Summertime Skyline: Calculated Risk or Miscalculation?

[scotts]

I haven't followed Potter. Not my genre (as is probably obvious). One article I found pointed out that he was debilitated by fear several times in his career, to the point of stopping (at least spectacular "edge seeking" stunts) for months or even years at a time.

Perhaps using a less pejorative term or biased frame, we could say he was overcome by prudence during those spans.

To say that Potter's lifelong confrontation with agonizing, often debilitating fear was beautiful would seem to me a rationalization.

Apropos the ubiquitous go pro, how much of Potter's decision to go forward with his final act was based in fear of having his fan base start calling him 'irrelevant', as the fickle edge-seeking herd is wont to do?

How would one confront that fear?

[cynthia23]

A very significant point ScottS. We should remember that nearly all of these 'extreme' stunts involve financial pay-offs via advertising endorsements and speaking engagements for the actors (and I use that word in both senses.) To 'choose' not to engage in the stunts is to 'choose' not to pay the rent that month, so how 'authentic' are they, really? It's worth remembering the late great mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, who died when she was blown off K2, after summiting it, during a severe monsoon storm. A single mother who was trying to get away from an abusive relationship with her husband, she was in desperate financial straits. Successfully summiting K2 (and the endorsements and lecture $$ that would bring) was crucial to the survival of her family and to getting away from the abusive husband, who beat her up and rigidly controlled her climbing 'career', even forcing her to climb Eiger when she was six months pregnant. That's what paid their bills. That financial and practical fear is what drove her to make the fatal decision to continue attempting to summit K2 after the monsoon season began (they had been there for some time, with various delays and failed attempts), when a reasonable course would have been to have given up for the season. She left behind very young children (one of whom, ironically, Tom, is now an accomplished climber who plans to tackle K2.)

Terrible as her fate and Potter's were, aren't we even more terrible? Aren't we complicit in their deaths by paying attention to stunts of this sort? Isn't there something really very decadent, sick and late-Roman-empire-esque in deriving entertainment, excitement, or pleasure from watching people needlessly risk their lives? ( And I include myself in the condemnation, since I too enjoy reading about mountaineer's feats! )

[bluerail]

Very disconnected description of his death Cynthia. He was a good person no matter the choices he made to find fulfillment in life.

[cynthia23]

I definitely don't think Dean was a bad person, and I sincerely apologize if I've given that impression. When I speak of people jumping off cliffs to get media attention, I'm only speaking generally about the stunt guys--I have no idea what drove Potter, but I"m guessing it was something deeper than just a hunger for fame. But I do think the commercial forces--i.e. the various companies--who exploit these extreme sports stunts--ARE truly bad. To my mind, Dean was being exploited by them.

Dean's 'flaw,' from my perspective, is that he doesn't seem to have thought about using his courage in an important-enough way. If a person is physically courageous and wants an extreme adventure that risks death, I think there are so many more meaningful ways to do that, ways which help others. Look at the people who volunteered to go to Liberia and help those with Ebola, and those who go to Syria to help refugees, or here at home, the firefighters, the SAR folks, our cops and military. Personally I would never have the courage to do any of that, and I deeply admire those who do. The idea that refugee workers are adrenaline junkies may seem fanciful but there is actually evidence that many of them are (a lot of them speak of being bored and disconnected when they're back at home.) But they're using their 'need for speed' in a way that matters. IMHO, if you're going to deliberately court death, it should be for some truly important reason. I"m sorry for Potter (and his family), but I can't admire him. To me, it all just feels like a sad waste. Still, I get that others may feel very differently, and I respect their right to their own equally strong feelings. This is a deeply personal matter, after all--literally a question of "What is life for?". But I"m sure we all join in feeling sadness for his family and survivors.

[Ed]

I sometimes muse over the number of world-class mountaineers who have died near their homes doing what we do, trying to have a nice day in the mountains, not trying to repeat the great epics of their lives. Willi Unsoeld climbed Everest by the West Ridge in 1963. He was killed by an avalanche on Rainier in 1979. He was with a group of students from Evergreen College, where he was a professor of religion and philosophy. One of the students died with him. Dougal Haston, a Scottish climber, climbed the south face of Annapurna in 1970 and the south west face of Everest in 1975. He was killed by an avalanche while skiing near his home in Switzerland in 1977. Lionel Terray, a hero of the French expedition to Annapurna in 1950, fell to his death, along with a friend, rock climbing near his home in France in 1965. Louis Lachenal, who made the summit of Annapurna and lost his toes, died in 1955 when he fell into a crevasse while skiing near his home in France. I am sure there are more I don't know about, since my knowledge of famous mountaineers is not very up to date.

I made a list of the people I knew who died in the mountains. There were fourteen. That did not count the four who died with them that I did not know. I also ran across the following statement in a history of mountaineering in the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club written by a professor at UC Irvine (SPS refers to the Sierra Peaks Section):

'In 1986, the SPS published a list of its climbers who had died since the late 1950s, and only seven of the thirty-one had died of natural causes. Two died in car accidents on the way to or from the Sierra and the rest died in mountaineering accidents.' I climbed with the SPS in the 1970's. They were at the time one of the most capable groups of people I've ever seen, and not reckless daredevils. Though Tim Tracy became famous for his statement, 'We've got to cut this #&*@ safety stuff out, or we are never going to make it to the summit!' I think that was after my time when the safety-minded bureaucrats took over, I thought Tim was a great climbing companion. Perhaps he was referring to overuse of ropes and belaying, I don't know the context.

I know we are living in an age where there are increasing numbers of people risking their lives who don't know what they are doing, or they do but are stretching their limits seeking fame, notoriety or simply a personal sense of achievement. But quite a few deaths don't fall in either category. People will take a small risk they've taken many times, and it's a different roll of the dice.

[scotts]

Ed got in before me. No disagreements here.

I was reluctant to come back to this discussion, because it's easy to be misunderstood. I agree that from what I know Dean Potter was a good person, even an extraordinary person. He did things that I would never be able to do, with an openness and a spirit truly amazing. Just like many on this board.

Like cynthia, I'm not comfortable with the milieu or the ideology that comes to surround such individuals. Was his final act really one of exalting spirit, or was it one of degradation? Edge-seeking one-upmanship, 'keeping up with the joneses' or however you want to put it doesn't seem like an expression of freedom, spirit, or vitality to me. Impressing alot of fanboys (and girls) ends up being the pointy end of a hysterical herd. I don't want to see that, or be part of it.

Raw physical courage can be one part of a vital human existence. It's not the only thing. I think political, ethical, social awareness, concern for others, an ability to take pleasure in small things and find overwhelming beauty everywhere, are even more vital.

edit: I don't mean to imply that Potter wasn't a well-rounded person. It's the worship/exaltation of one small aspect of his being that probably isn't.

[Wildhorse]

From what I have read about Dean Potter, and from his own words, his base jumping and other dangerous sports were part of an integrated whole. They were an essential part of who he was. I like the Dean Potter that I have read about.

I had had the chance to know an Olympian, with multiple golds, who, as a celebrity, has corporate sponsors. In her case, she has received rather bad press sometimes that seems quite inconsistent with who she really is. She is what I would consider a normal person with an extraordinary ability and the drive that has allowed that ability to express itself so wonderfully. She has definitely tested her limits. She is also a hiker.

In addition, in my experience, the relationship between corporate sponsors and athletes and other celebrities has been based on trust and respect. In my experience, the corporate sponsors do not encourage the celebrities to be someone different from who they are. At the same time, I have heard, through the press, stories about athletes who hurt themselves for the sake of fame and money. In some cases, I have wondered if their promoters were involved.

I like Ed's summation. I hope that someday I die while having a nice day in the mountains near my home. It would be a better death than any I have been near.

[cynthia23]

I have to agree with you there, Wildhorse. Most deaths in the wilderness seem way better to me than the torturously drawn-out illness deaths I've seen, and it's a way I wouldn't mind dying, myself. But still, I'm going to try to put it off as long as possible .

[zippetydude]

Like this Cynthia?

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night (by Dylan Thomas)

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light...

It seems to me the board has been waxing poetic of late. Just thought I'd fan the flames.

z

[Wildhorse]

It is a great poem. It fits here. Dylan Thomas lived with a passion and died young, just as Dean Potter did.

I love reading that poem out loud. I like the feel of the words, vibrating down deep in my throat, even into my chest. It is similar feeling to pushing hard at the summit of a mountain.

"The "curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray" words in the last stanza carry ancient theological meaning associated with a wondrous mountain in the books of Moses.

Hiking Skyline is raging for many of us, at any age. Dean Potter raged. Let's rage.