This makes me queasy. The headline is dumb since it really has nothing to do with science, but it is disturbing if you don’t like heights.
:: faints ::
I have a truly visceral reaction watching this. It stirs a hardwired primal fear. I don’t understand how anyone can do this, but many people do.
This classic photo of steelworkers sitting on a beam causes a similar reaction in me, though not quite as strong.
My balls tried to go back inside me.
Anything like that actually paralyses me. Literally. Walking up the steps in a lighthouse (with gaps on the risers) many years ago I froze half way up…not able to go up OR down. That was fun.
My son lives 90 minutes away and the road there hugs a coastline with cliff drops…and there is ONE particular bend that brings me out in a cold-friggin-sweat EVERY SINGLE TIME. Coming home is fine because I’m on the land side with cliffs going UP, not down.
I’ve tried watching vids of ‘World’s Most Dangerous Roads’…I just can’t.
:o
You guys are lightweights. If you want a scare, check out what the cool kids are doing in Russia these days:
I don’t have a fear of heights, but I do suffer from intense vertigo. It was the constant motion of the camera that got my head spinning. I also can’t go on any amusement park rides that go upside-down.
Been there. For me it’s the intense nausea and fear of losing my balance.
That video is pretty freaky, but the picture of the beam steelworkers scare me more because they aren’t holding onto anything and could just fall over backward.
I actually did prolonged exposure therapy for fear of heights many moons ago. It was to prepare me for a series of long flights (I had no experience flying.) It consisted of spending about an hour a day leaning over the railing of the top floor of a parking structure (the closest tall thing we could find.)
It helped me to learn to tolerate that nauseated anxious feeling but didn’t kill my fear of heights altogether. The good news is I have really no problem with flying anymore.
Gage and DeSoto would have a hell of a time getting those guys down.
Some years back, I saw an IMAX film about flight and the part that kicked me in the gut was the camera riding inside the basket that takes the Shuttle astronauts from the nose of the vehicle to the ground–a half mile away (?)–in about 15 seconds in emergencies. The last few seconds feels strangely like dreaming you’re falling from a great height and waking up just before you hit–when you, IRL, hit the mattress.
*And wow! Hey! What’s this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like … ow … ound … round … ground! That’s it! That’s a good name – ground!
I wonder if it will be friends with me?*
I found a YouTube clip; it’s very similar to what was on that IMAX film. Try to imagine it on a monster movie screen.
First off: No freaking way would I do that!
But why were they up there? And why would they have to climb up there on a daily basis?
I’m afraid enough not to dare clicking on any of these links!
[quote=“thirdname, post:6, topic:763995”]
You guys are lightweights. If you want a scare, check out what the cool kids are doing in Russia these days:
[/QUOTE]That’s just sheer stupidity. At least the workers have reason to do what they’re doing.
That was cool. I have to assume astronauts have to practice riding in those.
I do remember at Kennedy Space Center in… er. 2006… they had an IMAX film directed by Tom Hanks about the space station, showing the astronauts walking around outside the station… I always assumed at that height (in orbit) it would be too high up to feel like you were high up. I was wrong. Trippy as balls.
Free-climbing a tower is stupid, no matter what they say about how much longer it takes with proper tethering. Short cuts make for short lives. No matter how confident you are, shit happens, and if you’re not attached, you fall. Back when I did tower work, I used a lineman’s belt, and it was always attached. If I had to transfer it around something, I had a secondary line I hooked on. Also, the super-long line on that tool bag looks like a hazard in itself. It could tangle in something, but even if it just starts swinging too much, it could be a problem.
I only climbed towers of 100 feet or less, but for those of you struck by the vertiginous video: 100-foot TV towers are much less stable than the one depicted. At the top, you can look up and see the clouds apparently circling above you as the tip of the tower sways.
Good reference, but I’m ashamed to say I had to Google it–I haven’t read or seen HGttG. I’ll turn in my de-coder ring and quit the premises.
[quote=“thirdname, post:6, topic:763995”]
You guys are lightweights. If you want a scare, check out what the cool kids are doing in Russia these days:
[/QUOTE]I was physically ill watching that, legit felt like vomiting.
Same with this young lady’s exploits:
I am staying right here on the ground, thankyouverymuch.
Is it impossible to leave tools at or near the top? Wouldn’t that be safer, or is that somehow impractical given whatever authorities are involved?
All this stuff climbing towers is tame compared to Alex Honnold free-soloing Moonlight Buttress & Half Dome. This video literally makes my palms sweat. Alex “no big deal” Honnold’s brain is just wired differently from normal people.