Kevin's Watch

The actual top circle part was above the clouds, so the Sun of Rain wouldn't have hurt it. The stairs on the other hand...

Near where I live we have a tourist attraction called Big Brutus. It's like the 2nd largest coal shovel in the world or something - it's enormous. Anyway, they let people climb up the metal stairway on the boom arm and let me tell you, it is scary. I'm not afraid of heights, but climbing up that thing, where you can see through the metal mesh steps, and with it swaying in the wind... it's enough to bother anyone

the odd thing about, i always feel the urge to jump when i'm high up. not sure why, anyone else get this?

Not uncommon. Read somewhere that it's a leftover atavistic urge from the days of our primate ancestors.

--A

sgtnull wrote:the odd thing about, i always feel the urge to jump when i'm high up. not sure why, anyone else get this?

No way. I get this weird feeling that the world will spin over and I have to hang on to something. I've done that a few times - grasping at fences, poles, etc. Hate the feeling.

Avatar wrote:Not uncommon. Read somewhere that it's a leftover atavistic urge from the days of our primate ancestors.

--A

I don't know why that should be. Our primate ancestors were not lemmings. They may have jumped from branch to branch (assuming they were arboreal, which is a questionable assumption given the fossil record) but they certainly did not jump off of cliffs. I only feel that inexplicable urge to jump when there is nothing but empty air that I could conceivably jump to. It is entirely distinct from the urge to play Tarzan.

sgtnull wrote:the odd thing about, i always feel the urge to jump when i'm high up. not sure why, anyone else get this?

Me. I love doing things like that. If there was a harness, I'd be the first to volunteer.

to quote from rincewind the errr...so-called wizard "heights dont bother me, its the fall that i'm worried about."

like spring i have climbed before with people more experienced than me and can cope well if i am attached to something. otherwise i would struggle.

I'd make it a personal pilgrimage to climb up and down the Watch every year. I used to have a fear of heights, but I've pretty much conquered it by climbing trees. If anything, I revel in the adrenaline these days. Just to feel that creepy sensation that there's no sure foothold and all that's below is air--ah, wonderful! And yes, I'm crazy.

But there's nothing to be afraid of from falling. The fall won't get you... it's the sudden stop at the end

is it true that if you jumped from the top of the Empire State Building you would die before impact? or the Golden Gate Bridge either?

I don't know about you, but I would definitely have a heart attack on the way down. Dead before impact.

And yes, Dennis, I get the urge to jump. My mind tells me to "get closer to the edge, that's it, a little bit closer". I really have to fight it.

I don't like to think of myself as crazy, but I talk to myself too, so maybe I fit somehow.

I would not like climbing up or down the Watch, but if one is stuck on top, there is really no other choice.

While visiting Niagra Falls as a kid, I had to supress the urge to jump over the edge.

It would be one heck of a last feeling.

Dunno VF, unfortunately, I can remember niether where I read it, or the explanation they gave.

Of course, Lemmings don't throw themselves over cliffs either.

And no Sgt...people have survived falls at a far greater distance than that. It's not heart failure that kills you, (although I suppose it could if you had a weak heart), nor is it the fall itself. The landing however...

--A

ive thought about this some more. if i was to climb down backwards so feet first, with my hands gripping to the stair in front of me then i reckon i would be ok. as any inexperienced climber will tell you its hardest to trust your feet to do what they are supposed to. if i had my hands in place i would believe in my own strength to save me if i slipped.not saying it wouldnt be pretty tough though.

and speaking of heights has anyone ever seen the pics of that french guy walking the tight rope across the twin towers(rip)? that is bloody freaky!

going headfirst would put you at ease? it just seems wrong.

I always saw the stairs about four feet wide, as the platform is only ten. And I think it would have to've been made powerful by the Giants, able to stand for eons against erosion and age.

The problem lies in the wind. Skyscrapers are built to sway. If KW were built to sway, yet stay intact through stone-lore, getting up or down might be impossible.

And then, how does one stand up with all that wind? And vertigo?

Plus, going down feet first doesn't erase the vertigo (you're what, 3000 feet above ground-level), though you can try to concentrate on the stairway.

With all these issues, I just can't see Cov realistically making it down (nor me getting up).

sgt.null wrote:is it true that if you jumped from the top of the Empire State Building you would die before impact? or the Golden Gate Bridge either?

I know a guy who jumped off the Empire State Building and didn't die before impact.
We changed his nickname to Soupy after that.
Silly Soupy.

Further thoughts --
I don't have a fear of heights. I do have a fear of widths.

And, I NEVER get the urge to jump off a height.

Do get the urge to spit.

I think the stairway and spire of kevins watch was about 500 feet...and it leaned out over a 3000 foot drop to the foothills...

actually i guess it was 4000,

From LFB:

He was on a stone platform four thousand feet or more above the earth.
Three dizzy steps took him to the gap in the
parapet. There he saw that he was on the tip of a slim splinter of stone-at least five hundred feet long-that pointed obliquely up from the base of the cliff like a rigid finger accusing the sky. Stairs had been cut into the upper surface of the shaft, but it was as steep as a ladder

I could do the 500 feet no problem.... but if i had numb fingers and feet, along with vertigo?? that would be scarey....

people mentioned the urge to jump when they are on a hight place?

hmmm. Bungie jumping from Kevins watch?