# Could you rescue yourself from a cliff edge? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934 "2019-01-17T16:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/21 "2019-01-17T18:59:29Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > We’ll keep it relatively easy. Undercut about 4-6 inches where you’re hanging, so you’ve got a bit of thumb purchase, but vertical and flat below that, at least as far as you could reach with your legs. It’s rocky but not smooth, and dry. It’s like this as far as you can see in either direction, so shimmying laterally isn’t going to get you to a better spot. My WAG is that I’d be able to get my arms entirely on the ground atop the cliff. If the ground on top of the cliff is perfectly flat with no handholds, which is how I read the OP, I’m stymied as to how I’d get my upper body up over the edge. I don’t have enough arm strength, and my legs aren’t gonna be much help: even with just a 4"-6" undercut, I’m going to be pushing **out** as I push **up** , and I’ll have just enough time to say goodbye to all this, as I free-fall down towards the rocks beneath me, before I say hello to oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/22 "2019-01-17T19:38:21Z")
Struggle but could do it. My arm strength is still pretty good, but I’d be more worried about weaker wrist and finger joint pain recently from age and carpal tunnel. I’d curse the universe if a little twinge pain failing my grip was what my downfall was, while still packing all of these righteous enviable rippling gun-python arms. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/23 "2019-01-17T19:53:57Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Myself, ten years ago no problem. Five years ago, not quite as confident but I’m certain I could make it, a lot of struggling and swearing later. Today, I’m pretty out of shape but I’d still give myself 50/50 odds. Pretty much my thoughts as well. If I had decent shoes on, and could use my feet to assist - chances improve. One movie trope my wife and I hate the most is the drop/saved by 1-hand grab/pull self up to rescue. You see it so often, and it would be SO difficult for nearly anyone to do. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/24 "2019-01-17T20:03:52Z")
I give myself maybe two seconds before my grip gives out and I fall to my death. _Maybe_ two seconds. That’s actually probably too generous. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/25 "2019-01-17T20:06:15Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Pretty much my thoughts as well. If I had decent shoes on, and could use my feet to assist - chances improve. > > One movie trope my wife and I hate the most is the drop/saved by 1-hand grab/pull self up to rescue. You see it so often, and it would be SO difficult for nearly anyone to do. I practice 1-hand hangs in the gym. On a **good** day, I can do maybe 30 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/26 "2019-01-17T20:19:21Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > One movie trope my wife and I hate the most is the drop/saved by 1-hand grab/pull self up to rescue. You see it so often, and it would be SO difficult for nearly anyone to do. Yeah I hate that, too. That’s the _real_ superpower pretty much _all_ action movie people have, regardless of hero or villain, supernatural abilities or “everyman”: extreme grip strength. _Everybody_ in movies has hands and fingers and fingertips like vices. If they can just _touch_ a surface, they will stick to it like white on rice, provided it’s plot convenient, of course. But then once they’re meant to die, suddenly they develop the worst case of butterfingers in history. And then there’s the “hanging precariously by one hand, while also catching and holding another person by the other hand.” Even if that were really possible, it’s almost always treated like “Everything’s fine and dandy now!” where in reality, they’d be looking at each other like, “Okay, now what?!” and would likely either _both_ then fall, or the bottom guy gets let go, shortly before the top guy loses his grip and falls on top of him. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/27 "2019-01-17T20:22:41Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I give myself maybe two seconds before my grip gives out and I fall to my death. > > _Maybe_ two seconds. > > That’s actually probably too generous. I’d beat you to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/28 "2019-01-17T20:40:58Z")
No one has mentioned acrophobia. Even a strong guy will fall if he’s panicking because of the view. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/29 "2019-01-17T21:08:05Z")
Yeah - the “chain” is ridiculous. But even the “one guy on top reaching over and grabbing the dangling guy.” They always seem to cut to the dangler scrambling over the precipice, w/o clearly showing exactly how the guy on top was able to do a 1 arm dead lift of his body weight from below his feet… :eek: Or the dangler was effectively doing a super 1-arm chin up using the guy on top solely as the bar… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/30 "2019-01-17T21:16:46Z")
Yeah, I swear I’m not super-dangerous, but one time I was climbing a 10-15 foot cliff and my brother was at the top. The cliff itself was craggy so I had a lot of footholds but otherwise it was the classic flat featureless plain abutting a sudden vertical dropoff. My brother held out his hand to help me up and I could feel that if I pulled, what was most likely going to happen was that I’d pull my brother down with me. Had he been able to anchor his other hand on something that would have been another story. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/31 "2019-01-17T21:58:01Z")
Nope. I’m very fat. Even at my lightest and strongest I could not do a pull-up. I, too, am often flabbergasted by the relative ease which with most movie characters can pull themselves up. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/32 "2019-01-17T22:04:49Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Yeah - the “chain” is ridiculous. But even the “one guy on top reaching over and grabbing the dangling guy.” They always seem to cut to the dangler scrambling over the precipice, w/o clearly showing exactly how the guy on top was able to do a 1 arm dead lift of his body weight from below his feet… :eek: > > Or the dangler was effectively doing a super 1-arm chin up using the guy on top solely as the bar… :eek: I’ve often seem them show the hanging guy swinging his other arm up for better grip, and from there he can try to swing up further for a better grip on the edge, with the guy on top holding his other arm in the meantime. Transitioning from there to the hanging guy getting a leg up isn’t implausible. The fun thing about the hanging chains, of course, is that the guy on top is supporting many times his own weight. Even if they have each guy climb up the chain one at a time, starting from the bottom and using the ones above like a ladder, the initial weight on the guy at the top is _insane_. ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/33 "2019-01-17T22:46:26Z")
Easily , assuming a decent grip. Just a week ago I pulled my self on to a metal roof from a too short ladder and got back down by lowering myself to a dangle, then dropping down. Just because it was easier than going to unlock the she’d and drag out the taller ladder. ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/34 "2019-01-17T22:58:13Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yeah I hate that, too. That’s the _real_ superpower pretty much _all_ action movie people have, regardless of hero or villain, supernatural abilities or “everyman”: extreme grip strength. _Everybody_ in movies has hands and fingers and fingertips like vices. If they can just _touch_ a surface, they will stick to it like white on rice, provided it’s plot convenient, of course. But then once they’re meant to die, suddenly they develop the worst case of butterfingers in history. > > And then there’s the “hanging precariously by one hand, while also catching and holding another person by the other hand.” Even if that were really possible, it’s almost always treated like “Everything’s fine and dandy now!” where in reality, they’d be looking at each other like, “Okay, now what?!” and would likely either _both_ then fall, or the bottom guy gets let go, shortly before the top guy loses his grip and falls on top of him. Idk about catching someone, but I can, with a good grip hold on to something with one hand and hold another person up for about 6-8 seconds. I’m not super strong or athletic, sort of average among my army unit when I was still in a few years ago. I was a mechanic for many years so I may have a fairly well developed grip. Anyway I can imagine some of the SF guys able to actually pull off a similar feat to the movie scenes, not exact, but pretty similar I think. ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/35 "2019-01-17T23:07:05Z")
I guess circus performers are some people who do this sort of thing all the time. Catching someone mid air and realeasing them to the next person but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done one handed. ---
**Author:** ![Hapax\_Legomenon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hapax\_Legomenon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hapax_Legomenon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/36 "2019-01-17T23:55:34Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yeah I hate that, too. That’s the _real_ superpower pretty much _all_ action movie people have, regardless of hero or villain, supernatural abilities or “everyman”: extreme grip strength. _Everybody_ in movies has hands and fingers and fingertips like vices. If they can just _touch_ a surface, they will stick to it like white on rice, provided it’s plot convenient, of course. But then once they’re meant to die, suddenly they develop the worst case of butterfingers in history. Exactly. The trouble with the scenario isn’t ‘doing a pullup’, it’s ‘not slipping off the edge fo the cliff while pulling yourself up’. I put myself down as a goner. I’d have said 50/50 if the scenario changed to dangling from a grab bar someone had inexplicably installed at a cliff edge - not that I can usually do a pullup, but adrenaline and whatever meager grip I could get on the cliff face with my toes might be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/37 "2019-01-18T00:00:59Z")
> [@Hapax\_Legomenon](#): > > I’d have said 50/50 if the scenario changed to dangling from a grab bar someone had inexplicably installed at a cliff edge - not that I can usually do a pullup, but adrenaline and whatever meager grip I could get on the cliff face with my toes might be enough. Yeah on both counts. It was sort of surreal, when I was pulling myself up by the root from the sliding ledge with one hand, I was thinking “I’d never be able to do this without the adrenaline!” Surreal because if you’re clear headed enough to realize you’re using about adrenaline you probably aren’t producing enough to count. But I definitely needed the root for the grip. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/38 "2019-01-18T00:18:37Z")
There has never been a single day in my life when I have been capable of one pull-up. I’m gone. _splooosh_ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/39 "2019-01-18T00:46:29Z")
When I was a young man, probably. I did some rock climbing, but I was never in so dire a position. Now? I really really doubt it. Went with marginally possible, maybe with a boost of adrenaline, but I’m probably dead. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934/40 "2019-01-18T01:03:35Z")
Potatoe salad here. I ain’t going anywhere near a precipice long enough to ever have to think about that. My agoraphobia is trumped only by fear of cliff edges. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-rescue-yourself-from-a-cliff-edge/827934.md?page=3)