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Hey I have an idea-- let's pretend like making a giant, elaborate landing pad in one fixed location is a huge step forward from being able to experience human flight with nothing but a 10lb piece of nylon on your back which allows you to fly and land anywhere you want. This is so futuristic man! I mean, we could have giant piles of cardboard over the entire earth so we can fly and land anywhere without the ridiculous inconvenience of a light weight, low profile backpack on our backs.

Jesus, anyone else not even a little impressed by this? It honestly seems like a huge step backwards to me.

I am impressed. The guy is either retarded, delusional, and/or a liar, OR he ihas HUGE balls and is smart enough to do it in a way that is survivable.

How he will be viewed kinda depends on whether he successfully pulls it off.

I think low-tech can easily be as impressive as high-tech. The guys who started the ball rolling on modern BASE and developed many of the techniques and equipment concepts still in use today were archaic by today's standards. They were badasses, though. And a lot of the jumps they did are still badass.

Rick and Randy's TUOP (2 under one parachute) jump comes to mind. Freefalling a building and deploying a skydiving round canopy was pretty badass. The Hobo jumps were badass. There are plenty of other examples.

Maybe the land-a-wingsuit-on-cardboard guy is an innovator or maybe he's not but even if he pulls it off and makes it look easy, you will still have a hell of a time finding another jumper with the balls to do it and the skills to pull it off.

"He will experience a 60 mph forward speed with a 22mph vertical descent rate – before he brings the speed down slowly."

"Approximately 200ft away from his landing target - a 12ft deep, 350-ftx 45-ft cardboard runway - he must flare his wingsuit to bring his gliding speed down to 50mph and his vertical falling speed to 15mph."

"The whole flight is due to last about 50 seconds."

You will never see me even considering anything like that.

Walt

To your point about having to land specifically where the recycled cardboard boxes are, I don't think the rewards of this experiment are all that valuable to the human flight community. I agree with you that the freedom afforded us by our canopies is a pretty wonderful thing, indeed.

With that said, I see this as more of a stunt. And if it's viewed as nothing more than that, I can allow myself to be somewhat impressed, in that a human being is daring enough to dream, and daring enough to explore uncertain boundaries, which is a spirit largely lost from society today.

But I'm inclined to believe this stunt will do little to advance our activity, because even if landing sans canopy becomes highly refined, it will require fixed locations and extraordinary flying skills.

Big, big, big ball sack on this dude, though. No doubt.

Actually, I think being able to actually land a wingsuit is a good first step, regardless of how cumbersome the process is at the moment.

The box pile becomes a test bed for developing suits that someday will allow people to fly and land their 3-pound piece on nylon on their bodies wherever they want -- without a box pile or the runway Jeb has in mind.

44

I am very curious to how this is going to play out! Curious as to what this will bring the sport, given it will take some time.

Me too. Very curious as to how this will go.

One thing that will always inhibit us from truly landing our wingsuits wherever we want is the fact that our bones are not hollow like birds' bones. Even if we become highly skilled and anorexic skinny like the nordic ski jumpers who most impressively fly their bodies, our skeleton and the amount of water our bodies carry will always weigh too much for the surface area that we are able to fly in the form of a wingsuit. As wingsuits grow bigger and bigger and we use batons etc... to increase surface area, we evolve further and further toward an item that already exists that can be landed: the hang glider.

I believe that for landings to occur without arduous and expensive catcher rigs, the line will be blurred as to whether what is being flown is a hang glider or a wing suit.

The point of a jump (any jump) isn't to advance "our activity." It's for an individual to do something that they want to do. That's the whole purpose of virtually all recreational activities that humans engage in.

Deciding to do whatever it is you want to do--an aerial from 150', landing in a pile of boxes (or a giant waterside, or a stuntman's airbag), kicking a ball set on a ledge in free fall, or whatever else--is just a matter of wanting to do something. There is really no rational reason for any of it. People who are crazy enough to jump off stuff with a parachute on are probably crazy enough to do a lot of other pointless stuff, too.

I once heard a wise man say "we jump to feel feelings--that's it." That's a pretty good summary of why we jump, and also why we choose to do any particular jump.

In the final analysis though, there's no excuse for most our behavior.

Landing in these boxes reminds me (a little) of guys learning to land back-flips into a foam pit. Sure, landing in a foam pit looks a little lame, but you are still doing a back-flip, and you are working towards landing one on hard ground.

If he is successful, however lame people here think he looks, he will still be the first to land a Wingsuit. You have to start somewhere, right?

I agree with you, Tom. Hence,


I hope he enjoys the hell out of the jump. And it doesn't have to have any purpose higher than that. I was merely responding to the question of whether this was necessary. And no, it isn't necessary and doesn't need to be to legitimize the jump.

~ Chris

I'm impressed! I just hope that with all of his experience he remembers to leave part of his rig outside his suit.


I hope he lives and drinks tea and Champagne.

Haters gonna hate.

Walt, JT and Tom, I think you're all right on. Walt, thanks for the kudos on the TUOP jump, actually, when Smitty got us to do it first in 82 at High Bridge, we called it TWOP, (two with one parachute). Same deal. Tom A helped us with one out in Twin a few years ago. Anyway, times change and so do skills and technology. I applaud anyone who even tries to land a wingsuit. It will happen and beyond. It's the nature of mankind especially in aviation. My only question is what is wrong with a long glacier, like Mt. Blanc in France or some other. Seems like a more forgiving landing area, but I'm not the person trying this one. Best of Luck to whoever makes it and WALKS Away. That is the goal isn't it??
Rick H
cliffleaper
38

Well, for one thing, southern boy, glaciers are usually pretty effing rough and in most cases, not steep at all.



To me the primo landing zone at this stage of wingsuit landing development is on a speed skiing run: groomed to great smoothmess and extremely steep. People ski those slopes at 150 mph+, so landing a wingsuit on one at <100 mph should be pretty doable, especially with some sort of runners on the front of the suit.

Simpler, safer and less expensive than Jeb's plan, more elegant than the box pile.

JT, WTF, monn? Why haven't you already done this?

44

Concur generally with where you think wingsuit development will go, though it was in fact the removal of battens from the equation that reduced the fatality rate for wingsuit wearers (or batwing jumpers, as they were known) from 75 percent to, well, a lot less than that now. Reintroducing battens now, using semi-rigid materials, may overcome that particular obstacle, as will the addition of skids and/or wheels because, no matter how close we approach hang glider wing loadings, a better landing analogy will be rigid gliders, which also need wheels and/or skids because we can't slow them down enough to stick the landing like we do on a parachute or hang glider.

Finally, the line of difference between wingsuits and hang gliders may be approached but but it will never blur because there will always be one cardinal distinction; you fly inside one and hang below the other.

44


P.S. The coolest thing about what Gary and Jeb are working towards is that here we are already discussing how landing wingsuits without parachutes is going to develop!

Along those same lines, maybe a long stretch of perfectly straight highway at a bit of an incline could be landed on with a street luge type setup on ones belly. Those things can even brake so wouldn't be too out of the realm of possibility to land and slow down as opposed to just sliding uncontrollably down a snow slope and probably tomahawking ones way towards serious injury/death.

The ground rush must be insane!

Since a wingsuit essentially is a 2 kg fighter-jet (with no motors, landing gears or weapons) I think the best way to land it in a short distance will be like landing on an aircraft carrier. Mount a hook to your leg and catch a brake-line, then quickly move your elbow and hands into the landing-gear position. Fit a large skid-pad on the forearms - these also act as a rigid leading edge in flight. What can possibly go wrong? Trust your rears, never give up the gate. Safety third.

The old land a wingsuit on a speed skiing slope idea... THere are many flaws to this totally survivable plan.

1) a wingsuit is the exact opposite article of clothing of a speed skier's suit. a WS creates too much drag for going fast down a speed ski slope. I have skied in a wingsuti and it gets squirrely at high speeds. any assymetry will spin or tumble the person going for it.
2) sliding on snow that fast burns skin
3) belly sliding gives zero suspension, could break spine. If you watch a bunch of speed ski videos, you will be amazed how much they use their knees.
4) flaring a wingsuit out to slow down changes angle of attack such that you are more head high than the hill, your body will scorpion on impact

I would much rather biff into a bunch of powder snow, and that is totally doable, match the slopes when the snow is ultra deep and just go for it and tumble like hell. you could get away with that and somebody will someday, but as a skier who has tomahawked down 1700ft of swiss mountain in 2010... I avoid a repeat of that act.

Woohoo! Glad you survived your epic tomahawk with apparently no lasting damage.

Thanks for the perspective on the speed ski run landing. Dumb idea, I guess. Never mind.

44

 
No update on this? The BBC web site said it would be "a couple of days", and that was a week ago...

Maybe he is sorting out his life insurance, I'm pretty sure his premiums went up after the press release

http://xcweather.co.uk/forecast/oxford

Been like this pretty much for the last 8-10 days.


Laters

Julian

Maybe that was his plan all along.
Go to the press and say he will land his wingsuit on a good weather day in the UK.

And we all fell for it.

in the US, USPA and the FAA would seriously frown upon jumping a single parachute system from an airplane. BUT that would most safely permit a low altitude abort.

I wonder how he convinced the British organization(s) to allow this?

(I hope his boxes don't get wet...)

Re: wet boxes... Or not blown away...

Any word on this guy's attempt?

He is in brento waiting for the best weather,,,and keeping current..

Gary Connery's wingsuit landing attempt is on for Wednesday!

Should be able to see it live here ~~> clicky at 0400 PST
Goodluck Gary. Break a leg.

Good luck Gary!
Wishing you all the best from Johannesburg base crew and SA.

thanks the link and time conversion ! good luck gary

Been watching Sky TV all night at work. They have been running the interview with Gary and his wife regularly. He has made one practice jump (with canopy).

Still waiting on the real jump.

Best of luck, Gary!!!

Walt

Two practice jumps, and more than half way to build the landing. Latest update I got on FB

Sky News has been showing a bunch of House of Commons debate, but they just made the announcement that the jump is coming up.

Walt

LIVE TV link here:

http://news.sky.com/...p/liveTV/liveTv.html

1pm-3pm UK time.

JUmp within 15 min!!!!

They just announced that the jump should be taking place in about 15 min.

Current time is 7:50am U.S. Central time

Walt

https://twitter.com/#!/roddymansfield

newsupdates at twitter

Deleayed attempt

the "pull-up" flare before opening is pretty impressive

Yes it is. He is also taking the test jumps quite low for a skydive--so is his video guy.

BTW, best of luck to the video guy too!

Walt

The suspense is killing me....

Use "Hide My IP" software if videa is not playing.

Better quality here:
http://go.sky.com/...nt/detachedLiveTv.do

"The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last." ~ Oscar Wilde

or

"The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts forever." ~ Willy Wonka

"We will keep you on track of his movements. But we probably won't bring it to you live...for um...obvious reasons."

That's an optimistic newscaster...

There will be a 10-second, on purpose delay in TV broadcast.

According to twitter take off in 10 min! Fingers crossed!

Getting in the helicopter right now as we speak!!!

here we go!

HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! unscrached!!!!

Sir, you are the baddest mutherfucker on the planet.


Walt

"safe landing and a new world record #Wingman"

...but no piccies / video I can see yet

They keep showing it here.....
http://news.sky.com/...p/liveTV/liveTv.html

OMG my heart stopped when I saw how unstable he was for first few seconds...hes giving interviev now and says the landing was super soft!

That was pretty amazing! I'm sure there will be plenty of haters, but I'm not one of them. That was awesome!

+1

KNIGHTHOOD!

once the video hits youtube wingsuit and Cardboard box sales are going to go up!

it was a pretty cool stunt.

+1

The noise of when he hit , i was like fuck..

I still cant believe he FUCKEN DID IT

AWESOME MATE

you legend

its been a good week for aviation! Private space companies launching rockets into space and man dressed in squirrel costume lands in cardboard boxes.

I was thinking the same thing. He deserves at least that.

Walt

Amazing!!! WTG Gary Connery!

I wonder if he wore a rig for the attempt in case he decided to bail out, altitude permitting, or if he did without to lower the risk of a back injury during the (crash-) landing...


Planet-sized ballz of titanium anyway!

Fucking awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IRC_b4g7Sg

 
What's the going rate on boxes? keeping in mind that 90% of them can be reused. It's got to be about 10,000 times cheaper then the "Big Ramp" idea. How do you nominate some one for a Knighthood?

Lee

More than any other historic moment I have seen on live television, I *felt* this one. Holy shit.

Walt

now we need to land a tracking suit!!! :-)

I wonder how much all of those boxes cost? anyone know how many boxes were used?

Probably to not change his flight dynamics since he trained with a rig on.

18600 boxes at a cost of £22000 or so they say

Truly amazing, nothing but total respect. Congratulations. Every time I think something is totally impossible I am proven wrong. Thank you bro for showing us :)

Jeb

I think like 18,000 boxes was the number being tossed around.

Totally agree! Couldn't stop smiling for half an hour
Actually...... still smiling

/Micke

Or 1.5% of the US$2M Jeb wanted.

Yeah Gary! A living legend! Kighthood, I agree, biggest balls in the world right now.
My heart is still pounding and I can't wipe this smile off my face

So where does it go from here? I fully expect others to attempt this stunt in the near future. Changes to wingsuit design, permanent landing areas?

In any case, much respect to Gary for being the catalyst to some new and exciting adventures for many.

Take-off with a WS would be nice too

could just use Jeb's Ramp for that. Put some elastic bands at the bottom and sling shot the wingsuiter up the ramp.

it could be a perminent object for take off and landings in the future.

The increased demand for boxes price them out of reach for the European people thus adding to the foreclosure rate since people cannot move from their homes. This causes a rise in homelessness, which creates a swell in unpaid taxes, causing the Euro to further crash and Greece to be bought by Emirates Airlines. Arsenal Moves to "the country formally known as Greece" (Now just a symbol) which causes riots in North London. They blame newly elected Prime Minister Sir Gary Connery who out of desperation blames the US for price gouging the lumber used to make cardboard. To smooth things over Jeb attempts to land a wingsuit in one box of British pudding, but fails to hit the pudding because "of a balloon." He recovers without medication 10 days after the rapture, but doesn't notice he's the only one still alive. Damnit Gary!

Goodnight.

 

Hats off! Massive balls mate.

I think you have just opened up further doors in the world of human flight. Especially as this looked quite a slow impact? - Video maybe misleading though.

For those asking, the criteria, and how to nominate someone for a UK Honour

http://www.direct.gov.uk/...sandmedals/DG_067917

hahahaha you were paying way too much attention to the skynew channel before the big jump...

Nut up or shut up. That was bad ass. Well done dude.

- Grease

Wondering what Jeb is thinking right now :D

We spent about about 6 hours building the box rig with c. 18,000 boxes - probably a couple of hundred of us. It was a mammoth effort and the hottest day of the year so far so exhausting!

The actual jump I will remember for a long time - heart in mouth and the noise when he hit was crazy. The wobbles early in the flight were quite un-nerving, nothing like that on any of the practise jumps I saw but there was a shit load more pressure and some 'turbuleence'. He nailed it when it counted and the flare was f-ing epic! A really humble guy too - he came round and thanked every one of the helpers individually during the morning and was super chilled and cool although I did feel for his wife!

So proud to have been even a tiny part of the day and Gary, you are a legend! Well done and drink some beer now dude!

congratulation dude

Now give us your helmet video, the ground rush should be amazing

Simply the ballsiest thing I've ever seen, real shit-or-bust stuff. Congratulations Gary!

Maybe we should get some few of this to next WBR at the lake at Hellesylt? Anyone interested?

http://www.youtube.com/...0&feature=relmfu

Very impressive landing, and he kept me at the computer all day long waiting for updates. Well done Gary

Amazing! Complete respect for a relatively unknown who brought a new skill set (and mind set) to accomplish something so many have dreamed about for so long. Congratulations from down under.

Jeb-the man in black - 0
Gary-the man in boxes - 1

Evel Knievel would be digging that gig.

In my mind what Gary Connery has done elevates what Jeb and other proximity flyers have done because of the way he did it.

Gary took the focus off of the person and put it on the accomplishment itself. I saw the interviews. He does not come across like a larger-than-life fame-seeking adrenaline freak who walks with a swagger, and is constantly telling the world how amazing he is.

Quite the opposite. He rather quietly said what he was going to do and did it, turning part of our world upside down by showing us that the ground is no longer the limit.

I have a new respect for those who hug the ground when they fly.

Hats off to you Gary.

And hats off to you, Jeb.

Walt

What is so impressive to me is that it isn't a slope. He didn't match the angle and gently touch down. none of that. Just a flat field near where he lives.

Amazing stuff

double thumbs up Gary!

you stuck the snot out of it and it was as simple as just rallying all your friends and doing it.

way to go!!

Very cool! Nice work to all involved! Amazing stuff!

All I can say is ..... AMAZING! Hat's of on an amazing performance. Who would of thought it was just that simple. Truly visionary stuff !!!

Only 35,000USD worth of cardboard boxes, a field and a big ass wingsuit. Who's next?

very cool! congrats Gary!

http://www.itv.com/...r-of-stuntmans-jump/

Camera man POV and landing shot.

That's cool, scary and completely f@cked up all in one. Well done Gary!

Wish I'd been there instead of the office...

awesome. so cool.

Man, the feeling Gary must have felt when he came to a stop in the boxes! If there ever was a time someone could quote Charlie Sheen and say "winning", this is it!
My admiration for you and your accomplishment Gary is so enormous, hats of!! Hope you come to Norway and Romsdalen for some nice flight someday, you will be treated like a king! Rock on!!
Magnus

Wonderful. That's it, wonderful.

two days later and I still have a stupid grin on my face

well done Gary totally awesome

This is so funny and so awesome at the same time. I mean, after years of talk by Jeb here comes this guy and just does it with a box rig. No BS and just does it. I have huge respect for this guy and how he handled the whole situation.

"Where are all the huge Red Bull singns?" someone asked on youtube :D another one said "if Jeb had done it there would have been different sponsor on every box".

As I was watching the helmet cam footage I noticed the same thing and thought...huh...it's true...some of the best jumpers in the world are the ones you never really hear about.

You da man Gary. The only other daredevil of this magnitude other than you that I would tip my hat to is (RIP) Evel Knievel. Congratulations amigo.

Awesome Gary, Way to go! cant believe you did it. and great landing.

Also, Congrats for not spending 2million.

As someone else said, still walking around with a grin on my face Polish TV news made a few minute long report on the landing plus a bit of basic info about wingsuit flying, I thought that it sucked and the information was chaotic but hey, thats only second time I see them covering wingsuit flying, first being Jebs "touch and go"

Here's the official news release link.

Well he said ' build of pile of boxes in a field and I'll land in them' ...... and he did!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/...x=0&feature=plcp

Now that he has successfully pulled it off, what do you think? Step backward or step forward?

Still not impressed?

Walt

Nothing against either of these guys, but how about Dar Robinson?

Carl Boenish thought poorly of Dar.

Jeb fans are already dissing Gary's accomplishment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k
See the second comment with over 10 thumbs up. Fucking retards.

Yea, maybe, but I asked your impression.

I heard some comments about his lack of ability as a pure skydiver, but some of his stunts were pretty cool. The first plane-to-plane freefall, I believe; the cn tower jumps, and others. I saw a special once that showed a bunch of them together.

What the fuck is your problem?

Just to remind you there have been great stunts before. Gary went on to the future, but he could not have done it without the knownledge and experience others have been seeking and found. Im sure he also own Jeb for the inspiration as Jeb also own the opener of the crack for his famous flying trough there. And so on. It is a domino effect of happenings what makes the great athletes today.

Dar Robinson In 1979 he set the world record for a free-fall from a helicopter, dropping 311 feet (95 m) onto an airbag.

I agree with you that there's no need for that kind of name calling. I'm guessing he's as tired as I am of all the hype/BS thrown out by many of the high-profile jumpers--skydiving and BASE. If he does not like it, he can simply ignore it.

It seems like every high-profile jump (and some not so high-profile jumps) these days is labeled a "project" and, even though it may be technically nowhere near leading edge, it is hyped like it's on a level with the second coming of Christ.

Yeah it sucks, but I just ignore it. I'm pretty sure I'm not in the demographic that Red Bull is trying to appeal to, so they won't miss me any.

No need to slam the high-profile jumpers who are constantly hyping themselves and what they do, but I agree we could use more people like Gary.

Walt

Yeah, real people. People who don't need sponsors. Low-profile folks who do what they do without press releases and cameras and crews and all that crap.

Gary is a professional stuntman. Perhaps you like his attitude better (which is fair enough), but let's not start to pretend that he doesn't engage in pretty much all of what you just finished saying irritates you about "every high-profile jump".

Edit to add: To be clear, I think the jump was awesome -- impressive work that Gary made look easy. And I have no problem at all with professionals. I just find it comical how the community chooses to adore some of them and despise others.

It's more a matter of degree than it is the actual activity. I don't despise Jeb or RBAF. Nor do I worship them.

I am tired of them, though, and that's really odd because I have never met any of them.

Remember when the word "extreme" started being "extremely" overused and became a joke? We saw programs like Stunt Junkies with really contrived stunts and people constantly trying to come up with newer and dumber ways to outdo their previous stunt.

I think I have reached a saturation point. For me, the sheer volume of stunts and hype diminishes the sense of wonder toward any one of them and that's a shame.

In television terms, I think they have "jumped the shark".

Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic earned him a sort of immortality. Even though I view Gary's stunt as being every bit the milestone that Lindberg's flight was, it will probably have been forgotten by the media in another week or two.

Will Felix Baumgartner's high altitude freefall be remembered in the same way as Joe Kittinger's? I doubt it.

Again, I'm not knocking any of anyone--I've just reached a saturation point and have developed an appreciation for those who turn the volume down a notch.

edited to add:
"just find it comical how the community chooses to adore some of them and despise others."

My theory is that we live in a melodrama-fueled society where everyone must be viewed as a "good guy" or a "bad guy", but that's a whole different discussion. And on that point, I wholeheartedly agree that it's comical. I'm not viewing any of the high profile jumpers as good guys or bad guys, though. There's plenty of room for all--I'm just tired of the level of hype and the sheer volume of public stunts in the same way that I am tired of politicians constantly screaming their views.

Walt

Are you so certain that Kittinger's jump is remembered? I'm going to ask around work tomorrow -- see who can tell me what Kittinger did, and just for kicks, who can tell me what Lindberg did. I'm betting not a single person can answer the first question, and maybe less than 50% the second, but we'll see.

What Gary did was awesome, and despite that won't be remembered by everybody, but while you're lamenting that, see if you can come up with the name of the person who invented the polio vaccine off the top of your head. Or the transistor. Perhaps even one person involved in the beginnings of the Hubble Space Telescope? The first person to spend a year in space? Or the first to pilot a land vehicle over the speed of sound?

Dr. Jonas Salk--and yes, that was off the top of my head.

I can't remember the inventors of the transistor off the top of my head (i should know that) but I remember William Shockley inventing the Shockley diode and I think he may have been one of the inventors of the transistor but would not bet on it.

Asking about people involved in the beginnings of the Hubble Telescope is a bit far-fetched. I'm sure that *thousands* of people were and I have no doubt I personally know some of them.

No clue on the first person to spend a year in space and I didn't even know that someone had piloted a land vehicle past the speed of sound.

Your point is well taken, though. To me, Kittinger's jump was a big thing but I'm just interested in that kind of stuff. Same with Gary's jump.

Not so much on the space stuff. Gary's jump blew me away a *lot* more than Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon--and I watched it when it happend. I think the reason for that is because I could actually comprehend Gary's jump.

Anyway, I get your point. I still think we are way oversaturated on the "extreme" sports stuff, though.

BTW, I mentioned that I thought all this stuff had "jumped the shark"?

Here's the proof.

Is that not one of the most contrived stunts you have ever seen?

Personally, I think they should have had *me* designing the stunt. Fuck swooping over sharks and hitting a small target.

I would have put a small platform in the middle of a huge pool filled with shit, piss, blood, and every kind of fucked up, but non-lethal nasty stuff I could think of. Then I would have held an accuracy contest.

The winners land dry. The losers, instead of risking being eaten alive by sharks would have faced total humiliation by landing in sewage in front of an audience of millions. Now *that* would be a stunt! LOL

Walt

Popular Mechanics article about the jump

http://www.popularmechanics.com/...174357?click=pm_news

Wow, that mag has changed since I last saw it years ago!

Walt

Now, here's a real stunt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7S5BP-tvR8

^ LOL!!! Holy shit! HAHAHAHA!!

man, your latino saying epitomizes base. paint oneself into a corner and struggle to find an intelligent escape.

Spectacular!

Made it look easy.