Conquering fears and all that.
There are two places in Norway that I really want to go to, and I suspect it's partly because I'm scared of heights. There's times you want to do something because it terrifies you, and this is one of them. If you're scared of heights, I suggest you either press page down really quickly, or grab something really solid for reassurance.

The first is Trolltunga. Translates to Troll Tongue, and it's a slab of rock that sticks out pretty much horizontally from a cliff face. It's a 350m drop to the water below...



(picture is from here)

The second is Kjerag, and the Kjeragbolten. The Kjeragbolten is a 5m wide boulder that's wedged between two sides of a crevasse, and people tend to jump onto the top of it. The reason it's a bit terrifying? It's wedged between two sides of a crevasse, and that crevasse has a drop to the fjord below that's nearly a kilometre high. Here's a couple of pictures of someone standing on the boulder, and the view down from the boulder.





(both pictures from Wikipedia here)


I'm half thinking around canvassing my friends to see if anyone else is up for it, and going on a road trip from the UK in the summer. Hopefully then I'll have the courage to get some photos of myself standing on the two for other people to use in "things to do before I die" posts. Being hones though, it's more likely they'll be ones of me lying on the ground, desperately hanging onto the floor for dear life and having to be rescued by other people after freezing with the fear.
(MattWPBS, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 15:42, 27 replies)

oooh I'll come!
Just looking at those photos made me feel sick, but I bet its a fantastic feeling once you've done it.

I'm with you on the lying down bit tho, I'd be prostrate clinging on, and trying not to look down...

Have a *click* x
(TheFlyingOnion. looking forward to, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 15:54, closed)

If you want heights...
Further along the same fjord with the Kjeragbolten is the Preikestolen. Not quite as impressive a tongue of rock as that Troll thing, but it's still an overhanging ledge with over 600 metres to fall before you make a splash.
(Woodlouse say it with flowers. Send her a Triffid, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 16:06, closed)

eeek
That first pic makes my feet tingle in terror
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 16:13, closed)

Looks awesome
a few years ago I started climbing and tended to push myself up rock faces I really shouldn't have. Eventually I found a piece in a respectable mountaineering magazine/website describing what I and a friend had tackled a week before, stating "this should not be attempted by anyone but the most experienced climbers" (or similar). I took another looks at the pics I'd taken on the way up and at the top and realised what we'd done

...but then, you're always one slip away from death. If I do get to put the inane, maniacal grin I'd have whilst standing on that there rock as my fb profile pic (just to appease my yuppie pals) I'd be happy

and sod it, if you do fall, you won't feel a thing
(Katabatic wasn't, and will never be on, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 16:13, closed)

Except for...
Sheer terror the entire way down.
(MattWPBS, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 16:27, closed)

yeah, should have added the 30-second factor
...but if you make it too bold, it loses its appeal. You could always pretend it's a bungy jump
(Katabatic wasn't, and will never be on, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 16:35, closed)

Looks like the kinda thing I'd do before I die.
Roughly 30 seconds before I die. Messily.
(FondaAccord, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 16:29, closed)

That made my feet go funny
A prize* to the first person who can explain why that happens.

*Prize does not exist
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 17:33, closed)

Oh thank god
someone else who has that.
Its weird isnt it, that strange sensation in the soles.
Maybe its a primitive instict from back when we were apes and would cling onto branches with our feet to stop falling?

pfft its as good a theory as any

oh, theres no prize, bugger
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 17:57, closed)

Over two hours later
and it still has the same effect
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 19:54, closed)

when I get vertigo
not only do my feet tingle but it feels like someone is pulling spagetti out from the souls of my feet.

I have almost cured my vertigo by taking up rock climbing. Weird I know but you body gets used to it and so over time, the vertigo slowly goes.

I love this idea though - this picture has been on my wall for ages as a place to go too - it's Shihara in yemen. Looks pretty high too.


( camp freddy well, would you look at that!, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 14:25, closed)

yes what's the feet-tingly thing all about?
I get it for that second when you convince yourself you've forgotten something major, like getting the time of an interview wrong. Weird.
(TheFlyingOnion. looking forward to, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 17:07, closed)

.
Fuck. That.
(Rsoles, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 17:51, closed)

^ this ^

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 8:29, closed)

^^ oh yes
Fuck that.
( snee held his breath since, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 10:31, closed)

I swear I've seen Wile E Coyote fall off that first one a million times. He goes to the end, it breaks off, he plummets into the chasm raising a sad little poof of dust at the bottom, and then the rest of the rock lands on his head.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 20:43, closed)

But then the next time
Roadrunner runs to the edge, followed just behind by Wile, and the middle bit breaks off instead. That never ceases to be funny.
(moosefish, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 21:25, closed)

*throws up*

( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Sun 17 Oct 2010, 22:07, closed)

!
There's something on youtube about some hiking pass, I think its in South America. But there are loads of bits where the path has fallen down the cliff, and rope bridges with missing slats and stuff. Thats the worse height-fear thing that I've seen.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 9:51, closed)

what about death road in bolivia
as seen on top gear.

My mate did it in a tourist bus - said he'd never been so scared in his life.
( camp freddy well, would you look at that!, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 14:28, closed)

I think...
That might be in China?
(MattWPBS, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 14:41, closed)

El Camino del Rey
I thinlk you mean this one.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw

Go to 5.10 if you can handle heights.

Or www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Nd1qtk1Go&feature=related at 6.20
(langers, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 16:51, closed)

Try this one...
Guy climbing a 1700ft transmission tower.
On the outside.
Without a cable at times.

www.break.com/index/climbing-a-1786-tall-tower
(MattWPBS, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 22:09, closed)

IT'S EASY
Stay at home, save some money and 'shop yourself in to someone else's picture.
(mersault, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 12:28, closed)

Slarty
Bartfast was here !
(Ymob is a kaburu, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 13:38, closed)

Just looking makes my feet itch and my stomach feel like I'm falling already.
Last month I couldn't even make it to the top of the lion rock fortress in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.

My wife did. I had to sit 2/3rds of the way up being laughed at by the local children.

I would say I found this humiliating but I didn't, the feeling of fear and resolute determination not to go any further up it far outweighs humiliation.
( Dervel OTBC, Mon 18 Oct 2010, 14:35, closed)

I've been to both these places and can say
You've got to go. The feeling of terror as you look over the edge mixed with an odd sense of achievement is worth it!
(zebby wasting irony here on, Tue 19 Oct 2010, 13:14, closed)