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Yikes! Not for the faint-hearted...

(9 Posts)
JoyBloggs Fri 19-Dec-14 20:25:00

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-30546762

...this made me feel dizzy just watching it in my armchair.

pompa Fri 19-Dec-14 20:59:19

I get dizzy standing on a chair, how these guys do it I will never know. However, I have no problem flying a glider with nothing between my bum and oblivion than a thin sheet of glass fiber, don't understand the difference. It can't just be a height thing, must be to do with the fear of falling.

Agus Fri 19-Dec-14 22:02:57

I timed myself for this one and lasted all of 6 seconds!

Well, I didn't even make the first level of the Eifel Tower so no surprise there then blush

crun Fri 19-Dec-14 22:08:28

Catherine Destivelle freeclimbing.

And again on the Old Man of Hoy whilst three months pregnant.

She must have a physical and emotional strength most men would give their eye teeth for.

Pompa, I find that it's not height that spooks me, it's insecure heights. As long as I'm strapped in or there's something to hang on to that's fine, but I can't hack it if I'm too exposed ,and dependent on my strength or balance. If I stand on something like a foot bridge over a motorway cutting, I can make my head spin by imagining that there's no railing, and then switch that feeling back off by acknowledging the railing again.

papaoscar Fri 19-Dec-14 22:14:22

Strange how just watching something height-related on TV can bring on leg-trembling and feelings of fear, which suggests that for most of us the fear of falling is hard-wired into our brains.

Elegran Fri 19-Dec-14 22:20:28

Some of it is visual - the parallax effect of seeing things at different distances appearing to move in relation to each other as you move your head ever so slightly.

Catherine Destivelle moves like a dancer - I can't be as graceful on the level!

crun Fri 19-Dec-14 22:22:30

Just watching Destivelle is enough to make my palms sweat, but I can manage something like Striding Edge easily enough.

ninathenana Fri 19-Dec-14 23:51:11

Is she human ??? Amazing, I was transfixed.

loopylou Sat 20-Dec-14 05:27:11

Hate heights/fear of falling so much that my palms are sweating just reading this thread! DH and DD both are glider pilots and I cannot be persuaded that it is fun.....no engine?! Yikes indeed!