I look over the railing from a second story balcony and get freaked out. I went with Tricky to the top of the Empire State Building, figuring "Oh, THIS will cure me of it!" .... yeah. Anxiety 101? A++ in that class. So you can imagine the Wiki alone just send me straight into a CTRL+F4 frenzy. I would LOVE to do something like that, don't get me wrong... but my body/brain just will not LET me.
I'm SO sure that's the only way I was able to walk up next to you at the railing, "Hey what'chya taking pictures of OH MY GOD IS THAT THE GROUND OH GOD THE CARS LOOK LIKE ANTS OH MY GOD HOLY-"
Fuck me running. No. Absofuckinglutely not. I wont go out on my 5th floor balcony and it has chest high railings. I had to turn it off when he stepped out onto the metal railing about a minute and a half in.
Yeah, I'm acrophobic. No way I'm watching anything that I'm being warned not to. I can't even stand the Jack Rabbit (see also), arguably the "least intense" of the rollercoasters at Kennywood Park. I've flown before and I was OK, but I stay away from the window and turbulence really ruins it for me. Now, if I had the power of flight, a la Ms. Marvel (screw Superman) it would be very different. Then you can avoid that whole "landing" thing.
That's awesome! I've seen pictures of that place before, but never a video. I'd love to walk that path.
I suppose I have a weird fear of heights. I love flying either as pilot/copilot or as a passenger on the window seat, I don't mind staring out the windows or even leaning over the balconies of tall buildings, and I didn't have a problem with being on the glass floor of the CN Tower, but like the adage already stated here, "It's the sudden stop that kills you." I have a fear of that stop. But the thing is, it's mostly at middling/low heights or if I don't feel safe or in control. 35 stories up, no problem. Being on my own roof, I get nervous/fearful being near the edges, as well as climbing up/off the ladder onto the roof, as it's a security and safety thing. I'm not likely to die in an airplane, or on a plexiglass floor, but on the edge of my own roof, there are a billion things that could happen that I'd have nothing to protect me, and that sets me off. Ladders do it too. Anyway, I was going to make a joke about it not being OSEA approved, but it's not even tourist approved anymore it seems, as from the wiki entry: "Many people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years. After four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances; however, adventurous tourists still find their way into the walkway." Yeah, there's that loss of safety and control that sets me off.
I've gone to some places like that in China. Lots of fun. The adrenaline rush certainly helps. But then afterwards I just sit and think "what the HELL did I just do?!"
Not afraid of heights... would it impress you if I said that when I was with an explorer program with my local fire department, that I got the chance to get up in the bucket of their tower rig? I had a sweet view of my town.
That was crazy. And yet, I think I could do a few parts of that, but the balance beam shit ruined it for me. Would never get past that first minute of walking.
Not a fan of heights. I particularly hate ladders, as I will start to feel sick and dizzy after a few minutes. I don't do roller coasters and stuff like that at theme parks, I've tried to do them but can't. I'm cool with flying and I remember feeling ok when I went up the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Makes perfect sense. I'm the same way. My wife thinks I'm crazy because statistically we are more likely to die in a car accident than an airplace crash. My response is this: a car crash is usually more or less instantaneous. If I'm going to be killed in one I'm either going to die instantly or pass out from shock or blood loss and never really know what happened. At most you have one second, maybe two, to realize what's happening. But if a plane goes down it's going to take a minute or two, and you spend your final minutes in agony knowing you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. Because it takes so long you feel like you should have some control over the outcome, there should be some way for you to prevent what's about to happen, and yet you know there isn't.
Really it comes down the the fact most people aren't truley afraid of heights but more the fear of falling. I can handle heights no problem. I love flying as well. Only truley worry about falling.
I'm not quite so afraid of heights as I have a great deal of respect for them. kinda like cobras and other things that could kill me. I could do that if I were attached to the line, but as it is there were things on that trail that just seemed like they were asking for trouble, like the parts where the concrete trail had the obvious holes in it. since I'm in a relationship if I died, it would be a loss to those around me as well, so I would never do such a thing like that.
Wiki doesn't describe it very well but would vertigo also include the feeling like you want to just jump off from somewhere high? Like, just looking at the above steelworker pic, I feel like there is some magic force pushing me off the side of the building. I guess that falls under the "dizzyness" part of vertigo. But yeah it seems like when you are up high you are more prone to falling because it feels like you are already falling before you do.
