http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... n-yosemite

Whenever I watched a video or interview, Dean really inspired me. Not in a way that I'd want to do the kind of stuff he would do, but his spirit, passion and self-awareness always impressed me.

My condolences to his family. His climbs were inspiring.

What a great loss!
He will be missed by millions.

RIP Dean

http://adventureblog.nationalgeographic ... f9368066=1

RIP

RIP...

Looking at the below topo shows they were trying to do something extremely difficult in a flying suit. The notch noted in the news is at 5600 feet or 1800 feet above where they jumped. It is also about 1200 feet horizontally out from the ledge. The first 700 feet off the cliff is about plumb vertical and then the face steeply slopes out dropping about 650 feet over 400 feet before another 400 foot near vertical cliff then slopes out for another 500 feet of horizontal over 400 feet of vertical.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.71551,-119.60613&z=15&t=T

They apparently calculated from familiarity with what their flying suits allowed them to do that they would be able to clear the first slope after dropping the 700 feet and then glide out through the notch by increasing their horizontal angle. Obviously this was a dangerous idea.

It is in the same category as extreme skiers that revel in dropping huge cliffs over 100 feet in height into fresh snow because the acceleration must be immensely exciting, it challenges death, and additionally such impresses others who are into such extreme acts providing public fame. In is also not about bragging rights in the traditional sense because in this era extreme athletes don't need to go around vocally bragging about their feats but rather the Internet accomplishes that unspoken. That is why many also have others doing videos so it has more impact on their audience. Thus what is important in their lives become a sequence of Evil Knievel and Shane McConkey type events that impresses their audience that keep pushing further until chance fate or mistakes intervene. After each act they likely become totally focused like an addiction on cracking how to do the next amazing feat. Of course Yosemite Valley is a world mecca for such enthusiasts.

Predictably there will be a call from some whiny emotional urban types to prevent such illegal acts in the future. Yes we need vehicle speed limits even on open remote highways in Nevada lest numbers of the unwise after drinking a few beers might accidentally kill themselves. Such is however not black and white and otherwise misplaced as the human spirit ought not be so constrained. Thus we allow vehicles to be ridden at ultimate speeds on race tracks by professionals, and all manner of serious professional level enthusiasts of dangerous sports to pursue their passions freely in proper arenas with some official resistance to filter out the unwise and foolish. Although what they did is illegal for understandable reasons, I doubt any officials there really want to put an iron fist down on the many dangerous activities extreme athletes have always pursued as long as athletes do so quietly without making public spectacles or exciting the general media due to accidents and deaths.