Dan Osman

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Dan Osman (February 11, 1963 - November 23, 1998) was an extreme sport practitioner, known for the dangerous sports of "free-soloing" (rock climbing without ropes or other safety gear) and "controlled free-falling" (falling several hundred feet from a cliff while relying on a safety rope), for which his record was over 1200 feet. He was known for living a bohemian lifestyle, rarely working, and living in a treehouse for months at a time. He was the star of several rock climbing videos, which brought free-soloing to a wider audience.

He died November 23, 1998 at the age of 35 after his rope cut while performing a controlled free-fall jump from the Leaning Tower rock formation in Yosemite National Park. The exact cause of the failure is unknown, but a change in jump site selection which caused a rigging entanglement is most likely. He is survived by his daughter Emma Osman.

[edit] External links

• Article about Dan Osman in Outside Magazine
• Video of many safety rope jumps and free-soloing up to a 5.12b (11 min)
• Video of Dan Osman scaling a 400-foot sheer-wall cliff in under five minutes
• Smithsonian Magazine Book Review - Fall of the Phantom Lord by Andrew Todhunter
• Dan Osman's Rope Failure Analysis - Possible cause for his death