Dont look down

jimmythecuckoo

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dont-look-down


Wow, best thing on tv in ages... what an odd bloke.

lakesluddite

Yeah, I watched it - couldn't help but think he was a monumental c0ck. Ironic really as it was monuments that he chose to climb.

I notice he didn't seem to have a job, but could quite happily jet off to Los Angeles and the Ukraine when he felt like it - I wonder if Mummy was paying for it all? I'm all for having a go at risky sports, rock climbing, parachuting, base-jumping etc, but the difference seems to be those guys reduce risk to the bare minimum, whereas he seems to be trying to increase risk all the time.

mamba80

LakesLuddite wrote:

Yeah, I watched it - couldn't help but think he was a monumental c0ck. Ironic really as it was monuments that he chose to climb.

I notice he didn't seem to have a job, but could quite happily jet off to Los Angeles and the Ukraine when he felt like it - I wonder if Mummy was paying for it all? I'm all for having a go at risky sports, rock climbing, parachuting, base-jumping etc, but the difference seems to be those guys reduce risk to the bare minimum, whereas he seems to be trying to increase risk all the time.

What? they were amazing, we will all die sometime and maybe these guys will go sooner than most but I seriously doubt he is doing this on benefits so who gives a monkeys who is paying.
would you rather he lay around in bed all day on a PS3 ?

finchy

Alexander Rusinov makes him look quite tame. Check him out on youtube under "Alexander Rusinov dangerous games"

:shock: :shock: :shock:

random man

LakesLuddite wrote:

I notice he didn't seem to have a job, but could quite happily jet off to Los Angeles and the Ukraine when he felt like it - I wonder if Mummy was paying for it all?

I wondered about this - his mum probably lets him live rent-free and he saves his jobseekers up, or he might earn money from youtube.
However, it was compulsive viewing and followed on nicely from Guy Martin breaking records on his sledge

fat_cat

As someone who has completely bottled it at the top of high buildings several times, what struck me was when he said I used to be afraid of heights, till I started doing this. Absolute nutter!

Although next to the Ukrainian bloke he looked completely sane. It's only a matter of time till he gets it spectacularly wrong. Fair enough it's his life to throw away as long as he doesn't land on a passer by.

bianchimoon

people who do stuff like that are wired a different way, seemed a nice lad, decided early on a conventional life aint going to suit him so just went with his instincts, the producers of that should make a prog about him free climbing a big rock face, be interesting to see how an urban climber gets on alongside/against someone like Leo Houlding

tlw1

I loved it and even the little bin lids watched a bit - their view, he is nuts

rolf_f

Fat Cat wrote:

Although next to the Ukrainian bloke he looked completely sane. It's only a matter of time till he gets it spectacularly wrong. Fair enough it's his life to throw away as long as he doesn't land on a passer by.

That's the problem isn't it? A few of those shots showed them to be hanging over roads and pavements. The consequences of one of them falling onto a main road are pretty horrible.

The Eastern Europeans are clearly bonkers......

Garry H

Hmm, just came across as an attention seeking kno*ber. I was more impressed with the parkour stuff he was doing earlier in the programme.

Ukrainian guy was on another level of madness. Doubt he'll see 30!

jimmythecuckoo

random man wrote:

LakesLuddite wrote:

I notice he didn't seem to have a job, but could quite happily jet off to Los Angeles and the Ukraine when he felt like it - I wonder if Mummy was paying for it all?

I wondered about this - his mum probably lets him live rent-free and he saves his jobseekers up, or he might earn money from youtube.
However, it was compulsive viewing and followed on nicely from Guy Martin breaking records on his sledge

Could channel 4 have paid his way to make the programme more interesting?

jimmythecuckoo

Fat Cat wrote:

As someone who has completely bottled it at the top of high buildings several times, what struck me was when he said I used to be afraid of heights, till I started doing this. Absolute nutter!

I hated Go Ape so I was nervous watching this.

fat_cat

Never mind go ape, I struggle indoors at anything over about 10 floors up.

Garry H

LakesLuddite wrote:

I'm all for having a go at risky sports, rock climbing, parachuting, base-jumping etc, but the difference seems to be those guys reduce risk to the bare minimum, whereas he seems to be trying to increase risk all the time.

Not really. The actual climbing bits of what he was doing was pretty easy, by rock climbing standards anyway. Pretty much like climbing a VERY high ladder. All you need is a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength/stamina. Rest of it was just w@nking.

rolf_f

Garry H wrote:

LakesLuddite wrote:

I'm all for having a go at risky sports, rock climbing, parachuting, base-jumping etc, but the difference seems to be those guys reduce risk to the bare minimum, whereas he seems to be trying to increase risk all the time.

Not really. The actual climbing bits of what he was doing was pretty easy, by rock climbing standards anyway. Pretty much like climbing a VERY high ladder. All you need is a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength/stamina. Rest of it was just w@nking.

All of which he pretty much admitted. But it's just possible that you can have a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength and stamina and say "All you need is a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength/stamina" and not in a million years be prepared to go and dangle from one arm off the top of a tower crane!

Garry H

Rolf F wrote:

Garry H wrote:

LakesLuddite wrote:

I'm all for having a go at risky sports, rock climbing, parachuting, base-jumping etc, but the difference seems to be those guys reduce risk to the bare minimum, whereas he seems to be trying to increase risk all the time.

Not really. The actual climbing bits of what he was doing was pretty easy, by rock climbing standards anyway. Pretty much like climbing a VERY high ladder. All you need is a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength/stamina. Rest of it was just w@nking.

All of which he pretty much admitted. But it's just possible that you can have a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength and stamina and say "All you need is a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength/stamina" and not in a million years be prepared to go and dangle from one arm off the top of a tower crane!

Correct. But equally I could say "All you need is a head for heights and a modicum of upper body strength/stamina", after having climbed a tower crane and swung along the arm, monkey bar style, without then loading it on to You Tube and telling my mummy all about it.

I thought the lad had some serious issues and I hope he overcomes them.

BillyMansell

Jeez. The only serious issues I see are with some people on here who are intolerant to difference.

So you don't understand his motives and haven't got the balls to do such activities so resort to personal comments about him and his family. How the fark do some of you survive in a world where everyone is different and free to express themselves?

DeVlaeminck

I'm torn between thinking it's incredibly impressive and just wishing he'd stop before he kills himself.

Garry H

BillyMansell wrote:

Jeez. The only serious issues I see are with some people on here who are intolerant to difference.

So you don't understand his motives and haven't got the balls to do such activities so resort to personal comments about him and his family. How the fark do some of you survive in a world where everyone is different and free to express themselves?

He didn't actually seem to take much joy from it, he as much as said so himself. To me, he seemed to take more pleasure from scaring his mum and posting it up on You Tube, so that folk who do nothing more dangerous than take a p!ss could gawp at him. The Ukrainian guy, on the other hand, seemed to get a huge kick from doing it, which is something I could relate to a bit better. So yes, I do question his motives.

I must admit though to having a general dislike for any "sports" activity that contains the word "urban".

finchy

BillyMansell wrote:

Jeez. The only serious issues I see are with some people on here who are intolerant to difference.

So you don't understand his motives and haven't got the balls to do such activities so resort to personal comments about him and his family. How the fark do some of you survive in a world where everyone is different and free to express themselves?

I think it's the indifference to what he was putting his mum through which might put people off him.

rolf_f

Garry H wrote:

He didn't actually seem to take much joy from it, he as much as said so himself. To me, he seemed to take more pleasure from scaring his mum and posting it up on You Tube, so that folk who do nothing more dangerous than take a p!ss could gawp at him. The Ukrainian guy, on the other hand, seemed to get a huge kick from doing it, which is something I could relate to a bit better. So yes, I do question his motives.

You question his motives? Why? What does it matter why he does what he does and why would you care? Aside from anything else, how he came across will have been as much down to what the programme makers wanted as anything. Yes, he does silly stuff and posts it on Youtube but that's what everyone who does silly stuff does. And given that he lives at home it's going to be fairly hard to keep it from his mother. But that's their problem and I suspect the documentary with its forced conversations there didn't really begin to scrape the surface of their relationship. Anyway, I can't see it matters as long as nobody else gets hurt. Hopefully he'll grow out of it before he kills himself.

Garry H

Rolf F wrote:

Garry H wrote:

He didn't actually seem to take much joy from it, he as much as said so himself. To me, he seemed to take more pleasure from scaring his mum and posting it up on You Tube, so that folk who do nothing more dangerous than take a p!ss could gawp at him. The Ukrainian guy, on the other hand, seemed to get a huge kick from doing it, which is something I could relate to a bit better. So yes, I do question his motives.

You question his motives? Why? What does it matter why he does what he does and why would you care? Aside from anything else, how he came across will have been as much down to what the programme makers wanted as anything. Yes, he does silly stuff and posts it on Youtube but that's what everyone who does silly stuff does. And given that he lives at home it's going to be fairly hard to keep it from his mother. But that's their problem and I suspect the documentary with its forced conversations there didn't really begin to scrape the surface of their relationship. Anyway, I can't see it matters as long as nobody else gets hurt. Hopefully he'll grow out of it before he kills himself.

I don't actually care what he does and wouldn't for a second dream of stopping him from doing it, I just didn't believe the reasons, (or motives) he gave for doing them.

He should turn his skills to something a bit more productive, like cat burglary.

mamba80

is there money to made in stealing cats?

the guy was different and what they were doing was possibly no more dangerous ! than guy martin hurtling around the IOM tt, the death rate there is pretty horrific BUT everyone has a life, its theirs to do as they wish - there are too many people who think they have a right to tell others how to live.
So 400 young uk soldiers die in afgan and that's ok, some bloke climbs around a bridge and "oh no you can t do that you could kill yourself and upset your mum"

finchy

mamba80 wrote:

is there money to made in stealing cats?

the guy was different and what they were doing was possibly no more dangerous ! than guy martin hurtling around the IOM tt, the death rate there is pretty horrific BUT everyone has a life, its theirs to do as they wish - there are too many people who think they have a right to tell others how to live.
So 400 young uk soldiers die in afgan and that's ok, some bloke climbs around a bridge and "oh no you can t do that you could kill yourself and upset your mum"

I would imagine that most young soldiers heading off to Afghanistan try to convince their parents they'll be OK. If they were just indifferent to their parents' suffering (as the subject of the programme seemed to be from what we saw), probably that would draw the same response.

Personally I don't think he's an idiot or a kn0b or anything, just someone who has been emotionally damaged by his childhood, which I can understand.

RideOnTime

feel a bit queasy...

jimmythecuckoo

RideOnTime wrote:

feel a bit queasy...

Garry H

mamba80 wrote:

is there money to made in stealing cats?

More than you can imagine, bwaahaaahaaa

Suspect he'll grow out of it soon enough.

Frank the tank

I watched the first two mins but I couldn't bring myself to watch any more.

Perhaps it's my age and I appreciate how sweet life is but I couldn't bear to watch such foolhardiness.

jimmythecuckoo

I can empathise with that.

The guy clearly had issues and a death wish and was clearly unable to relate to his Mother and think of her feelings.

It was dramatic and exciting to view, but with a sad undercurrent.

bianchimoon

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

I can empathise with that.

The guy clearly had issues and a death wish and was clearly unable to relate to his Mother and think of her feelings.

It was dramatic and exciting to view, but with a sad undercurrent.

Not sure I agree with you on the death wish, in fact the opposite. Some people (not me ) do need to do things that appear crazy to us to feel alive.
What he was doing is no different to a 'free climber on a rock face in derbyshire' or Gorge du verdon - south of france, extreme mountaineer, difference was the environment he was doing it in. The parents of anyone involved in anything risky would want their kids to not do it.
Personally I wish he wouldn't do it but know the reasons why he does it and wish him good luck until the need for the adrenilin/endorphin 'rush' subsides.

Garry H

bianchimoon wrote:

Not sure I agree with you on the death wish, in fact the opposite. Some people (not me ) do need to do things that appear crazy to us to feel alive.
What he was doing is no different to a 'free climber on a rock face in derbyshire' or Gorge du verdon - south of france, extreme mountaineer, difference was the environment he was doing it in. The parents of anyone involved in anything risky would want their kids to not do it.
Personally I wish he wouldn't do it but know the reasons why he does it and wish him good luck until the need for the adrenilin/endorphin 'rush' subsides.

Kind of agree with the above, except I couldn't see that he actually got any joy from the activity itself. Although he did seem to enjoy showing his exploits to others. The Ukrainian guy, on the other hand, seemed to get a termeondous "buzz" from it, which to me, at least, is more understandable.

I climbed regularly for best part of twenty years and, probably contrary to popular belief, very few climbers do it for the adrenaline rush alone (although, it's an added bonus). The overwhelming majority do it because of the challenge of the climb itself. There are some though who I would only describe as plain bonkers.

There was nothing inherently difficult in what he was actually climbing (I've climbed a few cranes and buildings as a "yoof" and look back on it now and think "what a knob*er"), so I couldn't treally understand why he was doing it. Seemed a tad troubled though.