Undoubtedly the safety gear will be very safe. Belt, braces and more belts just in case.
But they’re only as safe as the thing they’re attached to though! It looks a bit “flimsy” [/quote]
I doubt it is at all flimsy – you’re seeing the gaps, not the large amounts of steel. Wouldn’t have any problem at all doing that – it’s all about trusting the safety gear and knowing it will save you whatever happens.
As for James Kingston, it’s a combination of having confidence in your own ability and being able to switch off or ignore the fear. It’s possible he has no fear at all, but unlikely and it certainly doesn’t sound like that in the clip – the talking to yourself thing (yeah I know he’s making a video, but it sounds like it’s also for his own benefit) is one of the ways I personally cope with the fear when rock climbing. A climb I did recently I was completely unprotected up to 5m off the ground (that was the first place there was anywhere in the rock to attach anything) and it didn’t really bother me that much because I was just thinking about the climbing moves and it was all fairly easy climbing for me – ignoring the fear and confidence that I wasn’t going to fall. I do seem to be able to cope with that sort of thing better than most people, but it’s mainly about being able to control emotions rather than recklessness. Not sure I’d do all that he does, but I think I could happily cope with a lot of that.