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Fall of the Phantom Lord: Climbing and the Face of Fear
In 1989, while attempting a new route on a difficult overhanging rock face, climber Dan Osman fell. Again and again, protected by the rope, he fell. He decided then that it would not be in climbing but in falling that he would embrace his fear--bathe in it, as he says, and move beyond it.
A captivating exploration of the daredevil world of rock climbing, as well as a thoughtful meditation on the role of risk and fear in the author's own life.
In the tradition of the wildly popular man-versus-nature genre that has launched several bestsellers, Andrew Todhunter follows the lives of world-class climber Dan Osman and his coterie of friends as he explores the extremes of risk on the unyielding surface of the rock.
Climbing sheer rock faces of hundreds or thousands of feet is more a religion than a sport, demanding dedication, patience, mental and physical strength, grace, and a kind of obsession with detail that is crucial just to survive. Its artists are modern-day ascetics who often sacrifice nine-to-five jobs, material goods, and the safety of everyday life to pit themselves and their moral resoluteness against an utterly unforgiving opponent.
In the course of the two years chronicled in Fall of the Phantom Lord, the author also undertakes a journey of his own as he begins to weigh the relative value of extreme sports and the risk of sudden death. By the end of the book, as he ponders joining Osman on a dangerous fall from a high bridge to feel what Osman experiences, Todhunter comes to a new understanding of risk taking and the role it has in his life, and in the lives of these climbers.
Beautifully written, Fall of the Phantom Lord offers a fascinating look at a world few people know. It will surely take its place alongside Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm as a classic of adventure literature.
A captivating exploration of the daredevil world of rock climbing, as well as a thoughtful meditation on the role of risk and fear in the author's own life.
In the tradition of the wildly popular man-versus-nature genre that has launched several bestsellers, Andrew Todhunter follows the lives of world-class climber Dan Osman and his coterie of friends as he explores the extremes of risk on the unyielding surface of the rock.
Climbing sheer rock faces of hundreds or thousands of feet is more a religion than a sport, demanding dedication, patience, mental and physical strength, grace, and a kind of obsession with detail that is crucial just to survive. Its artists are modern-day ascetics who often sacrifice nine-to-five jobs, material goods, and the safety of everyday life to pit themselves and their moral resoluteness against an utterly unforgiving opponent.
In the course of the two years chronicled in Fall of the Phantom Lord, the author also undertakes a journey of his own as he begins to weigh the relative value of extreme sports and the risk of sudden death. By the end of the book, as he ponders joining Osman on a dangerous fall from a high bridge to feel what Osman experiences, Todhunter comes to a new understanding of risk taking and the role it has in his life, and in the lives of these climbers.
Beautifully written, Fall of the Phantom Lord offers a fascinating look at a world few people know. It will surely take its place alongside Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm as a classic of adventure literature.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 4, 2008
Disappointing. I couldn't really get into this book. I only made it to page 98 of 210.
May 13, 2016
Dan Osman was an enigma. A speed-climber without equal, a free-soloist maverick who climbed without ropes, and enjoyed a life on the impossible crags and cliffs of Yosemite.
His final months were spent developing the new sport of 'rope jumping': stringing a taut high-line across a ravine, and then hanging a swing from the centre of the high line, with a launch point hundreds of feet up, on a cliff. In Yosemite, the cliffs are so high you can build thousand foot free-fall swings, with the most extreme arc at the full stretch of the rope.
But Yosemite National Park has prohibited BASE jumping and other extreme sports including rope-jumping, and practitioners are today involved in a cat and mouse game, to stay away from rangers, while keeping possession of their expensive equipment from law-enforcement. This has unfortunate knock-on effects, and sometimes results in avoidable tragedies.
After setting up his final, record-breaking rope-jump, Osman was pulled over for an expired ticket, and spent a short while in jail. On release, Dan returned to the site of the rope-jump to take down the swing and collect his equipment. Deciding to take one last swing for luck, Dan put his harness on and clipped in. But his gear had been exposed to the elements during his incarceration, and was fatally damaged. That was Dan's final jump.
Todhunter's book gives the impression of Dan Osman as an innate outlaw. Dan comes across as a fugitive, from the law, from life, and sometimes from the author. Perhaps this is because of the criminalisation of climbers, slackliners and BASE jumpers, but maybe there's something more.
Maybe Dan was never an insider, so he had to live on the edge.
His final months were spent developing the new sport of 'rope jumping': stringing a taut high-line across a ravine, and then hanging a swing from the centre of the high line, with a launch point hundreds of feet up, on a cliff. In Yosemite, the cliffs are so high you can build thousand foot free-fall swings, with the most extreme arc at the full stretch of the rope.
But Yosemite National Park has prohibited BASE jumping and other extreme sports including rope-jumping, and practitioners are today involved in a cat and mouse game, to stay away from rangers, while keeping possession of their expensive equipment from law-enforcement. This has unfortunate knock-on effects, and sometimes results in avoidable tragedies.
After setting up his final, record-breaking rope-jump, Osman was pulled over for an expired ticket, and spent a short while in jail. On release, Dan returned to the site of the rope-jump to take down the swing and collect his equipment. Deciding to take one last swing for luck, Dan put his harness on and clipped in. But his gear had been exposed to the elements during his incarceration, and was fatally damaged. That was Dan's final jump.
Todhunter's book gives the impression of Dan Osman as an innate outlaw. Dan comes across as a fugitive, from the law, from life, and sometimes from the author. Perhaps this is because of the criminalisation of climbers, slackliners and BASE jumpers, but maybe there's something more.
Maybe Dan was never an insider, so he had to live on the edge.
September 27, 2009
I find the author's description on the details of climbing (and falling) hard to understand and visualize. Perhaps it could be depicted better by a movie, not a book, at least not this one.
December 10, 2013
Good book but it focuses more on Todhunter's life than Osman's.
January 15, 2025
This is a very readable book that does a good job of covering the Climbing Biography Basics: the essential vocabulary, rationalization of risk, climber as outlaw/guru/lost soul, neglected partner, utter pointlessness of it all. Osman was a worthy character for this kind of story, with the twist that he was into *falling* every bit as much as climbing as insane as that sounds. But I don't think Osman gave Todhunter quite the level of access he needed to fill out the story, so a good half of the book is filled with the author's own experiences climbing, diving, having a kid and, yes, tracking down Osman for interviews.
May 18, 2025
I know this book is divisive and I get why. I think people went into it thinking it was a biography of Dan Osman and it is definitely not that. Dan Osman is used as a framing device for what the book is actually about, which is imo more about the risks thrill seekers take in their lives and the tolls it takes on their lives and the lives of those who love them. I feel like the author could have just written the book he wanted to write without the use of Dan Osman as a vehicle but I did enjoy learning about Osman so take from that what you will.
December 4, 2020
"...for the sword stroke he could not elude." I had to stop myself from immediately starting to reread. Through the author and Osman, we get a glimpse into the human psyche not offered in many places outside of the climbing community. A balance of what fulfillment means and how our actions impact others.
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November 8, 2021
March 30, 2025
Dan Osman was a unique human
January 25, 2017
I thought this book taught me a lot about climbing and the kind of thinking that takes over a climbers mind. It talks about fear, and the balance between aliveness and recklessness.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews