“Free climbing” is an absolutely horrifying extreme sport where urban daredevils climb to the top of skyscrapers or other tall buildings and dangle from them with no harnesses. One of the most prolific (and impressive) of them is the Ukrainian free climber known as Mustang Wanted.
All photos courtesy of Mustang Wanted
Mustang Wanted at one point worked as a legal advisor, but has since decided to pursue a career as a professional stuntman. He says he doesn’t feel any sort of ball-shriveling terror at the stunts he pulls. “Sometimes I think that I am a robot,” he said in an article for The Daily Mail. “I do not feel anything.”
He says, “Death is not the worst thing that can happen. Everyone dies — but not everyone lives the way they want.” While you’d think, “That’s the way a guy who’s gonna be dead soon would think,” Mustang Wanted has been doing this for over a decade, and has yet to be injured.
Before we go any further, we should note quite strenuously that you should not, in any circumstances, do this. Hopefully that doesn’t need to be said, but this is enough of a trend for a documentary to exist about it. So unless you are either a professional (you aren’t) or immune to the effects of gravity (you aren’t), don’t do this.
That said, it makes for some pretty breathtaking photography.
What perhaps makes this more incredible is that not only is he dangling from buildings and spires, he’s orchestrating this photography at the same time.
Incidentally, this is illegal. You know…because of the whole dying thing. But presumably, if you aren’t afraid of death, you aren’t afraid of getting arrested. There are, of course, times when this could feasibly be dangerous to more than just the free climbers, such as when they do stunts on bridges.
Oh right, I forgot — on bridges on fucking bikes.
Aside from the obvious requirement of gigantic brass balls, a few other things are needed to do this. First, crazy finger strength.
Also ankle strength:
Balance:
A tremendous amount of trust in the people you’re climbing with:
And flair:
For those of us lacking those things, we can at least enjoy the fruits of one daredevil’s labor.
Mustang Wanted has also produced a series of videos of his stunts, including this sphincter-clenchingly terrifying compilation. Dude be crazy.
No comments :
Post a Comment