high places

[old3bob]

 

How are you with heights, for some there is a strange kind of fascination with such...for others not so much.

 

For instance: "hey man, get this my fortune cookie says beware of high places"...

 

 

but for some that strange fascination can be deadly!  (like taking a selfie on cliff edge)

 

[old3bob]

 

 

[BigSkyDiamond]

a gripping book to read.  be sure to get the revised 2024 edition, because they just keep adding on more and more deaths as they occur.  If you have ever been to the Grand Canyon, you will recognize the places named

 

 

[Nungali]

I used to be fine with it .  As a youth we go to this very high waterfall that extended out at the top with a thin rock ledge and a massive undercut cave beneath that .  Some potholes near the edge you could see through down to the valley floor . One was right on the edge and with someone holding your hands and pulling back you could shuffle forwards and drop your legs over the edge and sit your bum in the pothole  and then they would let go of your arms . Your legs would be dangling in the air  with nothing under your bum . You could even  bend forward and look down between your feet , it would be impossible to fall out  as you were now like a little kid that had slipped down into the toilet seat .  But (in later considerations ) if that front bit of the pothole rock , about as wide as my arm , had a fracture , and had broken off ..... weeeeeeeeeeeee   or I should say     arrrrrrrrrrrgggggh ! 

 

To get out you would lean back  and put your arms over you head and two mates would pull them while you lifted you legs up and got you feet on the edge and pushed with them  . 

 

In retrospect ... it was CRAZY  .  A few years back I was in that area and went to take a look at that spot , I could  not believe I actually did that ! 

 

But a few years back I had some type of 'brain thingo ' . Really bad for three days  and then a couple of weeks with no balance  . I had to work, train , make new neural pathways to get it back again  (  Chinto  and hakatsuru crane form helped ... a lot of complex movements on one leg  )  But then, after that if I go near anywhere high , I start spinning out . That was a real surprise to me . Dont be stupid ! Just make yourself do it . 

 

I used to navigate the local skywalk with ease 

 

 

Nope , now I have to hang on to the rail and at the end my legs feel very weird  ....  I forced myself to get near the end  ... knees started to go wobbly , system shutdown !  

 

I guess with the damage balance,   my autonomous nervous system doesnt want to risk it anymore?  or something like that . 

[Nungali]

Before that happened , I used to go up Mount Killerkrankie  ( what a name ! ), get down the north side of the top a bit and learn over a cliff edge ... straight down , beneath me I could see wedge tailed eagles ... from above !   Sometimes they would come up to my height and be just 'out there '  .. almost as if one could touch them . The wind would gust and they would blown into the cliff, spread their wings  and you could see the muscles under the feathers flex , do a huge bank and swoop away from the cliff face with inches to spare

 

 

A Wedgie   ;  

 

 

,

 

so close you could hear the noise that made and see into their eyes , tracking you as the swooped past .... wow !  

[old3bob]

 

my balance also acts up now and then. Medical people say there are

On 8/28/2025 at 5:38 PM, Nungali said:

Before that happened , I used to go up Mount Killerkrankie  ( what a name ! ), get down the north side of the top a bit and learn over a cliff edge ... straight down , beneath me I could see wedge tailed eagles ... from above !   Sometimes they would come up to my height and be just 'out there '  .. almost as if one could touch them . The wind would gust and they would blown into the cliff, spread their wings  and you could see the muscles under the feathers flex , do a huge bank and swoop away from the cliff face with inches to spare

 

 

A Wedgie   ;  

 

 

,

 

so close you could hear the noise that made and see into their eyes , tracking you as the swooped past .... wow !  

 

I had a red tailed hawk dive bomb on me once  (suddenly out of nowhere) I could see part of it spread out wings and talons in my side vision as I collapsed instinctively to the ground for safety. (as it banked away before getting all the way too me) Talk about throwing one off balance that sure did it!  Btw and earlier that same morning we were charged by bear who could have had us for lunch but broke off his run at us and disappeared into the woods.  Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night at our remote campsite with a bear in the area.

 

Edited 23 hours ago by old3bob

[Nungali]

This 'ladder'  used to be all made of bamboo ! 

 

 

 

 

[old3bob]

 

Holy cow, that climb for young kids is above beyond what they should ever have to do imo.  (which of course doesn't count there)  Btw. what about that guy in the hole in the vertical slab?  Wonder how he got in there?

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by old3bob

[old3bob]

 

Tempting death to feel alive?

 

BASE jumper dies after leaping from 6,000-foot mountain, Washington cops say

Story by Helena Wegner  USA today

Mount Baring in Washington is pictured. A 40-year-old BASE jumper was found dead on the mountain.

"A BASE jumper was found dead after leaping from the top of a 6,000-foot mountain peak in Washington, deputies said.

The incident happened at about 7 p.m. Aug. 19 at Mount Baring, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said in an Aug. 29 news release.

The 40-year-old man leaped from the summit, then his friend jumped shortly after him, deputies said.

 

His friend heard a crash and saw the man's opened parachute "near the 4,000 foot level (of the mountain) but was unable to see the individual."

The friend contacted authorities, and they found the man dead in an "extremely steep and hazardous section of the mountain's north face, making direct access impossible," deputies said.

Multiple agencies worked together to make a plan on recovering his body.

A helicopter hovered about 600 feet from his body as rescuers rappelled down the rocky and steep mountainside to reach him, deputies said.

They packaged his body and airlifted him off the mountain.

It took three days for teams to complete the recovery operation, deputies said.

BASE jumping is an extreme sport where athletes jump from a fixed object and free fall before opening a parachute, according to topendsports.com. "BASE stands for building, antennae, span (bridges) and earth," where the athletes jump from, the website says."

 

Edited 22 hours ago by old3bob

[Nungali]

The highest you can get in my area ; 

 

 

 

I noticed a little crack / cave under the natural rock step , the last one up to the top rock . I felt compelled  to put my hand  in and feel around .  The people I was with thought I was nuts ; 'There could be a brown snake in there ! ''    But I had to keep going, to the extent I had to lie down and stick my arm in up to the shoulder .  I felt around and there was some thing on the floor of the little cave so  I  retrieved it . It was small black crystal rod .   Still got it .