I finally just finished watching the 3 hour finale on my DVR (kept trying to avoid this spoiler post) and was thoroughly happy with the results.

I'm way on board with your sentiments, but must add my 2 cents.

First, I think it's important to realize it's not the way ANW runs the show that causes the competitors to behave the way they do; it's the American competitors themselves who share that undesirable selfish, braggadocious attitude/philosophy. Even when you watch the Japanese Sasuke competitions, when there's an American competing surrounded by Japanese competitors inside Japan, you still feel that same air of arrogance.

I've been watching the Sasuke for many years and started watching ANW before it was ANW (even in the first "seasons" on Attack of the Show where the competitors had bounce on a trampoline and swing on some monkey bars to earn their way to Japan). The American attitude always been something that bothers me and takes a huge chunk out of my interest.

I always find it disconcerting the way they don't explain any details, such as why Geoff got to climb first (which is why he gets to claim he's the first person to ever reach the top).

The other thing I've been crying "foul" on is that they seemed to lighten it up on the obstacles. This year there were 38 people to go to round 2. That's ridiculous. But what's worse is that round 2 had way too long a time limit. Normally competitors who succeed on stage 2 have about a second left when they hit the button, but many of those who went through to stage 3 had around 30 seconds on the clock.

I had to rewind a couple of times, but I confirmed Isaac said "share the moment" not the money.

My wife and I were both displeased that Geoff announced he gets to say he's the first to beat stage 4. That's such a poor attitude, and I liked Popeye a lot more until then. And regardless how they decided who got to go first, I think they both have to be considered as equally the first to finish stage 4. (Side note: I was really bummed they didn't use the loud "bang! bang!" sounds to start stage 4 like they do in Japan.)

I myself don't have a problem with the very redesigned courses each season.

The USA versus the World bullshit is some serious bullshit that's hard to swallow. Not only is the whole "our country is better than you" concept horrible, but the actual competition is shit. It's not the same beating the course one rested person at a time. But also last year the Europeans brought in a rock climber who knew nothing about Ninja Warrior and just sent him in fully rested to do the arm-centric work.

Boy, we could get together and write a dissertation on this subject.

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Hungover-Rock-Climber

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by eric3579. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

Interesting. A lot of American climbers wear helmets to guard against spontaneous rock falls/debris/falls onto their belays.

I always wonder what the person did to get them in that situation. Yes, a lot of times it is something beyond their control but I think that a lot of people also get into a situation due to their own stupidity and belief that hey I've got a cell phone and can just call to get rescued if I get in over my head.

I have always felt that if you are going to hike/climb/ski etc in a public park or facility that you should be required to buy "hikers/climbers/skiers" insurance. Put up $10,000 cash bond or buy a rescue insurance policy for x dollars and we will come rescue your butt off the side of a cliff/depths of a canyon/acres of forest or we can bill you for the rescue later. I understand that you have the right to go perform these things in the wild but I also think that you should take some financial responsibility for the cost of saving your butt if/when things go wrong.

The narrowness of your definition of intelligence depresses me and is ironically not very intelligent

You talk about improving the gene pool yet you appear to lack a basic understanding of the fundamental importance of genetic diversity.

Even if we accept the premise that risk takers are idiots (which is so demonstrably not true I can barely be bothered to try but feel free to go read up on the Nobel laureates, plenty of "idiots" in there!) they are still essential to a healthy and diverse gene pool.

Mountain climbers, Motor racers, American Football players, Alligator wrestlers etc. etc. This is the same gene pool that brings us Astronauts, Fire-fighters, Soldiers etc.

Some of them may simply be "showing off" but
A. this is what they feel the need to do in order to feel stimulated and alive (they are wired up differently to others, they require higher levels of risk in order to feel the same level of stimulation you you might watching TV)

B. Watching such individuals perform or simply appreciating their existence is a source of untold pleasure for many of the rest of us (you dislike all dangerous sports? They are just as "pointless" by comparison)

But most of all

C. They all die in the end, just like EVERY HUMAN THAT HAS EVER LIVED. Putting all your emphasis in life on just staying alive and un-injured seems a little foolish in the grand scheme of things don't you think? The result is the same whether you spend your life racing powerboats or knitting jumpers in a padded room. You still die thus rendering any choices you made about how to spend your life entirely arbitrary and temporary (unless your religious but even then I'm not aware of anyone believing that risk taking alone sends anyone to hell or otherwise).

"Better to live an hour as a tiger, than a whole lifetime as a worm"
-The cat (red dwarf)


Also do you have a better way of getting an alligator out of a pool for a reasonable cost? The only alternative I can think of would be to tranquillise it but that would A. shift the risk of death and injury to the animal and B. be very hard to administer underwater. Nets and ropes seem like they would be prohibitively expensive and horribly impractical here also.

Hoisting the alligator above his head actually strikes me as potentially one of the safest way to carry the thing away, out of the water with no feet on the ground etc. but then I'm not an expert in dealing with Gators......crucially however neither are you and if i was going to take advice on how to get rid of one I'd be much more inclined to listen to people who have clearly spent their whole lives doing it than some random person who bases advanced genetic theories on a comedy film (for the record a very enjoyable one which was clearly not intended to be realistic).

Dudes a world champion rock climber. Shame.

Reminds me of those Russian free climber dudes *promote

Diet and exercise are also keys to overcoming these types of disorders (bipolar, border line personality, etc etc). And building up a support structure of people that understand, who are patient and accepting. Mostly other artists, musicians, some engineers -- though engineering minds tend to want to strip away the unnecessary, which we are to some degree. I say this from experience, not to say that all engineers are assholes, but, well, their OCD asses can't hang most of the time. We are a process that needs to be fixed. WHY IS THIS CABLE GOING THROUGH A SWITCH JUST GET A BIGGER CABLE.

The worst part about the disorder is the cynicism that it builds in oneself, associating with other cynical people, and then realizing that you're on the receiving end of your peer's cynicism and no longer one of the cool kids.

That's actually the worst part because we tend to be social animals -- socially awkward, but still social. And the bridges unwittingly burned and the visible signs of your own social demise, sometimes while in the midst of a manic stage, leads to a potential depressive state, wherein suicide becomes an unending thought.

I've never attempted myself, but I am a climber and have a tendency to walk along the edges of buildings. Not because I would jump but because I enjoy the rush and have little fear of death. I do this for fun outside of these states. Only between a thousand and one million thoughts of suicide in my life and half of them while in a position to inflict this upon myself. Yet I do not. Those're good odds in my book.

I once read that being suicidal gives you the power. The power to do anything for lack of the fear of death. And it's true. I tell everyone I encounter whatever is on my mind; the honest truth, even if it hurts. Everyone who knows me knows that if you want brutal honesty, I can deliver. And I could get up and walk to the ends of the earth because the other choice would be (perceptively) death. Well, then. Time to start running, Forest. Fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Did a pretty effective job of blocking off that stream, and likely a pretty effective job of scaring the poop out of those mountain climbers..

When they show the area to the left you can see that this wasn't the first such slide in the area. Can any geologist tell us why all the rocks seemed to be so similar in size and basic shape? Some sort of glacial phenomenon perhaps?

2 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

Agreed! Great concept and excellent photography. Not really a time lapse because it looks like real time and having the climber walk the rope in front of the moon really gives you a sense of the motion of the moon that you don't normally get.

Bears are master climbers and very curious.
Not always a good combination.

>> ^SFOGuy:

Sometimes I admit to wondering: do these people have parents? I mean, people who have the normal level of fear response to seeing someone they care about finding new and interesting ways to potentially hurt themselves? I wonder that about the Russian high tower/building videos too...
Not to say it isn't impressive and artful; just wonder.


There was a short series of programs here in the UK about Danny Macaskill, looking at how he deals with the fear/adrenaline of these type of stunts. They took him to meet other daredevil types and looked at his response to the risks. They also interviewed his parents. His dad is very risk averse, he doesn't like anything his son does, but his mother encouraged him to take risks from a very early age. The result is a mature person with a huge understanding of risk. He really knows his limits and what is and isn't possible.

If you bring up a child without exposing them to risk they never learn how to deal with or understand risk. When presented with a situation which is risky they don't know which decisions to make and that's when it all goes really badly wrong.

One of the other people they interviewed in the series was a specialist action sequence director. He works all the time with stunt men and women, people who do things that look really dangerous to normal people. He said they're the least likely of anyone to do anything dangerous. These things look dangerous to us because we don't know how we would deal with the situation. But to a trained stunt person, it's not that dangerous at all. He said they were the most likely people to back away from a danger. They don't look to do dangerous things, but rather they enjoy mastering the risks, so it's not dangerous.

They talked about a sequence where Danny rode down some steps in an underground station (I say rode down, what I mean is hurled himself and the bike down in unimaginably hectic ways!). They asked him what he was thinking when they were planing the shoot and he talked about all the potential risks he could see. Would his bike fit through the gap between the handrails if he did a twist in the jump? Would he hit his head on a step in the ceiling? Would he have enough space to slow down and so on. You'd think seeing the end shots that he went along looking for dangerous things to do where as he actually did the exact opposite.

As for the Russian crane climbers, I suspect there's a little more vodka involved than perhaps there should be...

Man. That seems like a big climber-fail. Why would you be on an inch-thick sheet of ice with water running over it?!

Is that common? Not a climber.