12/30/24
October 28, 2006
Fatal fall at Yosemite shocks climbing world: Skinner, a 47-year-old former rodeo cowboy and world-renowned rock climber, fell more than 500 feet to his death Monday after the nylon loop used to attach the climbing rope to his harness broke. The accident has sent shock waves through the climbing community, where Skinner's outgoing nature was almost as legendary as his courage and skill on some of the world's most dangerous rock faces.
It's just like people that jump out of a perfectly good airplane, nevr made much sense to me
posted by texasred at 06:51 AM on October 28, 2006
texasred needs to watch less tv so he can come up with better quotes than b rated clint eastwood classics like heartbreak ridge.
posted by kdrckrules at 10:13 AM on October 28, 2006
When you play with fire you often get burned. This guy got what he probably was looking for.
posted by The Woj at 10:19 AM on October 28, 2006
Like many athletes, Dale Ernhardt for example, he died doing what loved. Better than wasting away from a disease of some sort.
posted by Psycho at 12:42 PM on October 28, 2006
Dale Earnhardt
posted by your-money9388 at 02:29 PM on October 28, 2006
There's nothing wrong in not getting the appeal in so-called "extreme" sports. But if you don't get it, the tactful thing to do -- particularly on the occasion of a death -- is to remain silent rather than offering cheezy pop-psychology platitudes about the mental state, desires and attitudes of participants. Skinner had a wife and three children and a reputation as a very safe climber. To project one's own needs, values and fears onto someone else's situation is always a mistake, because often you come up with a different set of decisions than they would make. And then? Judgment time. He must be crazy, or stupid, or foolhardy, or senseless, or playing with fire. And, one more time, let's try to get over the need to say, "he died doing what he loved". No one wants to die doing what they love. It's not what Skinner wanted out of that day's climb, to fall 500 feet to his death. God didn't appear to him and say, "Dude, you got two choices: take a drop, or get creamed by a taxi-cab/waste away from a disease. Which is it gonna be?" Saying that he died doing what he loved is in some ways like saying that he died while wearing a blue shirt: it's true, but so what?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:24 PM on October 28, 2006
If you've never climbed, it can't be explained. If you climb, no explanantion is necessary. Just because it's a cliche doesn't make it any less true.
posted by owlhouse at 04:10 PM on October 28, 2006
This guy got what he was probably looking for. lbb's well made points aside, thats just asinine. perhaps foolhardiest of all, rodeo cowboys. Smile when you say that, podna.
posted by mjkredliner at 05:54 PM on October 28, 2006
He admitted himself he was guilty of using gear past its "prime" time. At least thats what is says in the local paper. His own friends said he would take used equipment and use it. How many guys have you all seen in a wheelchair because of a bull or a horse? When you have to drink your Bud-Light through a straw ask 'em then if they wished that sun-uf-a-bitch-woulda killed them?
posted by GoBirds at 04:55 AM on October 29, 2006
How many guys have you all seen in a wheelchair because of a bull or a horse? Um, none. I mean, I saw Christopher Reeve on TV, but that's it. When you have to drink your Bud-Light through a straw ask 'em then if they wished that sun-uf-a-bitch-woulda killed them? First, who drinks Bud Light? That's just nasty. And through a straw, no less? Please. Whatever point you're trying to make here, well, you aren't making it.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 08:41 AM on October 29, 2006
ask 'em then if they wished that sun-uf-a-bitch-woulda killed them? Some folks ain't quite as Tuff as others, I reckon.
posted by mjkredliner at 09:33 AM on October 29, 2006
It's just like people that jump out of a perfectly good airplane, nevr made much sense to me posted by texasred at 6:51 AM CST on October 28 Who says we use perfectly good airplanes.........
posted by skydivedad at 10:02 AM on October 29, 2006
"First, who drinks Bud Light? That's just nasty. And through a straw, no less? Please. Whatever point you're trying to make here, well, you aren't making it." The point I was trying to make was the fact I know of a few cowboys who "roll" into the place I tend bar after being made quadraplegics(sic?) by bull riding or bareback bronc busting. Just so happens almost every cowboy or redneck I deal with drinks the stuff(Bud light I mean) dont ask me why its the number one selling beer in the world, I certainly dont drink it. Wouldnt it suck if the only way you could drink a beer was to have a cup holder strapped to your chest and a straw for your bottle?
posted by GoBirds at 04:57 PM on October 29, 2006
Saying "I don't get it" once is sufficient. The idea is simple, everyone got it the first time...you really don't need to repeat yourself.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:02 PM on October 29, 2006
Not to be obtuse, but I think climbing a mountain (or any other large outcropping of the earth's surface, for that matter) is worlds apart from strapping yourself on the back of a (largely) wild animal, simply hoping to hold on for a predetermined amount of time while said animal does everything in its considerable power to dismount you. Climbing something seems like a reasonable enough activitiy to me...strapping myself to a pissed off, 3,000 pound beast that wants to stomp the holy living shit out of me doesn't. I have more sympathy for a broken climber than I do a broken cowboy. Wouldnt it suck if the only way you could drink a beer was to have a cup holder strapped to your chest and a straw for your bottle? Cry me a river...get 'em one of those hardhats with the beer holders and the plastic tubing.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 06:24 PM on October 29, 2006
I live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, only a few hours from Lander. There are many "extreme" athletes here in a tiny community. They mainly consist of skiers and snowboarders, snowmobilers, and perhaps foolhardiest of all, rodeo cowboys. We also have many climbers, kayakers, and generally crazy people throwing themselves off of insane objects. If they were to perish doing any of these things, they would say, "at least I was doing what I loved". Faulty equipment aside, it's better than getting creamed by a taxi-cab.