# Are You Scared Of Heights?



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I have friends whos legs weaken when they stare down over three or four stories. As for myself, maybe when I am on a skyscraper's high floors, I might feel that way. So I would say I am moderately afraid of heights. what about you?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I'm not very much afraid of heights, though I would always be sensible about the risk of falling. I could have voted for *No, I am not scared of heights at all* but the weasel words 'at all' prevented me, as I do take care.

I am much more afraid of being shut in and powerless. I am afraid of flying and have never flown but I think my claustrophobia is at the root of it rather than a fear of heights.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Yes! I am definitely acrophobic. I'm OK going up anywhere if the climb is gradual but I hate situations like standing close to sheer drops or going too high up a ladder or a narrow, steep staircase. I'm also uneasy about standing on the flat roof of a high building - even if I'm nowhere near the edge I feel like I could fall through the roof itself. Also, I wouldn't go in a helicopter if it's one of those glass-sided things - even if strapped in I would think I'm going to fall out. And as for paragliding, hot-air ballooning or similar - forget it! I was OK when in a conventional passenger plane, though.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

No. Not afraid of heights. Or of falling. Only of landing.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Pat Fairlea said:


> No. Not afraid of heights. Or of falling. Only of landing.


Or as Terry Pratchett put it:


Terry Pratchett said:


> Tiffany was not afraid of heights at all. She could walk past tall trees without batting an eyelid. Looking up at huge towering mountains didn't bother her a bit. What she was afraid of, although she hadn't realized it up until this point, was depths.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I used to climb things all the time as a kid: trees, ladders, roofs, mountains. 

Not anymore. I’m not “afraid” of heights so much as avoiding them altogether. Ever since 9/11 I have had a shiver in tall buildings, and since I fell off a ladder in 2016 I’ve extended my worry to roofs. 

Healthy worry.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I was on the edge of the Grand Canyon with no problem in 1995. Then we went to Vøringsfossen in 1997 and I got instant fear of heights. I was in a bad mental state then, not my favorite moment in time...So I was on top of this looking down. The fancy bridge wasn't there then.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Those bridges looks well constructed. It would be an enjoyable walk and just don't look down!


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

No.

But I'm a bit more _cautious_ about heights than I used to be. I'm just not as strong or flexible as I was 20 years ago.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Climbing the Tallest Chimney in Europe


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

That's giving me the vapours just thinking about it.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> ^
> That's giving me the vapours just thinking about it.


me too, it is mildly uncomfortable just watching the video


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I can't watch it - are they harnessed? I remember seeing part of a TV programme about one of those freeclimbing fanatics - I nearly lost my lunch.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> I can't watch it - are they harnessed? I remember seeing part of a TV programme about one of those freeclimbing fanatics - I nearly lost my lunch.


they are not harnessed. Better not watch the video if you have extreme fear of heights. I have a fear of heights too, but it is managable. I can climb lookout towers (such as the Petřín tower in Prague), but I never feel comfortable there, especially when wind is rocking the construction.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I think my sister ruined me for heights. When I was a kid and we were at the top of the city hall in Los Angeles, she said when she looked down, she had this primal feeling of wanting to fall off. That burrowed into my brain, and now when I'm on ledges, I almost feel a hand on my back that's pushing. 

When I was last at Disney World, I went on a ride that simulates a hang glider, where you are lifted up with your feet dangling out over things like Niagara Falls and the Eiffel Tower. That scared me to death. 

I'm better off as a ground pounder.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

"Vapors"? I can't even watch the video. What was that movie about Lech Walinsky (was that his name?) who walked a tightrope between the two World Trade Towers? "Man on a Wire" or something like that? I couldn't sleep for a week after that.

It's gotten so bad that when I had to spread my sister's ashes on a mountain slope, I got weak kneed just climbing up there. The path wasn't steep, it zigzagged back and forth, a nice easy climb. But the ground fell off at about a 50 degree angle below that, and just looking down and realizing if I slipped I wouldn't be able to halt my tumble make me wanna puke.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Manxfeeder said:


> I think my sister ruined me for heights. When I was a kid and we were at the top of the city hall in Los Angeles, she said when she looked down, she had this primal feeling of wanting to fall.


Like the Woody Allen movie, I think it was "Annie Hall": "Do you ever see the headlights coming at you, when you're driving on a dark road, and have a sudden urge to swerve into their lane?"


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Kjetil Heggelund said:


> I was on the edge of the Grand Canyon with no problem in 1995.


They built some kind of glass-floored observation platform out over the canyon. I would mess my pants.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

elgars ghost said:


> I wouldn't go in a helicopter if it's one of those glass-sided things - even if strapped in I would think I'm going to fall out.


I did one of those over Kauai. Best way to see the canyons! I never felt any anxiety about falling out, nor does flying bother me.

Of course, I trust the pilots. I might feel differently if I had the controls.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pat Fairlea said:


> No. Not afraid of heights. Or of falling. Only of landing.


Good point. If I knew the landing would be gentle, then the ride from high altitude would be a blast. Yet I won't try skydiving because it is not 100% fail safe. Now, bungie jumping, no way, that is way worse. I once rode the salt and pepper shaker ride in my teens at a carnival and could not stand up after, nor sit down, but I had to sit down because I could not stand up, but I mean when I sat down everything was still spinning wildly. Never again.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

NoCoPilot said:


> I used to climb things all the time as a kid: trees, ladders, roofs, mountains.
> 
> Not anymore. I'm not "afraid" of heights so much as avoiding them altogether. Ever since 9/11 I have had a shiver in tall buildings, and since I fell off a ladder in 2016 I've extended my worry to roofs.
> 
> Healthy worry.


You probably never climbed a ladder like the one in the fiction story, The Vertical Ladder by William Sansom. You can read it in this book:
https://archive.org/details/storiesofwilliamsansom/page/n3/mode/2up
Just reading it would give some of us vertigo. Excerpt:



> Here for a moment Flegg had paused. He had rested his knees up against the last three steps of the safely slanting wooden ladder, he had grasped the two side supports of the rusted iron that led so straightly upwards. His knees then clung to the motherly wood, his hands felt the iron cold and gritty. The rust powdered off and smeared him with its red dust; one large scrap flaked off and fell on to his face as he looked upwards. He wanted to brush this away from his eye, but the impulse was, to his surprise, much less powerful than the vice-like will that clutched his hands to the iron support. His hand remained firmly gripping the iron, he had to shake off the rust-flake with a jerk of his head. Even then this sharp movement nearly unbalanced him, and his stomach gulped coldly with sudden shock.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

My wife won't let me climb ladders anymore.

I still do it, but not on slippery Trex decks anymore.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Jacck said:


> Climbing the Tallest Chimney in Europe


The juggling part is the icing on the cake.

As an intermediate juggler I'd NOT attempt this - just too many conflicting simultaneous balance requirements. Add a breeze, and the juggling is a "No Go".


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

pianozach said:


> The juggling part is the icing on the cake.
> 
> As an intermediate juggler I'd NOT attempt this - just too many conflicting simultaneous balance requirements. Add a breeze, and the juggling is a "No Go".


those guys are obviously crazy, you can watch more of their videos
https://www.youtube.com/c/flaviucernescu/playlists

and here some guy is hanging from a crane in Dubai




(TRIGGER WARNING: this is even more anxiety inducing than the previous video)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Just out of curiosity what nationality are those two loons on the chimney?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> Just out of curiosity what nationality are those two loons on the chimney?


the name and language sound Romanian (Cernescu is similar to Enescu, Romanian names have endings like this)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Maybe I shouldn't refer to them as loons if they are experienced and know what they are doing but imagine free-standing on a high structure like that and then all of a sudden a gale-force wind came about.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Jacck said:


> Climbing the Tallest Chimney in Europe


Which would be worse, falling into the chimney or falling outside the chimney?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> Maybe I shouldn't refer to them as loons if they are experienced and know what they are doing but imagine free-standing on a high structure like that and then all of a sudden a gale-force wind came about.


my guess is these are some circus acrobats or something like that. In one of the other videos he walks across a rope stretched across the hole of another chimney, or he rides a bike on the circumference of the chimney etc.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Circus performers - that would make more sense. As we say in English-speaking countries - don't try this at home.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I'm sort of afraid of heights. To pay my way through college, I and a friend ran a painting "company" (kids with a couple of ladders and no insurance). I frequently worked thirty feet in the air and hated it. Still have dreams about it.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

SixFootScowl said:


> Which would be worse, falling into the chimney or falling outside the chimney?


Oh, falling INTO the chimney because you would probably bounce and scrape painfully but non-lethally off the sides on the way down. And falling outside the chimney, there's a chance to enjoy the view. Albeit briefly.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Those kids are crazy! But what I've learned by getting older is that I'm not as brave as I used to be. I find myself a little more uneasy with heights than I did in my 20s & 30s. Especially if it's outdoors with the wind blowing.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I can also feel a little uneasy in skyscrapers. I visited the Bayoke Tower in Bangkok (328.4 m) and went with this lift




they have a restaurant at the top 88th floor. Just sitting at the restaurant and feeling the vibrations of that building (the whole building vibrates at this height) was pretty unfortable.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I don't like those 'glass' floors which are seen in some modern office blocks, either.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

People: please stop posting links to that video. I'm trying not to see it.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes, I have been in lifts that fly up very fast with spectacular views outside of the building. I did feel a little sick when I got out of the lift, and needed a few minutes to regain myself.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Someday Art Music is going to know all our security questions.


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## ToneDeaf&Senile (May 20, 2010)

There is no category here for me. I'm absolutely petrified of heights. Climbing a few rungs up a ladder to change lightbulbs finds me light-headed and atremble. My stomach gets a bit queezy. Were I to ascend any great distance I'd need someone to help me down, as I'd lose control of my body. I'm okay, but not totally uneffected, in multistory buidlings so long as I don't have to get too close to a windowed outer wall. Having a very solid/stable guard rail to cling to helps...to an extent. (Prying me off the guard rail is another matter...LOL.)


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

^ Do take good care of yourself. Thank you for sharing.


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## kfriegedank (Feb 27, 2020)

I do not like the way this question is phrased. Needs re-thinking.

I am not afraid of heights - I am however afraid of falling 10,000 feet to my death in a spiralling blacking-in-and-out cascade of terror... not my idea of a good time.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

I think it was Steven Wright who said, "I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths."


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

starthrower said:


> I find myself a little more uneasy with heights than I did in my 20s & 30s.


I learned the hard way I don't bounce like I did when I was a kid.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

The time I really tested my fear of heights was climbing Angel's Landing at Zion National Park. Also Chimney Tops Trail at Great Smoky Mountains.











Not sure if I would like to try this one in China:

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-mount-hua-huashan-most-dangerous-hike-in-the-world-2018-8


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

What makes some heights scary, and others not?

For me, I'm not so bothered being in skyscrapers or helicopters or sturdy bridges. Those are fairly certain to keep me aloft.

Climbing towers without a tether, or contemplating a tightrope, or standing near an open door in an airplane... not so much. The glass floor observation platform at the Grand Canyon shouldn't bother me, as plenty of people have walked its scary heights. But the brain doesn't listen to reason.

They put a glass floor in the Space Needle a few years ago. I have not seen it.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Been on the glass floor at the CN Tower. Pretty freaky walking across. Haven't been to this though. It's over $200 to do it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...cc5346-119c-11e3-b4cb-fd7ce041d814_story.html


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

If I had $200, I can think of several things I'd rather do with it.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Not so much high buildings. (I had an office on the 55th floor of the Chrysler Building.). But the edge of a cliff . . .

I can usually overcome it. But I still won’t be posing for pictures a foot from the lip.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

jegreenwood said:


> Not so much high buildings. (I had an office on the 55th floor of the Chrysler Building.). But the edge of a cliff . . .
> 
> I can usually overcome it. But I still won't be posing for pictures a foot from the lip.


I need to be at a high railing that is very secure, or at least 6 feet back from the edge.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Oh yes, definitely scared of heights! Anymore than like three steps up a ladder, and I freeze. For years I've had dreams about walking up really high, precarious staircases with no railing. At college, there's an 11-story building with a continuous staircase, and when you're at the top, you can see all the way down to the ground floor. I'd rather take the elevator so I don't have to see how high up I am. :lol:


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Above waters not so much but above concrete...!!!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm not scared of heights, I'm scared of widths.

- Steven Wright


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