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I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, but when I take a whipper, I try to minimize the swing time.

Not everyone shares my lack of adventure when it comes to skimming a rock face at 100mph. This video, showing a guy dropping into free fall, then rocketing across the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, depicts exactly the kind of climber I am not. Someone tempting fate for a few seconds’ rush.

Photo: tpuyol

Anyone who remembers climber Dan Osman’s fatal fall doing something similar in November, 1998 (also in Yosemite) will recognize the inherent dangers of using (or misusing) climbing equipment for this kind of thrill. Osman was a skilled climber, and almost certainly knew his way around the equipment and safety procedures he used daily. Yet with all of that experience, something unexpected happened.

I doubt I’ll ever be caught dangling off the edge of El Cap trying to kick the release lever on my homemade rope swing. Does it make me a bad person that I get stoked to see someone else is stupid enough to do it? Maybe.

But you know I’ll be watching their videos anyway. Full-screen. In HD.