Chris McNamara.com

Wingsuit Footage - History Channel Modern Marvels

2009-02-16T23:43:00.000-08:00

I was on History Channel Modern Marvels a few weeks ago doing that wingsuit base jump thing again. My segment is at the very end.

Stunt Double on Prison Break

2009-02-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

Check out the post on JustJared.com

Got to double the lead character in Prison Break for some climbing scenes.

I think it is one of the last episodes of Season 4

Cool Paragliding Photo in Marin

2008-10-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

David Safanda took some cool photos of me learning to paraglide. I got to land on the Upper School Field of Marin Country Day School where I attended Grades 5-8. I didn't hit even one student on landing!

Reel Rock Tour and The Sharp End

2008-10-08T21:37:00.000-07:00

The Reel Rock Film Tour is in Full Swing. I have appearances in two of the movies: Canyon Walls and Sharp End

- Click here for more info on the tour
- Click here for the tour trailer
- You can see the Sharp End Trailer Here
- Buy the Sharp End movie here

Seven Gables Trip Report on 3 Climbs

2008-07-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have ignored the western approach to the High Sierra. The eastern approach is just more dramatic and easy for most peaks. When I got an invite to climb Seven Gables, i got my first glimpse of the high western slopes.

The initial drive isn't that exciting. Mammoth and Lee Vining on the East side have dramatic views. Madera and Prather on the west side have Pizza Factory's "we toss em, they're awesome!". But once you start gaining elevation up "the famous four lane" the drive gets cool fast. The last hour of driving to the Vermillion Lakes resort is staggering: a skinny road with big drop offs and views that winds through blasted granite.

Dan Duane, lead journalist, is smart. So smart he hired mules to carry our gear while we hiked with day packs. I highly recommend this if you can get someone else to pay the $700 for it. Jimmy Chin was team photographer and Ivo Ninov was team story teller. Everyone was a pro at their job. Including me: team dork as I was the only one to bring a giant sun hat, trekking poles and a solar panel so i could listen to books on tape the whole time.

We spent the first night at Vermillion Valley Resort. Great spot and their web site has great directions for how to get there: http://edisonlake.com/site/content/blogcategory/29/54/

OK, its business time. Direct your attention to the map below.

Read More

Flying Close to Cliffs in Brento Italy

2008-05-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am currently in Italy working filming for the new Sender Films movie The Sharp End. Its going to be mostly heady climbing but they let me sneek in a little wingsuit BASE into their movie.

After 2 days of rain, we finally got some sun. Here is the second jump of the day of an awesome 4000' cliff. Damien Dykman was right behind me and ill post some of his footage tomorrow.

View The First Flight
View The Second Flight

Grand Canyon and Men's Journal

2008-05-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

The May issue of Men's Journal has an article about Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden going down the Grand Canyon written by my friend Dan Duane. Some very cool shots by Corey Rich of the climbing possibilities there. I was mostly a belayer on the trip but got the chance to lead a few pitches on the Grapevine Buttress in preparation for Tommy and Beth's free ascent. Check it out on the newstand.

Favorite Books read in 2007

2007-12-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Omnivores Dilemna by Michael Pollan
The Beatles by Hunter Davies
I am America by Stphen Colbert
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Innocent Man by John Grisham
Into the Wild by John Krakauer
Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
Measure of a Man by Sydney Poitier
On Writing by Stephen King
Takedown by Rick Cowan
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Raising money for non-profits on eBay

2007-12-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

just raised some $1050 for three cool non-profits by selling new/used climbing gear and clothing from my closet.

Read more about this

Great climbing story: second ascent of a Zion big wall

2007-12-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

My friend Ryan Frost wrote the most hilarious trip report i have ever read. (I am a little biased because it mentions me a few times.) Its about the second ascent of Drop Zone, a big wall in Zion National Park i made the first ascent of 10 years ago with Dougald MacDonald.

Check the story

Best of Adventure: Audacious Acts

2007-11-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

National Geographic Adventure gave me an "Audacious Acts" award for 2007

Best of Adventure: Audacious Acts
The wildest deeds of 2007—we salute to the bold, daring, innovative, and occasionally insane feats of the year. Text by Steve Casimiro

Chris Mcnamara
Made the Wildest BASE Jump Known
In May Chris McNamara leaped into a cleft in a 3,000-foot (914-meter) face above the polar desert of Baffin Island. Using a nylon "wingsuit," the 28-year-old Californian flew horizontally out of the crevasse, then down the side of the face until he pulled his chute some 200 feet (61 meters) above ground. He landed a mere 100 feet (30 meters) from his tent.

Check the story

Top 10 Adventure Vid by Nat Geo Adventure

2007-11-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

National Geographic Adventure just awarded me with one of the "Top 10 Adventure Flicks" of the year (just eeked in there are number 10).

Here is the text:
10. BASE Jumping: Chris McNamara, Titan
BASE jumper and speed climber Chris McNamara knows that the quickest way to the bottom is straight down. His latest leap finds him and partner, Miles Daisher, scrambling up the Titan, a mud tower in Utah. Watch the video >>

link to Nat Geo

Check the video at Alpinist.com

18 Days in the Grand Canyon - A climbing Trip Report

2007-10-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Good friends are the best. Especially when your friend Corey Rich invites you on a 18 day climbing trip down the Grand Canyon!

The Team
Corey and Blaine Deutsch from Corey Rich Photography organized the trip. Corey was team photojournalist and all photos below are his. Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden were the stars. I was the aerial reconaisance specialist. Peter Mortimer from Sender Films and Josh Lowell from Big Up Productions were the filmmakers. Bert Jones, Orea Roussis, Matt Duperrault and Kevin Thompson were the guides from Outdoors Unlimited.

Day 1 - 10/31/07

Glen Canyon Dam is a faucet that turns the Colorado River up and down every day based on when they need to generate power and how much water they can use. I always laugh at the October Yosemite Tourists who ask "When do they turn the waterfalls on?" But in the Grand Canyon its not a joke. They really DO turn the water up and down. Because this was a drought time, the river was low and slow. Perfect for our crew who probably had a combined experience of a dozen days rafting.

Mile 4.5 - we passed under Navajo Bridge which is 480 feet tall.

Read the whole story here

BASE jumping the Titan near Moab, UT

2007-03-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Sean Leary climbed to the top of the Titan so that myself and Miles Daisher could jump off.

check the video

Climbing.com Interview

2007-02-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

Climbing.com just did a short ten question interview with me: Read the interview

BASE Jumping Movies.com

2007-02-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

I just created a new web site: BASEJumpingMovies.com Right now it is mostly just my personal BASE movies but I will be adding stuff from other people, too.

basejumpingmovies.com

Zion, Disco Inferno

2006-03-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

It was my last day in Zion and Chris and I had one more route before I left for some Nevada mining. The Legendary Joe French suggested Disco Inferno as our final bigwall crag’n route. Joe is a talented and very adventurous climber with a wealth of information about the local faces and peaks.

View full story and photos here

Gone Sufferin', Zion's Rodeo Queen

2006-03-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

When the haulbags were almost packed, Ammon turned to me holding a piece of plywood wrapped in an ensolite pad with duct tape. Always looking like the merry pirate, he flashed a big grin. It was a look that implied we should be psyched he was bringing such a comfy belay seat.

Instead, I looked back at him and said, “We don’t really NEED that, do we?” After all, we had never done a speed wall together that would take so long that you would need a belay seat.

“Are you kidding?” he shot back, looking a little confused.

Suddenly I got it. “Whoa. Its going to be one of THOSE walls?”

“Yeah man. You have no idea the suffering you are getting into.”

View full story and photos

Zion, Cosmic Egg Trip Report

2006-03-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

It was 11:30am and Chris and I were still sitting around drinking coffee. The aches and pain of the Streaked Wall still lingered with my muscles in my neck and back. The thought of putting on my harness on my bruised and raw hips made me wince. I sucked it up, gave Chris a smile and said, “Let’s send it”.

View full trip report and photos here

Onsight hot air balloon flying

2006-02-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

So, anyone here flown a hot air balloon before?

Miles D.: Nope.
Mark Ridley.: Nope
Chris Mac: Nope

but really, how complicated can it be?

Minutes later, the envelope was smoking as the flame singed a 2 x 2 foot patch. no holes, no fire... no problem.

Miles D. on the first flight. Mark Ridley tries to keep the balloon from flying onto the neighbors house.

With a little ice farming, Twin Falls could be an ice climbing mecca.

Nevada does have its moments.

A REALLY big snowboard jump

2006-02-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

I had it all worked out in my mind. Lots of speed. Front grab with left hand. Pilot chute with right hand. Spin 90 left to get square on-heading opening.

It didn't quite work out that way.

I rotated 90 degrees when i pulled... just 90 the wrong direction. So. Uh. The good news is I had an on heading opening. Uh. The bad news is that i was heading into the wall. Fortunately, I had launched away from the cliff enough to get it turned around in time.

Shane McConkey graded the jump a D+ and added: "Don't worry, a D+ is almost as good as an A"

Later, while studying the video he changed his mind. "Sorry, man, you corrected your heading too fast. I have to give you a C- "

That sucks. D+ is almost as good as A. C- is just C-.

Ill be back to work on my GPA.

Twin Falls Hot Air Balloon Delivery

2006-01-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

Monday Jan 30 in lodi. cold. about to storm.

[paraphrase]
Me: man, there is nobody to jump with. its hard to find people as agro as me...
Jimmy H: Yeah, there is only one person more agro than you. and he lives in twin falls. wait, maybe you should call him..

i call Miles D

Miles D: dude, I have a hot air baloon in Truckee, any way you could deliver it?
Me: i am getting in my car right now. cya

4 hours later i have told two chain control people: of course this car is all wheel drive. which bmw coupe is not?

i get a call from Mike V (owner of balloon): so, what kinda car you have? is it big?
me: 2 door hatchback... but it is the cargo van of 2 door hatchbacks.

somehow we get a hot air balloon, two propane tanks, one rig, two snowboards and lots of randon stuff in my car.

me: hey miles, i am driving to twin falls!
miles: nice, bro! you got the bungee cords, right?
me: uhhhhh (turning my car around and driving back to truckee): yeah, i was just about to pick those up.

tal: do you think we can fit all these bungee cords...
me: oh yeah. its not like i HAVE to be able shift

i drive 8 hours through snow,snain, ice. show up in twin falls at 8am.

miles: no way. i can't believe all this fit in your car. wait a minute... these propane tanks are half full. sketch! you were driving a car bomb.

me: yeah, but all that extra weight turned this car into a subaru. it was solid.

The cargo van of 2 door hatchbacks.

Pink... Mike didn't say anything about pink!" - Miles D

The next few days yielded some great weather as well as some more interesting conditions:

I think the bridge is over there somewhere...

I don't know why people don't come to Twin Falls in the winter.

Check out a little movie of the jump:

www.chrismcnamara.com/miles_fog2.mov

The Nose In January

2006-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

I want to climb El Cap every month this year. On January 24th, I still hadn’t found anyone to climb with. It looked like I was going to have to solo something… which would probably involve suffering and cold temperatures. Not cool.

Lincoln Else saved me from that fate. At 9pm on the night of the 24th, he said he could climb. However, the very next day was the last sunny looking weather for January. I couldn’t leave San Francisco until 11pm so I got to Yosemite at 2:30am and woke up at 6am.

We pulled got to El Cap just after 7am. As we were ready to walk to the base, I realized I didn’t have a harness. I guess after 3.5 hours of sleep, my brain wasn’t fully on. So on the drive back to Link’s house to get a harness, I drank the equivalent of two Red Bulls on top of the two cups of coffee I had had earlier. I might have had a bad caffeine twitch, but at least I was now awake.

We started climbing just after 8am. The sun hit us on Sickle Ledge and for me it would be t-shirt climbing for most of the route. The lighting on El Cap in winter is exceptional. The sun light is much softer—like its perpetually late-afternoon. There was nobody else on the wall. It was a good place to be.

Lincoln also wants to climb El Cap every month this year. Since I had climbed 6 walls in December and was in better wall shape, I would lead this entire climb. Then in December, Lincoln would lead the whole route and I would jug.

The route was mostly dry for the first half. Occasionally I would put my hand in a dry-looking crack to find water running in the back. But, this was the exception, not the rule.

On the King Swing, we could hear our friends in the meadow cheered us on. Thanks Dov, Brandon, Naomi and crew! Its too bad with the belay location, wasn’t able to watch Link do the main part of the King Swing. But I did get to watch the last crux big were suddenly a hand, then another hand, latched onto an arête. Next, Links body slowly and carefully did the delicate “horizontal mantel.” I still have not found a cooler pendulum on El Cap… except maybe on the Pacific Ocean Wall.

Me on the King Swing.

At Camp IV, the summer-like conditions on the route ended abruptly. Water from the Muir Wall dripped down on us. The pitch off Camp 4 was partially soaked because water seeped out of every inch of the Great Roof pitch. I was not happy.

Me on the Great Roof

I took my time on the Great Roof. Not only because I was terrified of the tiny alien placements in wet rock: many of the fixed stoppers looked extremely suspect. This fear was confirmed when I clipped into a few only to have them wiggle out in my hands just before stepping on them. Luckily, the increased fear kept me warm or at least distracted me from the fact that my pants were now soaked (from the water on the rock, not because I was scared).

The next pitch, the Pancake Flake, was dry. Unfortunately, my arms were now locking up from cramps. There was still over 1000 feet of the steepest climbing on the route to go. I got a bit nervous. If my arms kept locking up, was I going to fall unexpectedly in a section I usually runnout? Or were we at least going to move so slowly that we might have to climb at night… in January?

To make things worse, the route seemed to be getting wetter and wetter. The crack below Camp 5 involved jamming a mixture of water, slime and mud. The Glowering Spot pitch was mostly soaked, as was the pitch above the Glowering Spot.

The Glowering Spot

Lincoln definitely helped my psyched shouting up encouragements. He also has the cool habbit of yetting out a cheerful “Yahoo!” scream every time I finished a pitch.

He enjoyed the wet conditions in a different but equally special way. The rope was now soaked and we soon learned a new equation: water + nylon rope = bungee cord. For the rest of the route, the rope would stretch in ways that, well, ropes just shouldn’t. The same principle applied to my aiders. Each time I stepped into them, they sunk down a few inches. Nice.

But the true wet climbing wouldn’t come until above Camp VI. Here, the first 30 of face climbing were drenched by a waterspout in the rock. As I approached this mini-waterfall, I imagined how I would quickly and gracefully climb to the dryer rock above. Of course, as soon as I entered the spicket, I fumbled with the climbing and gear and was soaked in seconds. I was still wearing a t-shirt… but not for long.

Blocking the waterspout with my body.

Somehow, the cramps in my arms worked their way out. instead of topping out at 9pm, as I imagined after finishing the Great Roof, we topped out around 3:30, a little under 7.5 hours after starting. The greatest moment of the climb soon followed as we took inventory of the remaining food: 4 cliff bars, raisins, a granola bar and 9 little squares of chocolate. Big smiles and huge props to Lincoln for such foresight.

The food.

Somehow I envisioned that, even in January, a week of sun would have melted all the snow off the slabs at the edge of El Cap. I could not have been more wrong. Snow was everywhere.

Me starting the descent.

I set up the camera on a log to take a shot of Link and myself. But after setting the self timer and starting to run back over to Link, my foot sunk down three feet into a hole and the following shot resulted.

Anyone who has done the East Ledges descent will appreciate this photo of Lincoln on the slabs between The Nose and Zodiac.

Despite the snow, the descent went quickly. Mainly because Link was going so fast and breaking trail. He managed to find all the big sinkholes like the one in the phot above. Thanks Link! We were back at the car at 5pm, about 9 hours after leaving the Valley. Dov achieved superstar status by picking us up and Manure Pile and driving us back to El Cap Meadow. Here is a final shot of Half Dome I took on the rappels.

Baja Surf Trip Slide Show

2005-12-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

Check out this Quicktime slide show from the latest Baja surf trip

www.chrismcnamara.com/movies/baja_122005_720.mov

The file is 20mb so it may take some time to load. You need QuickTime to watch the movie

Triple Direct, El Capitan, One Day Ascent in December

2005-12-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

I’ve always thought the best time to climb in Yosemite is a warm November. The temperatures on south-facing climbs are perfect. The sun casts a softer light on everything. And you feel like you own the Valley because there is nobody around.

Since this December has been as dry as your average November (or October, for that matter) Hans Florine and I decided an El Cap ascent had to go down. We hadn’t climbed together in 9 years since we did the first one day ascent of the Muir Wall.

I left the Valley for El Cap meadow at 6:30 just as daylight was creeping into the Valley. I took this shot of Half Dome.

I realized I didn’t have any food and that there was nothing open. So I can proudly say that this speed ascent was fueled by the vending machine behind the Yosemite lodge:

1 bag Famous Amos cookies
2 Mothers oatmeal cookies
2 snickers bars

I met Hans at 7am. El Cap Meadow was arctic. Ice covered everything and it felt like the forecasted low of 18 degrees. Since we were doing the route in free shoes only, we got to walk to the base with just 5mm of sticky rubber between our feet and the frozen tundra-like ground. For clothes, I just had a t-shirt and a thin polypro top. Two minutes into the approach Hans jokingly suggested turning around and going back to the car for more clothes. But I told him about the phenomenon where the cold sinks to the valley floor and its actually 20 degrees warmer once you get 50 vertical feet up to the base of the route.

“Yeah,” he replied “That is true. But its about 8 degrees warmer, not 20.”

He was right. But I was used to climbing with numb hands from my last week in zion. No biggy.

I started leading and Hans would yell up “That pitch took 8 minutes, at this rate we will have a time of…” Every so often he would call up and recalculate our projected top-out time. “Well, its now taking you about 10 minutes a pitch…” Hans clearly earns his title as being one of the best and most enthusiastic speed climbers in the world.

At pitch 3 we climbed into the sun. It would be T-shirt temps to the top.

Here I am on pitch 4:

On Mammoth Terrace, a team called down from about two thirds the way up Sunkist. “What’s the weather look like for the next few days?” I was really hoping that we would have El Cap to ourselves. But if we had to share it with someone, then it at least it was cool that these guys were doing such a demanding route. I couldn’t even imagine the sub-freezing temperatures they had to endure between 5pm and 7am. “Good weather for at least two days” I screamed back up. We were the personal el cap weather service for the day. There was a purpose to our climb after all.

I led the first 16 pitches in a little over 2 and half hours and then Hans took over. He got the crux aid pitch, a long and sustained C2 corner. I was going to give him the two bigger and more comfy aiders, but he insisted on taking just one of the smallest ones. “The more uncomfortable you are in the aiders the faster you move. The ideal might be to just have 4mm cord… but that could cut through your arch.”

While I still was still in a two aider world, I had to admit that he moved FAST. Two and a half hours later, we were on Camp VI on The Nose.

Here is Hans on the traverse into The Nose

Here is Hans leading the great roof:

Hans on the Pancake Flake

I took back over the lead. I now have that last part of the nose pretty wired, so I only took half the rack and made it last for four pitches. This meant that I topped out with three micro-cams and no extra biners. Hans had to jug with it all of it… which is not fun on the severely overhanging last pitch. Sorry hans.

Me leading the last pitch

We topped out in 6:27 which was a new fastest time for the route. On top, we stuffed 2 x 2 inch pieces of foam pad in the heels of our climbing shoes. This is a trick Peter Croft gave Hans. It made a big difference on the descent.

Team Primary Colors on top.

The view from the top. Its winter up there in the high country!