Saturday, November 28, 1998
So Far, No Deaths from Crossing the Precipice
Yosemite Slack Lining |
Even though an occasional slacker has been known to cross a precipice with no tether, there have been no reported deaths.
Dean Potter is widely regarded as one of Yosemite's finest young rock climbers. He was the first person to climb with no ropes three-quarters of the way up the northwest face of the 8,836-foot Half Dome. The endeavor, accomplished this fall, took 4 hours and 17 minutes. (With traditionally laborious climbing techniques and ropes, the previous record was 20 hours and 56 minutes, according to climbing lore.)
Should he slip during a free solo climb, Potter knows it's likely he would plummet to his death. He never considers the possibility when he's scaling a rock wall. But before he walks a slack line stretched high above the valley floor, even though he is tethered to a rope, Potter collides with the full force of his fears. The illusion of danger looms far more ominously. He is terrified by the vast expanse of space between the line and the ground below.
This is the single most petrifying experience of his life--and he does it again and again, looking for greater and greater heights to span.