WorldofAdventureSports.com
Cross Posted from Rock and Ice
Note from Dean, after his record 2min20sec flight time off of the Eiger. We’ll post footage of the jump when it’s finalized, but for now, a teaser from the edge…
“just shot a record jump with pete yesterday off the eiger.
the helicopter pilot has been around BASE for a decade or more and said
he’d never seen flying like that before. he called me ‘the eagle’
afterwards. the skill level of the pilots here is unbelievable. he had
so much control and actually flew ‘air to air’ with me about 100 feet
off my wing. i could feel the reverberation of the blade thudding
through my body.
a friend here ‘went in’ a few days ago flying his wingsuit through a
notch. he missed calculated by about 5 feet and impacted with no
parachute out. grim. i’ve lost 6 bros this year, so far. it makes me
see that i am not invincible. i’m still drawn towards the ultimate
though and making sure to do everything in my power to be safe and aware
of every detail.
hope things are well with you. i’ll be back soon. say hello to all.
ciao. dean”
Dean Potter on The Eiger
On August 6, prAna sponsored athlete Dean Potter free-soloed the gently overhanging limestone route wearing a five pound BASE jumping rig on his back. He traversed into the climb along a natural ledge that comes off the northwest arête of The Eiger and soloed the final 600 foot headwall with 5.12+ crux moves at the top of the formation. Dean opted to bypass the lower pitches because they feature loose rock and, should a fall occur, there would not be time to deploy the BASE chute before encountering a 50-foot ledge that protrudes from the bottom of the climb. Below the ledge, the wall falls away for an additional 2,000 feet, leaving open the option of a 15 second flight from higher on the wall.
Dean’s climb was filmed by cinematographer Jim Hurst and photographer/mountain guide Beat Kammerlander. The footage will be featured in the upcoming Sender Films release The Sharp End, and as a feature segment on Jeep’s World of Adventure Sports airing October 11, 2008 on NBC.
It may be the first time anyone has set out to free solo a route at the edge of their ability with only a B.A.S.E. parachute. Congratulations Dean! See the entire story at climbing.com.
