Highlining Hell Roaring Canyon with Dean Potter
March 13, 2008
The New York Times has put up an interesting piece today on Dean Potter. Dean Potter, as some of you might know was a pretty big figure in the climbing world. He became the first person to ever freesolo El Cap and Half Dome together in less than 24 hours. In 2001 Potter climbed The Nose on El Capitan in 3 hours and 24 minutes, a record that has recently been broken and rebroken by The Huber Brothers. When it was first climbed in 1958, the first team up, led by Warren J. Harding (no, not the President) took an astonishing 45 days–
Jump forward seven years from El Cap and Half Dome to today and you will find Dean Potter walking a tightrope-slackline 900 feet above Hell Roaring Canyon, in Utah. His climbing career began with ropes, then he ventured into free-solo climbing, and now on to high-lining. At age 36, Dean continues to find ways to cheat the extremes and mystify his competition.
Highlining is a pretty new term. In it’s simplest form, it is tightrope walking between two extremely high points. The only protection between Dean and the canyon floor is a parachute. If he falls for more than a couple seconds before the parachute is released, he dies.
“When there’s a death consequence, when you are doing things that if you
mess up you die, I like the way it causes my senses to peak,” Potter
said. “I can see more clearly. You can think much faster. You hear at a
different level. Your foot contact on the line is accentuated. Your
sense of balance is heightened. I don’t seem to feel that very often
meditating
The New York Times article goes into a three page account of Dean’s current ambition to highline Hell Roaring Canyon, as well as taking a look at his glorious and sometimes controversial past. Definately a cool article on an emerging new sport–be sure to check out the Dean Potter video “A Walk in the Clouds,” made exclusively for this piece by The New York Times.
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Written by Jason A. Hendricks · Filed Under Dean Potter, Highlining, Slacklining |
The video was made by Sender Films — http://www.senderfilms.com — for the New York Times.
Hey Nick,
Thanks for posting the link, I actually didn’t see it on the NYT site-