Cool Climbing Video

[Tesseract]

Mr. Tess recently took up rock climbing, and while goofing around on the web, he found this Russian video of this guy and his friend doing some pretty neat free-climbing tricks. Check it out...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515642196227308929

He also sent me this one, which is a really cool video of a guy doing some incredibly difficult free-climbing:
http://www.csgambill.org/alexhuber.asx

[DoshKel]

Parkour is really freaking sweet. I was really into it about 2 years ago when I was obsessed with anything running. I just got so light and brittle that I couldn't keep doing parkour, so I stopped when I went into the hospital. It is awesome watching really, really good parkourists like Sébastien Foucan, David Belle, ect.

It is an amazing work-out as well. You don't realize how much you are doing because of how fun it is. I would reach up to 7 or 8 miles a day just doing Parkour for hours with my friends.

[skanky]

I hate to step in as the resident anal climber, but it's actually called "free-soloing". "Free-climbing" is defined as climbing without the use of gear to aid your ascent. "Aid" being the key word. Free-climbing almost always involves the use of ropes and protection to catch you in case of a fall. The gear isn't used to pull on or aid your ascent. That's called "aid-climbing". "Free-soloing" is a rare form of free climbing and what you see in the second video. The first video is some sort of silly urban acrobatics. Well, there's your climbing terminology class for the day. :)

[Tesseract]

I'll freely admit I don't knwo the first thing about climbing. When I watched the first video, it didn't seem that much like true climbing to me, but that's how it was sent to me, so that's what I called it. :shrug:

[MarcTheVegan]

The second video blew me away! I can't imagine having so much control over my fear of falling to my death! At one part the man is holding on by one hand! That's all that separates him from his doom. What if he has a seizure, or the rock breaks? <-- that's what I'd be thinking and what would never allow me to do what he does. He was inspiring, but I still don't ever attempt that! lol.. I did in-door wall-climbing and after climbing about 20 feet up my fingers and forearms went numb and I fell. My hands just wouldnt work anymore. Because of that, I find what he does even more amazing! :wayne:

[Tesseract]

I had never heard of Parkour, but once I looked it up, it's pretty obvious that's what those guys are doing in that first video:
http://www.parkour.com/index.html

[epski]

Climbing rules, and parkour is pretty cool. Something I definitely would have done when I was younger. I kinda did it already, in a sense (running, jumping, climbing on and from buildings and such), but not as a social phenomenon, of course.

[Zsky2]

I go to a Parkour jam every Sunday. It's an amazing experience. Not just the rush, but just the ability to move across the landscape so smoothly.

[LuckyDuck]

The first video is some sort of silly urban acrobatics.

Awww hey, not nice! :(

I'd LOVE to become a traceuse (female who does parkour, males are traceurs), and I'm doing my best to train on my own, but I really do wish there was a group I could join in my area to practice with...