Dan Osman: Genuine Bad Ass or Reckless Madman

youtube.com/watch?v=viy9pWT…

A debate sparked between me and a friend after watching this video, and it isnt the first time I have had the conversation with people. I am just wondering what everyone thinks, I am going to hold my opinion back for a while so I can get genuine responses not sarcasm aimed at my opinion either way. (Please lets remember Dan Osman is dead lets be respectful please)

Absolute Complete Rediculously Awesome Ultra Mega Super Bad Ass

Dan Osman Rocks!

TOTAL BADASS© with a set that went clank.

Bad Ass!!!!!! were all reckless at something, its all relative

Os, was a total Badass!!!

No matter what I believe on a personal responsibility level what Dan did was and is totally f*&%$ng out of this world.

He and a few others have pushed a limit most of us don't feel comfortable pushing.

The accomplishment speaks for itself.

Sure, he and others have passed away pushing or testing their limit, but it is theirs to test.

Genuine Bad Ass and Reckless Madman both, but that is what it sometimes takes to go to new places in all aspects of life.

...my 2/5 of a nickel.

Rf

Its often hard to tell the difference between genius and madness. They sometimes bleed into one another

I'll say bad ass.

He was killed from an unfortunate rig situation. Maybe only that he was a talented climber that took soloing to double digit terrain led to the reckless madman repertoire. The rigs they constructed were well planned and executed, except for his last; which were usually planned somewhere around a ff .7 but by happenstance had a ff 2 on one component & mainline which failed the system.

He was another class of complete badass.

I only know from what I saw in the movies and read in the mags, but he seemed pretty methodical and thoughtful to me, at least up until the end. Obviously when you're doing stuff like that, one screw up can be enough (although that's true for us pedestrian, "normal" climbers too--it's just a matter of degree).

I think he was a "daredevil" in the classic sense but that's hardly the same as being a "reckless madman."

OK this is m opinion and it doesn't vary from everyone else. He was a bad ass, who took his passion to a new level a level that very few people could even consider doing, he has soloed things tougher than i have sport climbed, he is a genuine bad ass!

The easiest answer is both.

Guys like Osman, Hersey, Bachar, and Reardon, had a tolerance for risk far far above what mine is. Then again, my tolerance for risk is higher than a number of climbers that I know, and any climber has a tolerance for risk (or a trust of gear) beyond a non climber.

At some point the line between confidence and recklessness blurs, but I find it informative that all of these men (to my knowledge) didn't die doing things that were reckless, they died in fuzzy circumstances in situations below their limits. reardon swept out to sea, osman had bad rigging, bachar and hersey on routes below their limit.

I think the mark of a reckless madman is that he consistently engages in activities that he judges to be at or beyond his technical abilities, ascribes his survival to luck, then continues to rely on "luck" rather than any identifiable skill. Could just be my take on it though.

He was a man who lived.

If this is for your discussion, then it might be a better discussion if you asked the question in a broader sense.

People on the upper edge of their life/death sport (male or female): Bad Ass or reckless?

My response: sometimes one or the other, sometimes both. Just like the rest of us middle of the pack people.

I say badass. The words 'reckless' and 'madman' to me imply suicidal tendencies, or someone who isn't concerned with their own safety or the safety of those around them. As Buff wrote, Osman died because of a rigging failure. He definitely pushed the limits as that video shows, and maybe was a little MAO deficient to be able to handle that kind of exposure. But I think he took calculated risks, within what he thought were his own limits.

I don't think he was a madman. But if I remember correctly, in Lynn Hill's book Climbing Free, she writes that on a North Face dream team trip, Alex Lowe, no stranger to soloing and R and X lines himself, and Greg Child were sometimes hesitant to climb with Osman because he put them in danger. I think this is somewhat telling.

badass.

he was one of those few extraordinary humans who made me proud to also be one. dan strayed from the safety of the herd and because of that lived a life of fulfillment that most cannot imagine. his life may have been short in some eyes but he sure packed it in.

Very BOLD BAD ASS. Its unfortunate what happened but with that level of boldness not completly unexpected.

I don't see why it needs to be one or the other. He was clearly an extremely talented climber; one of the best of his generation.

He also was pretty reckless. It's one thing to take risks when they are necessary, but he seemed to go out of his way to take pointless risks: speed soloing a 5.7 for a movie, soloing a running waterfall with ice tools, and rope jumping. It seems to me that if you spend your whole life telling people that what you are doing isn't really dangerous because you are in complete control, then you die doing it, that you weren't really in control after all. I think that says something about the person...he miscalculated the risk and his level of control over it. That doesn't make him a bad person, but I think it proves that he was human after all, just like Hersey, Reardon, Bachar and all the others.

He certainly was a great climber, though, and I would have liked to meet him.

Mike Anderson wrote:I don't see why it needs to be one or the other. He was clearly an extremely talented climber; one of the best of his generation. He also was pretty reckless. It's one thing to take risks when they are necessary, but he seemed to go out of his way to take pointless risks: speed soloing a 5.7 for a movie, soloing a running waterfall with ice tools, and rope jumping. It seems to me that if you spend your whole life telling people that what you are doing isn't really dangerous because you are in complete control, then you die doing it, that you weren't really in control after all. I think that says something about the person...he miscalculated the risk and his level of control over it. That doesn't make him a bad person, but I think it proves that he was human after all, just like Hersey, Reardon, Bachar and all the others. He certainly was a great climber, though, and I would have liked to meet him.

I kind of agree with this assessment. He was clearly a really good climber but a lot (most?) of the stuff he did that got press was just kind of out there and seemed calculated to look really on the fringe. There was a video were he rides his BMX off some big rock at the Needles and does a serious face plant. Appeared to be very little sense of self preservation three. If anyone got the impression he was kind of crazy, that's likely a direct result of the image he was projecting.

Genuine Bad Ass...other then the bike face plant, Dan Osman always seemed to be climbing smoothly and well within his physical and mental limit.

I equate reckless behavior with a lack of control, the person who is attempting things that are well beyond their mental and physical ability. ie: someone that is attempting a route well beyond their ability and as a result is climbing marginally and placing poor gear; an out of control skier or snowboarder; the moron that consistently gets black out drunk.

I met Dan briefly a couple of years before he died. He was very nice and soft spoken, totally the opposite from how he seems in the movies.
I think extreme risk takers are unable to put everything on the line for money and publicity, and they pursue these huge risks only for self satisfaction. Dan was just wired differently from everyone else, he was able to take on huge risks by being totally self confident. Selfish-probably, badass- absolutely. I am in complete awe of how he and many other legends that took on challenges that seemed impossible to others and succeeded, without any sort of safety net. Let their inspiration never be forgotten.
Just my .02