Danny MacAskill has gone back to his roots for his latest video, The Ridge, riding a mountain bike on the Cuillin Ridge on his home island, Skye.
Knife-edged and treacherous, the Cuillin Ridge is a famously hard series of mountains. The full traverse "should not be your first ambition in the Cuillin unless you are a highly competent mountaineer," says skyeguides.co.uk. Perfectly sensible place to ride a mountain bike then.
Growing up on Skye, says MacAskill, he always wondered if he could ride his mountain bike up on the ridge. In this video, he finds out.
It's great to see MacAskill bringing his skills to some old school wild mountain biking. This is the type of riding I fell in love with back in the mountain bike boom of the 1980s, though I did a lot more walking and falling off than MacAskill.
56 thoughts on “Video: Danny MacAskill goes back to his roots in The Ridge”
Backlash from the “titty
Backlash from the “titty mansion video” too much so do the classic “back to my roots” manoeuvre?
Wow. Parts of that made me
Wow. Parts of that made me feel sick.
I thought I’d been pretty
I thought I’d been pretty cool getting to the top of the Inn Pinn but it turns out that unless you carry a bike up you’re not even trying…
Respect to that man!
Amazing video. There are
Amazing video. There are climbs I would not think of going up without a bike, let alone with one. I very much enjoyed watching this. The way Danny dealt with the fence was good.
There were bits of that where
There were bits of that where the risk assessment went:
Identify Risk: Falling
Possible outcome: Death
Likelihood of outcome: 100%
Mitigation: None possible
Some of that made my wife feel physically ill.
Disappointing. The only climb
Disappointing. The only climb was the easy side of the Inn Pin, at moderate, carrying the bike. I thought he might make it onto the top of the Cioch, at least.
felixcat wrote:Disappointing.
Make sure to share your video when you do that and show him how it should be done eh?
David Arthur wrote:felixcat
Certainly would if I could, but then again, I don’t exhibit my exploits on the web.
As it happens, I think I could carry a bike to the top of the Cioch, and strike a pose astride it there.
felixcat wrote:David Arthur
Certainly would if I could, but then again, I don’t exhibit my exploits on the web.
As it happens, I think I could carry a bike to the top of the Cioch, and strike a pose astride it there.— felixcat
Yeah, complete rubbish. Why even bother? It’s a shame you won’t be making a video, I’m sure it would be loads better.
If I did make a video I
If I did make a video I wouldn’t use a helicopter to make the Cuilin hideous.
I am no good on the bike tricks, but I have soloed Skye routes rather harder than anything in this video.
Anyway, I don’t boast and I don’t stick stuff up on the internet. I mention what I have done not to boost myself, because many people have done much more on the gabbro, but to say that even my feeble efforts are comparable.
I can see from the attempted sarcasm that I have touched a tender spot criticising the hero. I do think that the tricks in this clip are fine, but nothing beyond his earlier astounding feats. The climbing side of it is not impressive though.
why would you use a
why would you use a helicopter?
if you have soloed skye routes, did you carry a 34lb+ bike on your back? and i guess danny has far less experience then you?
badbobb wrote:why would you
Some of the shots on the video seem to be taken from a helicopter.
badbobb wrote:why would you
Without wanting to get involved in this argument, I am a crap climber and I have soloed and down climbed routes at that grade carrying rucksack full of ropes and climbing gear, which weights similar to a bike. So I doubt carrying any weight would be a problem to felixcat.
I can’t watch the video because I am at work, but I know the ridge a bit and wouldn’t try biking it!.
felixcat wrote:If I did make
why would you use a helicopter?
if you have soloed skye routes, did you carry a 34lb+ bike on your back? and i guess danny has far less experience then you?
badbobb wrote:
if you have
I have no idea how much climbing experience MacAskill has. I am, like you, in awe of his bike skills. The climbing sequences do not impress me as much.
Google “Cioch” and take a good look at this amazing rock feature. Hanging in space is a flat area big enough for a cool and skilled cyclist like MacAskill to ride around. It is halfway up a thousand foot face, and juts out into nothingness. The route up to it is a long winding climb a lttle more difficult than the Inn Pin. If you ever get a chance go up there. It is not technically difficult, though exposed as climbers put it. I would have loved to see what MacAskill could do with it.
badbobb wrote:…did you carry
Danny didn’t, that’s for sure.
felixcat wrote:
……… As
Then I stand in awe of a superior being. Personally I would be on my hands and knees, with my eyes closed, praying to all the gods that my knocking knees didn’t shake me over the edge.
mike the bike wrote:felixcat
You are too modest. I have taken non climbers, male and female, up the Cioch, and it gets a grade harder than the easy side of the Inaccessible Pinnacle. If you could climb a ladder you could do that.
Your awe is misplaced.
felixcat wrote:mike the bike
You are too modest. I have taken non climbers, male and female, up the Cioch, and it gets a grade harder than the easy side of the Inaccessible Pinnacle. If you could climb a ladder you could do that.
Your awe is misplaced.— felixcat
did your none climbers ride down?
badbobb wrote:
did your none
I can promise you MacAskill did not ride down the Inacessible Pinnacle. Its usually abseiled.
The video seems to be put together from clips taken in various different parts of the Cuillin. They certainly don’t constitute a narrative of a trip up and down any particular route.
I don’t mean to upset you, but I don’t find this video as impressive as some people here.
That blew me away.
That blew me away.
I’m not going to be trying
I’m not going to be trying for that Strava segment.
i’d be more impressed if he
i’d be more impressed if he did it in the rain…
awesome stuff
Quote: I thought I’d been
I was thinking it was a rule 55 violation 😉
Yep, that didn’t help my
Yep, that didn’t help my vertigo issues at all :S
I like the end shot where he
I like the end shot where he sits on the beach wondering what has happened to the boat he didn’t secure.
If you’ve been on that ridge
If you’ve been on that ridge you’d be even more impressed by what he’s just done! Some of those ledges/ridges are classed as difficult in walking books. Need ropes on two of them!
37038 wrote:If you’ve been on
Which routes are they? I did not recognise anything harder than “moderate”. Please tell me.
Routes which are classified as difficult for walkers are not necessarily very hard. I was never a very good climber but I think I would be quite happy doing anything on this, except the bike tricks. Sumersaulting over a barbed wire fence looked the most frightening thing to me.
so it was easy all round, no
so it was easy all round, no issues even you had Vertigo or did not like heights? or carry a 34lb+ bike said route?
Stunning.
Stunning.
what a beautiful video
what a beautiful video
Eek. Not where a bike should
Eek. Not where a bike should be!
Quote: Some of the shots on
I think you will find they used drones.
Must be Mad wrote:
I think
Oh. I did not think of that possibilty. Rather less noise then. Good.
i think the serious climbers/
i think the serious climbers/ scramblers are missing the point here. the cuillin ridge is stunning and quite intimidating. films like this highlight these virtues. pretty amazing cycling too.
i miss skye. its a wonderful and special place. if the film inspires anyone to go, i hope the sun shines and if it does check out the faery pools
some people are getting
some people are getting confused, this is a film about cycling, that has a tiny bit of climbing, and its being judged on that?
even riding along the edge, with the drop to left, would leave, i am sure, most here, rather nervous! and its stunning photography!
That was a very rare flower
That was a very rare flower he trashed.
The words “Jesus Fuckin’
The words “Jesus Fuckin’ Christ” come to mind!!!!!!
:O
But surely that’s been shot
But surely that’s been shot in a studio or with CGI. It can’t be Skye; I mean, where’s the mist and the rain?
Danny skills are very
Danny skills are very impressive, but there is something in this video that’s even better: the scenery. WOW!
Oh, and that trick near the end when he flips over the fence is pretty cool too.
So he got his bike back then
So he got his bike back then or was he just given another?
Airzound wrote:So he got his
Filmed well before the bike theft. Editing these videos takes a fair bit of time- they’ll have shot hours of film, including more than one camera angle in several places.
Al__S wrote:Airzound wrote:So
Different bikes too.
I got vertigo just watching
I got vertigo just watching that :&
There comes a time when I
There comes a time when I become ‘scared’ that Mr MacAskill might not make it home from one of his video shoots…I’m glad he did this time…but think he really should keep to the urban playground…
That must’ve felt
That must’ve felt amazing…it’s what truly living is.
Somersaulting a barbed wire
Somersaulting a barbed wire fence? Hardly original…. 😀
Loved it, this is his best
Loved it, this is his best for a while. The pieces where he is cycling along the high tracks are true sweaty palm moments – I don’t see any bail out options there.
[The in pinn climb was a bit pointless though. It isn’t trivial to get up there purely because of the mind numbing drops on each side, but you could do it with a bike, or an ironing board, or a swivel chair to strike a pose on the top, and then climb/ab down. But then the pose was the point, it will be the image that gets used in media coverage]
Awesome!
Awesome!
The Skye tourism people must
The Skye tourism people must absolutely LOVE this B-)
… though I’m not so sure the mountain rescue teams will feel the same way.
I went there for holidays as a child, went back a couple of times in the 90s. As well as Danny’s immense skill and seeming lack of fear, this video reminded me what a stunning place it is.
If you have never been and decide to go I can assure you that there are plenty of other places there – and on the mainland – that won’t disappoint.
..get a grip guys, its a very
..get a grip guys, its a very well made ‘film’, and only a film, highlighting the beautiful Isle of Skye of which it is, good advert for cycling and Scotland.
Danny is brilliant in what he does, and cycling on some of those ridges, no matter how he got there, is awesome and a great piece of filming.
Why do we criticise always ‘knock’ people who have great skills and whom are promoting cycling in such a fantastic back-drop, it might just get some people out on their bikes and even visit Skye?
http://www.cutmedia.com/the-ridge-and-breathe/
His life insurance policy
His life insurance policy payments must be astronomical!! :O
I watched that video last
I watched that video last night. I couldn’t *walk* up some of those tracks, let along ride up/down them! Gods, I’d be lying flat on my front holding on with every limb, rather than sitting on my bike. :&
The jump @ 4:52….the fuck.
The jump @ 4:52….the fuck.
There’s a documentary on the
There’s a documentary on the making of this video on BBC Scotland on Friday. Should be good! If you’re not in Scotland you can prob view it on Sky/Freesat (has regional BBC variants) or iPlayer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kntlk
The documentary is well worth
The documentary is well worth a watch. Spoiler: the whole thing was filmed over a period of a couple of weeks.