Heights
- Thread starter Jeslek
- Start date
B
Bubba
Guest
I don't like being up high if there is nothing to hang on to. Otherwise, it doesn't bother me too much.
ipmoof
New Member
I dunno... I am not "afraid" of heights but I do have very strong instrinsic reactions that kick in which would prevent me from walking the high-wire or traversing beams 300ft over the streets NY City etc. I'd just have to kneel down and wait for someone to pick me up. 
Having said that, I've been up the tallest buildings in the world, skydived, somersaulted off a cliff in rafting gear, absailed, rock climbed etc and absolutely love flying so maybe I don't have as much of a problem as some people. My mum actually gets vertigo induced by an inner-ear infection which sucks.
Having said that, I've been up the tallest buildings in the world, skydived, somersaulted off a cliff in rafting gear, absailed, rock climbed etc and absolutely love flying so maybe I don't have as much of a problem as some people. My mum actually gets vertigo induced by an inner-ear infection which sucks.
unclehobart
New Member
Not unless there are gusting winds about.
AlladinSane
Well-Known Member
I stood at th eedge of a waterfall this weekend and remebered I have a little vertigo when in this situation. That didn't prevent me from doing canyoning in the past. In fact I love adreneline... I would skydive without a second thought
greenfreak
New Member
I look at heights like a roller coaster... Scary but I love it just the same. Rusty and I went to Central Park a couple of weeks ago and there's a castle there that I wanted to take a picture of. I just hopped up on the edge of the facade and leaned off the side to take a picture. I didn't think anything of it even when I looked down but if he had grabbed me I probably would have been scared.
Ladders... ugh, can't stomach them...I'm always afraid I'm going to fall. But I'm not that afraid when I'm sure there is sturdy footing under what I'm up on (e.g. tall buildings, staircases, etc). It's just narrow things with nothing but air on either side and have a small ground surface area like ladders (4 4"x1-2" pieces of plastic or wood are the only things it hits the ground with? not getting me up one of those without someone holding that sucker down!)
when I buy a house, I'm having an escalator installed to the attic
when I buy a house, I'm having an escalator installed to the attic
Stop Laughing
New Member
I'm on a ladder fairly often, with rather large and/or heavy boxes many times as well (toilet paper is heavy when there's 72 rolls in a box). One time, just after our store had moved, they had made a mistake by ordering 84 cases of water in late November. I stayed late while the 3 of us, one on the top shelf of the stockroom, me on the middle of the ladder, and a guy on the ground put them all on the top shelf so they'd be out of the way since we wouldn't be getting rid of that much water until well after winter. We got them all up top in under half an hour.
Squiggy
ThunderDick
I have recently developed vertigo brought on by height. I never feared heights and the only thing that I can attribute this sudden change to was an event from years ago. While sleeping on the back ramp of a CH 53 on a cross country jaunt, the pilots decided to play "Dogfight" and stood the aircraft on end. The only thing that kept me from making the 3000 foot plunge was my ICS (communications) cord attached to my helmet....I stopped sleeping there on flights with that pilot.
greenfreak
New Member
You know what does bother me a little about heights though... It's not being up high, it's when I have to raise my hands above my head to do something, and you feel like you're going to lose your balance. So what I sometimes do is move the ladder a little to the side of what I'm reaching for so that I can stop a few steps from the top and rest my legs on the ladder.
Scanty
New Member
hmm... I wouldn't say I was afraid of heights, but I have slight vertigo. It's not really the same thing. I just get really weird urges to let myself be drawn towards and fall off edges, and I have a lot of those moments that you get when you're half asleep - you 'dream' that you trip over, or fall off a step or a ledge, and you wake up with a jolt.
Ardsgaine
Active Member
I've had to spend a lot of time on scaffolds, and they never made me nervous unless they felt very unstable. I've stood on buckets on top of benches on top of scaffolds before. I've also walked 12" scaffold boards on stilts, walked up stairs on stilts, stood on 5 gal buckets on stilts, etc. In those situations I was reasonably nervous, but I was able to do the work.
I've been in other situations, though, where I was very scared and some where I couldn't force myself to function. I don't like being on a high scaffold with no railing. Once I went up on one that was about 16 feet high, no safety rail and nothing but a 12" scaffold board on the top. When I tried to stand up, I froze. I had to climb back down--couldn't do it.
A rail or wall close by, even if it wouldn't prevent a fall, gives a sense of security. It's a visual reference point that keeps you from losing your balance. I could never walk a scaffold board on stilts with nothing next to me, but in a stairwell, it's no problem. Brace a ladder against the steps, lean it against the far wall, run the scaffold board out to it from the landing and it's not going anywhere. As long as you don't step off the board, it's perfectly safe. A similar set up where there was no wall beside me, though, would be impossible.
My sense of invulnerability in those types of situations took a big hit after I fell six years ago. I had a 6 ft step ladder on top of Perry scaffold (rolling scaffolds that are about 2 ft wide and 7 ft high). I needed the ladder because I had to get up in a skylight that was too small to allow another scaffold level. I had to lean the ladder against the wall, because the skylight was also too small to open it out. Only two of the four wheels had functioning wheel locks. I had locked them down, but they didn't hold. When I went up the ladder, it caused the scaffold to roll. The scaffold hit a little 3 ft knee wall and tipped. The ladder slid completely out from under me and took my feet with it. I fell about 9 ft and landed on my left arm. It shattered the wrist, and broke the humerus completely in two. I looked a bit like Buzz when he tried to fly from the stair railing and ended up on the floor with his arm lying next to him. "Here I am, and there's my arm. Gods, what a mess it looks."
Since then, I sometimes get a sudden twinge when I'm in a shaky spot, and I'm a lot more cautious about checking out a set up before I climb up on it. What's weird is that I can often get more spooked thinking about things that I've done in the past than I got when I was actually doing them.
I've been in other situations, though, where I was very scared and some where I couldn't force myself to function. I don't like being on a high scaffold with no railing. Once I went up on one that was about 16 feet high, no safety rail and nothing but a 12" scaffold board on the top. When I tried to stand up, I froze. I had to climb back down--couldn't do it.
A rail or wall close by, even if it wouldn't prevent a fall, gives a sense of security. It's a visual reference point that keeps you from losing your balance. I could never walk a scaffold board on stilts with nothing next to me, but in a stairwell, it's no problem. Brace a ladder against the steps, lean it against the far wall, run the scaffold board out to it from the landing and it's not going anywhere. As long as you don't step off the board, it's perfectly safe. A similar set up where there was no wall beside me, though, would be impossible.
My sense of invulnerability in those types of situations took a big hit after I fell six years ago. I had a 6 ft step ladder on top of Perry scaffold (rolling scaffolds that are about 2 ft wide and 7 ft high). I needed the ladder because I had to get up in a skylight that was too small to allow another scaffold level. I had to lean the ladder against the wall, because the skylight was also too small to open it out. Only two of the four wheels had functioning wheel locks. I had locked them down, but they didn't hold. When I went up the ladder, it caused the scaffold to roll. The scaffold hit a little 3 ft knee wall and tipped. The ladder slid completely out from under me and took my feet with it. I fell about 9 ft and landed on my left arm. It shattered the wrist, and broke the humerus completely in two. I looked a bit like Buzz when he tried to fly from the stair railing and ended up on the floor with his arm lying next to him. "Here I am, and there's my arm. Gods, what a mess it looks."
Since then, I sometimes get a sudden twinge when I'm in a shaky spot, and I'm a lot more cautious about checking out a set up before I climb up on it. What's weird is that I can often get more spooked thinking about things that I've done in the past than I got when I was actually doing them.